Why did the sometimes nostalgic-at-New-Year Idiot just revisit a blog written in April 2013 entitled Macedonia Mountain, Mound & Marathon?

Because it represented the moment that the research and walking for The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Twenty Years Walking The Mediterranean, the third book in the trilogy of travel narratives written about The Idiot’s 20-year-walk around the Mediterranean Sea, officially got underway. And it happened precisely as he had predicted in the last paragraph of The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean.

That paragraph read: “As you well know, I have finished writing the second book about my walk around the Mediterranean and am ready to resume the MedTrek from İzmir to Egypt. First, though, I’m returning to Alexander the Great’s birthplace in Pella, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia, to walk from there to the sea. I may even run in the annual Alexander the Great Marathon that ends at the White Tower in Thessaloniki, the last capital of ancient Macedonia. Then away I go back to Turkey and down the shores of Syria, Lebanon and Israel into Egypt. See you in Alexandria!”

Things kicked off when The Idiot paid a meditative visit to Mount Olympus to discuss The Idiot and the Odyssey books with Greek students and seek guidance from the gods about the upcoming MedTrek.

The home of the gods seen from Litochoro, Greece.

Students meet The Idiot on Mount Olympus.

Food for the path.

After a hearty meal The Idiot, as Zeus suggested, sought inspiration at the palace and necropolis in Vergina, ancient Macdeonia’s first capital. Although the palace was still being renovated, the multimedia museum and tombs under the burial mound were a deathly treasure and well worth a reflective SideTrek.

The palace was still being renovated in 2013.

The Idiot gets a sneak peak.

An underground tomb fit for a king.

Then The Idiot participated in the 8th International Alexander the Great Marathon and walked (not jogged) from Pella, where Alexander was born, to the iconic White Tower in Thessaloniki. Having followed in Alexander’s (no one calls him Alex) footsteps for 42.195 kilometers, The Idiot then returned to Izmir and tackled the lengthy and difficult Turkish coast.

Alexander is still considered great in Pella.

Alexander the Great overlooks the start of the race that honors him.

See you in Alexandria, Egypt.

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."