The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Twenty Years Walking The Mediterranean, which will be published on July 31, doesn’t kick off in Izmir, Turkey, where The Idiot ended the second book about his walk around the Mediterranean Sea.

Instead, it begins with a walk around Manhattan, a visit to the British Museum in London, a hike with touring American women on the French Riviera and a climb up Mount Olympus in Greece before The Idiot participates in The Alexander the Great Marathon.

Why the indirect and mysterious route back to the path?

The Idiot is looking for the still-unknown location of the tomb of Alexander the Great which, in fact, he’ll reveal in the last chapters of The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Twenty Years Walking The Mediterranean.

The April walk around Manhattan kicked off before sunrise when 100-year-old Elliott Thompson symbolically walked the first hundred steps with The Idiot.
(Photo: Liz Chapin)

During the walk around Manhattan to kick off The Idiot and the Odyssey III, three ManTrekkers took a break at a Starbucks in Harlem.

During the walk around Manhattan to kick off The Idiot and the Odyssey III, two ManTrekkers posed for photos on the East River.
(Photo: Sarah Chapin)

During the walk around Manhattan to kick off The Idiot and the Odyssey III, four ManTrekkers and a baby posed in front of the United Nations.
(Photo: Ethan Gelber)

After walking around Manhattan, The Idiot flew to London to visit The Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibit at the British Museum and investigate rumors that Alexander the Great’s body might have been taken to Pompei by the Romans.

Before kicking off The Idiot and the Odyssey III, The Idiot visited The Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibit at the British Museum in London to determine if the body of Alexander the Great was in Pompeii during its destruction by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
(Photo: Michael Knipe)

Were the mummified remains of Alexander the Great carbonized in Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted?

Then The Idiot briefly stopped on the French Riviera to serve as a guest guide for “The Blue Walk,” a company launched by MedTrekker Carlo Roberts specializing in short daily walks on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Idiot guest-guided American female participants on “The Blue Walk” on the French Rivieria before participating in the Alexander the Great Marathon in Greece to kick off The Idiot and the Odyssey III.

When The Idiot arrived in Greece after walking around Manhattan, visiting the British Museum and guest-guiding a walking tour on the French Riviera, he had one of his favorite edible treats and took a hike up Mount Olympus before participating in the Alexander the Great Marathon.

The Idiot savors a bougatsa crema pastry on the Thessaloniki waterfront the moment he arrives in Greece.

Before meeting Zeus on Mount Olympus, The Idiot runs into a group school kids who want photos and selfies.

Then The Idiot launched his next outing around the Mediterranean Sea, and the second chapter in The Idiot and the Odyssey III, by participating in the Alexander the Great Marathon.

The start of the Alexander the Great Marathon the day before the race.

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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."