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📖 The Scoop

Bill Bryson meets 'Gladiator' as a modern-day couple goes on the trail of Ancient Roman tourists from Italy through Greece, Turkey and Egypt in this hugely entertaining, witty travel book that brings to life the ancient world as well as providing rich insights into one of the best-travelled areas on earth.

In Route 66 AD, Tony Perrotet travels throughout the Meditteranean, using an itinerary modeled on that of the world's first tourists – the ancient Romans. Using an archaic guidebook from the era, Perrotet writes an entertaining travel book that is also a funny, intelligent rich discussion of ancient history and culture versus our own.

Travelling with his 3-months pregnant girlfriend, Tony decided that they should visit a safe, very familiar location for their last trip before parenthood, rather than the hair-raising exotic locales they usually visited. He had been to Tierra del Fuego five times, but never to Rome! Starting in Rome, and travelling through Greece and Turkey, they ended up in Egypt, having experienced a not-so-safe and predictable wild ride in the meantime, from scuba diving among the ancient ruins in the Bay of Naples, to visiting Pompeii McDonalds, to making a bewildered appearance as guests of honour at a Nubian wedding.

Weaving the rich history and hilarious anceint observations through the text, Perrotet succeeds in creating a new, and fabulous genre, as accessible as it is erudite, a gem for the armchair traveller and an irresitible guidebook for anyone thinking of touring Italy, Greece, Turkey or Egypt.

Genre: Travel / Essays & Travelogues (fancy, right?)