Marco Polo (above) was released from the prison of Genoese in 1299 after being attached while on a trading mission. He was prisoned with Rustichiello of Pisa (below) who listened and wrote down the stories of Marco Polo.
Marco Polo's travels took him to the Great City of Kinsay, which is the Capital of the Whole Country of Manzi, and is the modern Hangchow. On his death bed Marco Polo was asked if his travel stories were true. He replied that he had told barely half of what he had seen.Ibn Batuta (right) was the Arab equivalent of marco Polo, who traveled around the world and has much to say about peoples of the world. Batuta shares his journey to a Genoese (left).
During the age of the Roman and later of the Byzantine Empire Venetian and later Genoa merchants colonized Crimea, built ports and cities, which helped them expand their trade into Asia. A Venetian city of Kaliera was located at the foot of the dormant volcano Kara-Dag, which is one of our primary destinations. Nothing aside from a few excavated artifacts survived of Kaliera but the nearby city of Sudak (former Soldaya) is home to the famous Genoese Fortress, initially built by Khazars and expanded and improved by the Italian settlers in the 1300th.
Following the visit to the Genoese Fortress, Batuta visited Antaliya, Turkey, he described Alanya: "There is a magnificent and formidable citadel [or fort] at the upper end of town. ... At the northwestern corner is a place where prisoners condemned to death were hurled over the precipice by means of catapults."
Traveling on to many other areas, such as Akridur, where the hospitality of the shaykhs of the Young Brotherhood was generous to Batuta and his men.
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