700 years ago, amazed by his incredible description of a far away land of great beauty, people asked Marco Polo whether his stories about China were true.
By the time he finally allowed Marco Polo to leave his court, the one-time warrior was nothing but a fat, unhappy man, trapped in a vast palace as luxurious as it was empty.
Marco Polo wrote sometimes the stray travelers will hear the tramp and hum of a great cavalcade of people away from the real line of march, and taking this to be their own company, they will follow the sound.