Marco Polo the Venetian traveled throughout the Far East in the 13th-Century, discovering all manner of advanced wonders of art and technology unknown to Europeans, and serving as Kubla Khan's trusted advisor and ambassador. When he returned to Venice after a 25 year absence, no one believed his tales. Dictated in prison, his Travels is one of the earliest European travel tales and remains a "thrilling story of what even in our day is still the land of wonder.