Publisher's Synopsis
The troubled lands of central Europe, the Caucasus and the Balkans have suffered centuries of invasion and traumatic political change, including the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.Robert Muirhead was inspired by the resilience of the people he met in those troubled lands who have often endured the unendurable. He experienced the simple hopes and pleasures of ordinary people as they went about their daily lives; the hopes and optimism of the young; the innocent happiness of children free from fear; and the stoic acceptance of the old who have suffered so much. He saw the power of re-emerging ancient faith bringing hope and comfort to them all.On other memorable journeys he saw the wonders of Greece that shaped the boundaries of Western thought and he sailed among the Aegean islands of Homer's wine-dark sea. He visited Pergamon in Turkey where Galen practised holistic medicine 2000 years ago and the healing centre at Epidaurus in Greece where the healing god Asclepius spoke to patients in their dreams. He visited the Oracle at Delphi and drank at its sacred spring. He visited the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.Travel with him to beautiful Lake Bled in Slovenia with its fairy-tale castle, the Valley of the Roses in Bulgaria and the amazing monasteries of Meteora in Greece. Marvel at the tiny island of Malta that triumphed in two of the most famous sieges in history. Share his excitement as he excavates the ruins of a Roman fort on the Danube.Then there are the tales and legends he heard. A mysterious woman on a white horse goes about in the Romanian night trying to kill people. If you place your chest on St. Naum's tomb in Macedonia and listen attentively, it is said that you may hear his heart still beating. Find out how a Hutsul man in the Carpathians shows a girl he likes her.