成人论坛

In the penultimate stage of Dan Cruickshank鈥檚 gargantuan journey around the world, we find the intrepid explorer floating above Turkey in a hot air balloon! Below lie miles of a subterranean city where across the centuries peoples hid from warring factions from the east and west. Once in the caves - dark and sinister as they are - Dan uncovers an ingenious means of defence before stumbling on the weirdest treasure of his trip - a cavern full of golden locks - of hair! It reminds him he needs a haircut - possibly the least wise decision of his trip. Recovered from his singeing experience over supper in downtown Istanbul, the mother of all domes at Hagia Sophia raises his spirits as he climbs to the very top.

In Russia's St Petersburg, Dan casts himself in the guise of Peter the Great, who planned an imperial city from a simple shack before heading north toward the Arctic Circle and the remote Monastery of Solovki, where Russia's epic and often violent history has left its mark. Even now it is one of the bleakest places he has encountered so far.

Poland is a destination with personal echoes - as he reveals, he grew up there - a visit to the local salt mine with its miraculous salt carvings - beautifully detailed figures carved by the miners as altar pieces to petition God for their safety - transports him back to his lost childhood. Shadows of 20th-century history crowd in as Dan lands in Berlin where he determines he must salvage something from the wreckage of Nazi Germany. His choice: a chair and a beetle.