Paris. Mathilde et Édouard partent en voyage de noces... à pied. Ils ont le rêve fou de rallier Jérusalem, sans un sou en poche, à la manière des pèlerins du Moyen Âge. Des Alpes aux Balkans, des steppes d'Asie Mineure aux eaux du Jourdain, ils cheminent à travers quatorze pays, gravissant des montagnes, traversant des régions en guerre, franchissant des zones désertiques, dormant à la belle étoile. Découvrir les autres, ils y sont forcés pour survivre, puisqu'il faut, chaque jour, trouver celui qui leur offrira de quoi se nourrir. Ce récit de huit mois de rencontres, de solitude, de faim, de peur, constitue une extraordinaire et authentique aventure humaine et intérieure.
" Leur récit de vagabondage est une sorte de réenchantement du monde. Un chemin de lumière. " Le Figaro Magazine
Chemin de promesses is more than just a book about traveling and adventure. It is a book about a love which motivates and transforms. Love for the unknown person which is offering you a meal or a place to sleep. Even if you dont speak his language. Love for the travel partner. A love which includes his fears, his strengths, his weaknesses, his moments of joy and sorrow. Because there is no better way to know the other one than a journey. Love for traveling like the best school.
Outstanding read, good for the soul. Filled me with admiration for this couple, confirmed some of my prejudices about Europe and the Middle East (Italy, Muslim Turkey) and challenged others (Southern France, Syria). Above all, made me grateful I don't have to stress about what I'm going to have for dinner and where I'm going to sleep.
I loved it the first time I read it, years ago, but it takes a whole new sense after the war in Syria... already in those days it was... an ... interesting country!