Once on a winter day in 2008, the author of this book carefully traced the constellation Ursa Major onto tracing paper, randomly superimposed the drawing over a map of Europe, and marked on the map the European cities that matched the stars. Among the marked cities were both large and well-known ones — Zurich, Warsaw, Nancy, Zaragoza, Brindisi — as well as small, little-known settlements known only to the local residents: Elche de la Sierra, Marvejols, Otranto, Engelholm, Otranto, Ponte Leccia, and many others.
Then the author traveled to all the marked cities and recorded the stories he heard on their streets, continually amazed at how talkative cities become when they receive a traveler who has come specifically to listen to them attentively. It seems very important for any city to have the opportunity to speak to people in a language they understand.
Thus appeared the «Big Cart» — the perfect vehicle for traveling across Europe, a travel book, a guide to the secret corners of European cities and our hearts.
