Freya Stark: ‘The Greatest Woman Traveller of the 20th Century?’

Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 05.07.10 | 3:16 PM ET

Sara Wheeler says yes.

I think so, though Gertrude Bell, a fellow Arabist 25 years Stark’s senior, runs her a close second. (Stark considered Bell overrated, accusing her of never staying anywhere long enough to get to the heart of things.) “One can only really travel,” Stark once said, “if one lets oneself go.”

Bell landed on Julia Ross’s list of inspirational female travelers.