Where in the world is Capuano?

First, a word about our modern day Marco Polo. Although his congressional committee assignments deal mostly with domestic issues, this six-term representative always knew he wanted to travel the world for free. As a writer recounted in the New Republic, Capuano remarked early on that “I gotta get one reelection and then I can go wherever I want.’’

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is just what he’s done.

Your challenge today is to use the clues to try to trace the globe-trotting congressman’s contrails.

Remember, hit your button when you’re ready to venture a guess.

Here we go.

This mountainous country has coastlines on both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. One of its best-known cities gave its name to a small Chinese orange. Bob Dylan once lamented a lost love who might have moved to the same city, singing: “If you see her, say hello, she might be in - - - - - - -. She left here last early spring, is livin’ there, I hear.’’

Rather like Captain Renault in a movie named after another of this land’s cities, we were “shocked, shocked’’ to learn that Representative Capuano would go junketing here.

You got it. A summer 2005 trip took him to the Seneca of Somerville to . . . mysterious Morocco.

OK, like our subject, let’s keep moving along.

Its jutting location and extraordinary seamanship made this small European country a leader in the early exploration of the world. Indeed, while in service to a neighboring king, one of its native sons led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe. The earthquake that devastated its capital city on All Saints’ Day in 1755 helped prompt Voltaire to pen his satire “Candide.’’ One of its, um, shipping cities has lent its name to a fortified after-dinner wine.

That’s right, a July 2006 congressional junket took Capuano to picturesque Portugal.

Junkets, of course, are seldom single-country affairs, and the same trip found our circumforaneous congressman visiting several more countries, including this one, named after its continent’s second-highest mountain, not Kilimanjaro, the highest. A favored tourist destination, it is famous for its wildlife. Its athletes, meanwhile, have long dominated distance running.

Sorry, that was almost too easy. Yes, the July 2006 trip also brought Capuano to exotic Kenya.

Although our next country is a microstate with a population of only about 5 million, it boasts one of the world’s busiest ports. In 1994, an American schoolboy discovered that if you raise one kind of Cain here, the authorities may just raise another. It’s . . .

Zounds, that was fast. Yes, an August 2008 Asian trip found the itinerant Eighth District congressman in faraway Singapore.

On we go. A flowering of learning that started in this land helped pull Europe out of the benighted Middle Ages. The lovely landscape and light here has lured painters for centuries. This summer, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts hosted an edifying exhibit about three artistic giants who painted in a watery city-state that later became part of this country. Today’s frequent flier might favor this country for fashion, food, and Fiats.

That’s right, this February a congressional trip built around a quick visit to Afghanistan found our renaissance representative enjoying a week in Italy.

Alas, we’re already running out of space, and we’ve only featured a few of the two dozen or so countries Congressman Capuano has visited.

Now it’s time for our bonus question.

You, too, have participated in Congressman Capuano’s trips. How?

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been privileged to pick up the tab for both the flights on government-owned luxury aircraft and for the swank accommodations and tasty cuisine. Why, lodging, food, and entertainment alone for Capuano’s travels cost some $24,000. Aren’t you lucky?

And here’s some more good news. Since the cagey congressman has a bad case of wanderlust and a raft of rationalizations at the ready, there will undoubtedly be plenty of future opportunities to play “Where in the World is Mike Capuano?’’

Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.