Having just completed Hibbert's great book about the Grand Tour, I can add a second part regarding travel in Germany and Holland.
After leaving Italy, it was into Germany and then the Netherlands before heading back to England. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, Germany was still 'The Empire' and it had the same problem as Italy with regards to an excessive number of kingdoms.
This created problems with travel regarding customs officials. To circumvent this, English would style themselves as a 'baron' and dress up in fancy costume, with expensive carriages, and retinues and feathers in their hats.
Having dressed up in this way, they would be presented in royal courts and have interviews with dukes and even royals well above their station. The Germans entertained quite lavishly especially in Austria, and Vienna, was seen as the luxury capital of Europe, not France, which came second.
There were about 70 royal courts in Germany and if aristocrats failed to entertain them, the tourists were disappointed as this was expected, such were the Germans reputation! Destinations included Potsdam in Berlin, the capital of Prussia as well as Dusseldorf, still a luxury capital. Cologne was seen as full of beggars and weeds and lazy folk, their unfinished cathedral a burden and blight for 700 years.
These days Germany is not seen as a top travel destination by tourists vs. say Spain or Italy, (however having travelled there it is simply fantastic and I cannot understand this view among Westerners!), but in those days it was seen as a premier destination with beautiful cities, and Spain was ignored as 'irrelevant'! Tourists would eat beer, pumpernickel and 'greasy sausage' at their inns.
Holland! Holland was seen as the cleanest place in Europe. Dutch women would actually wash the cobblestones in front of their houses and all along the street, which was perfectly clean. This differs to France where the cobblestones were caked in grime and dirt and were quite slippery.
Along the lines of aquatic ape theory, one tourist commented on the amphibian-like look around the eyes of some Dutch men and wondered if the whole country had not once been covered with water and the ancestors of the current inhabitants sea creatures.
The country was described as one huge garden with rows of flowers across meadows. Unlike the Germans, the Dutch nobles and regulars did not entertain the English at all, some said out of parsimony, and it seemed it was a national sport to try and get rich.
In Italy and especially Naples, if there was a dispute about payments at the inn, a shotgun was produced. In Holland if there was a dispute, the landlord would increase the price and summon the local magistrate. Due to all this, the English actually ran their own inns in Holland and many tourists simply ate their and ate English style food, beef and beer.
The tourist would also travel into Belgium, then known as Spanish or Austrian Flanders. At Spa, waters were seen as the most curative in Europe. Being a monarchy it was a bit more backwards than the republic to the north, and the countryfolk seen as friendly and stuck in time.
Charles Kos
PART 2. The Grand Tour. Germany and Holland.
Having just completed Hibbert's great book about the Grand Tour, I can add a second part regarding travel in Germany and Holland.
After leaving Italy, it was into Germany and then the Netherlands before heading back to England. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, Germany was still 'The Empire' and it had the same problem as Italy with regards to an excessive number of kingdoms.
This created problems with travel regarding customs officials. To circumvent this, English would style themselves as a 'baron' and dress up in fancy costume, with expensive carriages, and retinues and feathers in their hats.
Having dressed up in this way, they would be presented in royal courts and have interviews with dukes and even royals well above their station. The Germans entertained quite lavishly especially in Austria, and Vienna, was seen as the luxury capital of Europe, not France, which came second.
There were about 70 royal courts in Germany and if aristocrats failed to entertain them, the tourists were disappointed as this was expected, such were the Germans reputation! Destinations included Potsdam in Berlin, the capital of Prussia as well as Dusseldorf, still a luxury capital. Cologne was seen as full of beggars and weeds and lazy folk, their unfinished cathedral a burden and blight for 700 years.
These days Germany is not seen as a top travel destination by tourists vs. say Spain or Italy, (however having travelled there it is simply fantastic and I cannot understand this view among Westerners!), but in those days it was seen as a premier destination with beautiful cities, and Spain was ignored as 'irrelevant'! Tourists would eat beer, pumpernickel and 'greasy sausage' at their inns.
Holland! Holland was seen as the cleanest place in Europe. Dutch women would actually wash the cobblestones in front of their houses and all along the street, which was perfectly clean. This differs to France where the cobblestones were caked in grime and dirt and were quite slippery.
Along the lines of aquatic ape theory, one tourist commented on the amphibian-like look around the eyes of some Dutch men and wondered if the whole country had not once been covered with water and the ancestors of the current inhabitants sea creatures.
The country was described as one huge garden with rows of flowers across meadows. Unlike the Germans, the Dutch nobles and regulars did not entertain the English at all, some said out of parsimony, and it seemed it was a national sport to try and get rich.
In Italy and especially Naples, if there was a dispute about payments at the inn, a shotgun was produced. In Holland if there was a dispute, the landlord would increase the price and summon the local magistrate. Due to all this, the English actually ran their own inns in Holland and many tourists simply ate their and ate English style food, beef and beer.
The tourist would also travel into Belgium, then known as Spanish or Austrian Flanders. At Spa, waters were seen as the most curative in Europe. Being a monarchy it was a bit more backwards than the republic to the north, and the countryfolk seen as friendly and stuck in time.
:)
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