The Smell of the Continent - James Munson & Richard Mullen
The Smell of the Continent: The British Discover Europe - James Munson & Richard Mullen
Non-Fiction
Pages: 400
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The one thing that struck me on reading this book is how little British tourists have changed over the years, whether it's Victorians interrupting Latin Mass in Italian cathedrals to look at frescos, drunken youths cavorting in fountains and public squares, or the expectation that everyone ought to speak English. As the authors themselves state, it's the numbers that have changed, not the behaviour.
This is a really enjoyable read, a look at how the British arguably invented the concept of modern tourism. Prior to 1814, when this book begins, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars when the continent was 'opened' again, only the upper classes travelled, usually on some kind of 'improving' Grand Tour. By 1914 almost everyone could afford to travel, barring of course the very poorest, and almost everyone had an expectation of an annual holiday, a concept which still lasts to this day.
This book is a sort of combination of thematic and chronological approach, looking at concepts such as transport, food, hotels, bureaucracy, money, language, arts. It looks at the role tourism had on improving sanitation in cities, on travel services; on the spread of Anglicanism on the continent; and some towns and cities, notably Cannes in the south of France, even owe their very existence to tourism. Some familiar names crop up, Lunn Poly, Thomas Cook, Baedekers, the Ritz chain.
What I found interesting throughout the book was the confidence of the travellers, the sense of superiority merely from being British, and yes, the arrogance. 1814 to 1914 was perhaps the era when British confidence was at its height, Britain 'ruled the waves', and in terms of the Continent British gold certainly ruled. But these days, such confidence and arrogance is entirely unjustified, and yet it lingers on sadly in the attitudes to so many tourists now.
Non-Fiction
Pages: 400
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The one thing that struck me on reading this book is how little British tourists have changed over the years, whether it's Victorians interrupting Latin Mass in Italian cathedrals to look at frescos, drunken youths cavorting in fountains and public squares, or the expectation that everyone ought to speak English. As the authors themselves state, it's the numbers that have changed, not the behaviour.
This is a really enjoyable read, a look at how the British arguably invented the concept of modern tourism. Prior to 1814, when this book begins, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars when the continent was 'opened' again, only the upper classes travelled, usually on some kind of 'improving' Grand Tour. By 1914 almost everyone could afford to travel, barring of course the very poorest, and almost everyone had an expectation of an annual holiday, a concept which still lasts to this day.
This book is a sort of combination of thematic and chronological approach, looking at concepts such as transport, food, hotels, bureaucracy, money, language, arts. It looks at the role tourism had on improving sanitation in cities, on travel services; on the spread of Anglicanism on the continent; and some towns and cities, notably Cannes in the south of France, even owe their very existence to tourism. Some familiar names crop up, Lunn Poly, Thomas Cook, Baedekers, the Ritz chain.
What I found interesting throughout the book was the confidence of the travellers, the sense of superiority merely from being British, and yes, the arrogance. 1814 to 1914 was perhaps the era when British confidence was at its height, Britain 'ruled the waves', and in terms of the Continent British gold certainly ruled. But these days, such confidence and arrogance is entirely unjustified, and yet it lingers on sadly in the attitudes to so many tourists now.