"Eine Maifahrt in die englische Schweiz"

Name of traveller

Adolf Heine

Reason for travel

• holidaying; leisurely travel

Date of travel

gives date as May 1896, but have have undertaken the journey already in the late 1870s

In stiller Betrachtung stand ich lange in der lauen Mainacht inmitten des alten Druidenwaldes da, und aus den naheliegenden Häusern schallten die Töne der Harfe, des walisischen Nationalinstruments, und Lieder aus alten Zeiten zu mir herüber. (Heine 4)

Content

• architecture: enjoys medieval castle ruins along the north Wales coast
• clothing: description of women's dresses and great variety of hats worn to church on Sunday
• customs:
  • local children asking tourists for their pennies
  • identifies the harp as national instrument
• language:
  • brief note on Welsh place names
  • describes the Welsh language as the only remnant of Welsh national identity; comparison with the Sorbian language in Germany
• literature:
  • cites verses by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) inscribed on two guest houses between Conwy and Penmaenmawr
  • reference to Fürst von Pückler-Muskau's (1785-1871) description of the Ladies of Llangollen, Eleanor Charlotte Butler (1739-1829) and Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831)
  • Arthurian legends and stories about the Holy Grail as an inheritance of Welsh druidism
  • many passages near identical and some copied entirely from the book-length travelogue by Julius Rodenberg (1831-1914)
• people:
  • travels together with an unidentified German friend and two English friends
  • watches people leaving church after the Sunday service
• recreation:
  • tourists in Llandudno most commonly from Liverpool
  • description of English tourists fishing trout in rivers in Snowdonia
  • description of English tourists, tour guides and donkeys congregating around the Victoria Hotel in Llanberis
• terrain:
  • conflation of Wales and England
  • Wales described as the Switzerland of England
  • romanticised descriptions of picturesque landscapes
  • beautiful, green valleys along the coast and sublime mountains further inland
  • locates Llangollen between Llyn Ogwen and Llanberis
  • heavy rain prevents the ascent of Snowdon
• transport:
  • modes of travel: on foot; train
  • reference to the derailing and subsequent crash of the Snowdon Mountain Railway on its first run
• compare with an earlier description of the journey
• click here to read the full account

Nationality of traveller

Austrian

Language of publication

German

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

essay; travelogue

Citation

Heine, A[dolf]. "Eine Maifahrt in die englische Schweiz." Prager Blatt (31 May 1896): 1-4. Print.