Sur les chemins de l’Europe: Angleterre, Flandre, Hollande, Suisse, Lombardie …

Name of traveller

Jules Michelet (1798-1874)

Reason for travel

• en route to Ireland

Date of travel

1834

C'est la tristesse du soir, mais aussi la tristesse des bruyères, la tristesse de l'océan dont le voyageur se sent de partout envelopé. Je prends une tasse de thé à Holyhead, et, au moment où une petite cloche au timbre mélancolique frappe onze coups, je m'embarque pour l'Irlande. (Michelet 77-8)

Content

• architecture: recognises architecture and engineering feats
• customs:
  • finds the Welsh people poetic
  • harps played in inns; listens to a peasant or farmer singing
  • describes Anglesey as sanctuary for druidism
• terrain:
  • differentiates between Wales and England
  • describes the land as Celtic
  • draws comparison between Wales and Brittany; same plants as in Brittany
  • Wales is a miniature Switzerland, not as grand as the Alps
  • melancholic character of Anglesey
• transport: notes use of donkeys instead of horses

Nationality of traveller

French

Language of publication

French

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

travelogue

Citation

*Michelet, Jules. Sur les chemins de l’Europe: Angleterre, Flandre, Hollande, Suisse, Lombardie … Paris: Marpton & Flammarion, 1893. 71-8. Print.