Albania A narrative of recent travel Knight E. F. (Edward Frederick) 9781318032860 Books
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Albania A narrative of recent travel Knight E. F. (Edward Frederick) 9781318032860 Books
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Albania A narrative of recent travel Knight E. F. (Edward Frederick) 9781318032860 Books Reviews
Actually a rather well written book from I am guessing the 1870's. A narrative of Brits travelling in Albania by horse, walk, rail, and steamship. I picked it up because it was free. The reason I chose it (it was on kindle) was I had been talking to a motorcyclist who ha decided not to ride through Albania on his way to Greece because of the corruption. Apparently the corruption and family feuding is still prevalent. Men don't die of old age in Albania.
As far as I could understand this was written by English travelers in the 1870's who decided to travel to Albania. So much for recent. That being said I read it while I was travelling through the Greek Islands and I found if very interesting. The people at that time were very much in a back water of Europe (and they still are) It's and adequate piece of historical travel writing.
I loved it. An amusing travel story from tha past.
Travel through the Balkans in the late eighteen hundreds. An interesting and enjoying read. The focus is on Albania but there's plenty about Macedonia and the various ethnic bloodlettings that went on constantly in this area.
…that one small island off the northwest corner of the Eurasian land mass would one day have an empire on which “the sun never set.†Though technically that empire is gone, the influence lingers on, in substantial portions, since they taught the world to speak their language. How did they do it? Credit has been given to its few scientists who started the Industrial Revolution, to the courage of those in the British Infantry “square,†and, of course, to their sailors and navy that “ruled the waves.†But a fair amount of the credit should be given to a people, who in disproportionate numbers, were willing to leave their island nation and poke around in the obscure parts of the world, either curious for the sheer joy of discovering what was “around the next corner in the road†and/or sometimes addicted to the games of power, and enjoyed “The Great Game,†be it in Central Asia or elsewhere. Edward Frederick Knight, the author, was one such adventure-traveler and/or government agent. The 19th century equivalent of the pubs of Ibiza were not for him. He found “remoteness,†yet stayed in Europe.
Seemingly on “a lark,†as he explains it, he, and three other men, to whom he gives pseudonyms, set off to see the wilder shores of Europe. The trip will span several months. He doesn’t say when the trip started, but since the travel account was published in 1880, I assumed it was late summer/ fall of 1878 or ‘79. Internal disputes arose, and Knight and Brown deciding to push on, annoyed with the delays of the other two. They decided they want to visit Montenegro and Northern Albania, which was a war zone at the time, as it so often is, being part of what one of their fellow Englishmen would call “the damnable Balkans.†The central problem of this area is that it sits astride three cultural and political “tectonic plates†Islam and the Ottoman Empire, the Orthodox Church and Russian-Greek influence, and the Catholic Church and German and Italian influence. Knight et al. were watching these plates collide.
They set off with a big white tent, dubbed the “White elephant,†that they used only once in their entire travels, along with guns, and brandy, the latter for strictly medicinal purposes, of course. It took 62 hours to go from London to Venice by train, and another 12 hours by steamer to Trieste, where they met the famous British traveler, and now semi-retired consular official, Sir Richard Burton. They travelled down the Adriatic Coast by slow steamer. The Austrian Empire had eliminated the bandits in these remote provinces, and it was the Venetian empire, much before, that had eliminated the magnificent Illyrian forests in order to make their navy.
On one hand, I felt that Knight was a careful and fair observer of the country and people, and provided numerous useful insights to today’s armchair and wannabe travelers. On the other hand, they crossed several times between warring Montenegro and Turkish lines, risking being captured as a spy by either. It did seem to be one form of “lark†madness, with a most likely explanation being they were on the government’s shilling.
Observations from Knight there is no functional police in Albania. Some sort of “law and order†is maintained through the code of “blood feuds.†The food along the Dalmatian coast is half Italian, half German, the worse half of either. The Roman Emperor Diocletian, tired of the power struggles in Rome, retired half way down the Croatian coast in Salona in 305. The wives in the Balkans are beast of burden, so it is no surprise that Knight did not find a pretty one from Trieste to Montenegro. Bocche di cattaro, Kotor, Montenegro has Sui generis scenery – yes, one of the world’s most lovely spots.
He made a remark about English travelers being exempt from the local laws, and that seems to apply to numerous travelers who have more money than the natives, and come from powerful countries. He concluded his account with a strong plea, in opposition to Gladstone, who wanted to give Albania to the southern Slavs, for Albanian independence from the Ottoman Empire, as well as the Austrian one. Overall, a worthwhile, informative read. 4-stars.
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