Grand Tour Today

Published in 1968, this book intends to be “a Grand Tour of Europe brought up to date with a modern itinerary and a fresh eye on matters both old and new.” (Page 1). Yes, it does what is says on the box - chapters cover each country - although Germany gets three (one shared with Liechtenstein, one shared with Austria), Monaco shares with France and Spain.

We all know The Grand Tour as the 17th to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, usually with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank when they had come of age - typically accompanied by a tutor or chaperone. I expected to get more from this book, but unfortunately it was rather dull. In fact, had i not been travelling for work with this book as my only option, I probably would have consigned it to a DNF, as it was I nodded off on the plane and dropped it on the floor, waking up to the chuckle of the old lady sitting next to me. To be fair it had been a long couple of days...

But I digress. This will not be a long review, as I really don't know why this wasn't a better read. I was somewhat distracted by the addition of Lebanon to Europe. The authors view being that now air travel was an option why limit Europe to Europe. He flew a few routes, took buses and trains, he may have also had a car, I don't recall.

Really this is almost a guidebook - taking a city and describing the highlight sights and sites, then adding a quick recent history without getting too deep, and throwing in some interactions or meetings / anecdotes. I found it all rather dry. I am not familiar with the author, but he has a long list of previous publications on the flyleaf (or whatever the page after the blank page is), 7 novels, 8 books of short story collections, a handful of short novels and essays etc. I don't suppose I will be tempted to seek out any more of his work.

This book was also bereft of photographs, illustrations or a map, which seems short-sighted for this type of book. I am struggling to find a positive to add here to counter these negatives... I guess I like the cover illustration.

Two stars is all I can muster.