Although international travel is not an option for many at the moment, followers of CYA Professor Robert Pitt were able to journey to Athens through the eyes of travelers from antiquity to the nineteenth century  during his lecture Travels to Athens from Cyriac to Baedeker  on Wednesday 8 July 2020. The lecture, which is part of CYA’s Virtual Lecture Series, highlighted the rich history of travel and tourism in Greece through the study of travel writing from many different periods. The lecture was moderated by CYA Professor Christine Harrison, who offers a course in travel writing.

As Professor Pitt noted, the writing of such travelers is extremely important in that it provides us with information, including descriptions and drawings of monuments that have been destroyed or influenced by modern construction, as well as dress, culture, and linguistic elements from Greece’s past. Tourists’ writings and architectural drawings helped bring about neoclassical movements in Western Europe.

However, these travelers did not always have an easy journey to Greece. Professor Pitt mentioned cases of robbery, disease, and even quarantine, which is familiar to us all now,  but was quite frequent throughout history.

Thank you to all who have been following our Virtual Lecture Series, and we are happy to announce the following lecture, which will be on Wednesday, July 15, 2020.