Why read old stuff when there is so much new stuff?  Because classic travel books written by the ancients, or by travelers in earlier centuries, can give today’s traveler a sense of the underpinnings of today’s culture of a place.  I have already sung the praises of using Thucydides’  History of the Peloponnesian Wars as a practical guide to today’s Greece. Reading something written by a sharp observer from centuries ago can be a kind of time-travel, helping you get inside the mind set of the people of the day. Why did Olympian athletes run naked? Why did cities build those small buildings called Treasuries at Delphi? What’s with all those public baths in the ancient world? Clues exist in the writings of Pausanias, Thucydides, Homer, and Herodotus, among others.

I must admit also, that some of the favorite books on my travel library shelves, are classic travel books written by 18th and 19th century travelers.  If nothing else, they provide a kind of grounding when I get frustrated with waiting in line for a security check at an airport.  Would you rather….pack your bathtub on the back of your mule? sew gems into the hems of your garments to keep them safe from robbers on mountain passes? sleep four to a bed?(whose population went up by several hundred if you count bedbugs and lice?). As a woman, I might disguise myself as a boy for safety, but risk being propositioned by a man in the casbah.  All of these delights of travel I have read about in the journals of earlier travelers to ancient lands.

And how do you find such books?  Poring over the travel shelves of used book stores can be a lot of fun, but if you are allergic to the dust, and want a quicker way to find them, the Internet springs to your service. Read on for some on-line sources for books about travel in ancient lands and by travelers in earlier days. Continue reading How to Find Old Travel Books →