Page 38 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

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stagecoaches, which were more comfortable and faster, making it away from their normal occupation for more than a few weeks. and other types of accommodation play an important role in the comments on the warmth of the hospitality and the quality of the
easier to move from place to place as journey times became shorter. At the same time, as travel became accessible to other social – but history of tourism. town’s social scene, he does not mention a single inn, despite the
At the same time, the nature of travellers themselves changed as the still comfortably off – groups, it became necessary for travellers fact that Lausanne is known to have had many at the time, especially
travel habit extended to other social classes. Now, people went on to pay closer attention to costs. The need to save time and money FROM THE GRAND TOUR TO TOURISM: along the Rue de Bourg. The only accommodation he describes is
journeys in search of pleasure, rather than information or culture. and the recognition of the limits imposed by the type of transport STAYING IN LAUSANNE in the homes of townspeople, who clearly made a not inconsiderable
Destinations, too, became more diverse. For example, at the end of available and lack of knowledge gradually became secondary to Since the seventeenth century, Lausanne had stood on one of contribution to the local economy. Nevertheless he quotes no
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the eighteenth century, Switzerland and the Alps were no longer the wish for travel to be a rewarding experience. Travellers wanted the routes to Italy taken by young men on the Grand Tour. Very names or addresses that might enable a reader to identify and visit
mere stops along the way but attractions in their own right. As well their fair share of spectacle and excitement and these changing soon, the town became famous for the beauty of its location, the them. This reticence was typical of the period and probably explains
as these practical, technical, economic, social and cultural changes, attitudes also altered their relationship with the places they visited. warmth of its hospitality – towards both travellers and Protestant why people seldom travelled alone but instead hired a coachman
in the course of the eighteenth century aesthetic sensibilities Greater speed meant that they took a more superficial view of refugees – the variety and richness of its social life and its healthy or harbinger (a messenger sent ahead to make arrangements for
also shifted away from the classical, firstly to the picturesque and things and the desire to see the world as spectacle meant that air. These advantages were described by François-Maximilien travellers) with local knowledge. Here we see what Heidegger has
then to the sublime (fig. 1). Blurring the boundaries between travellers were increasingly becoming consumers of geographical Misson in 1691 and Thomas Martyn in 1788: ‘The situation of to say about accommodation in his article on Lausanne: ‘The friendly
previously accepted aesthetic codes, the sublime mingled the space. Which had more influence over the other? The tourist Lausanne is extremely inhospitable and this place has something that at nature and the thoughtful manners of the inhabitants attract many strangers
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agreeable with the horrible, the beautiful with the terrifying, or the tourist industry? It is hard to say as both sides stimulated first seems wild; nevertheless I have noticed that this town is loved by all to the town. […] There is also a library but it is neither well stocked nor
and endeavoured to exalt the one by bringing it face to face supply and demand (figs 3 and 4). who know it. There is a variety of very pleasant walks the visitor may much visited, so many are the social distractions. The town is in a beautiful,
with the other. The Alps were recognised as a place where it was Coinciding with these developments at the turn of the take, particularly towards the lake; and the civility of the inhabitants is picturesque situation with charming walks. […] The inhabitants’ main
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possible to experience rapture that was simultaneously physical, nineteenth century, guidebooks also underwent a dramatic much praised. Do not expect me to give you any description, for I only source of income is derived from offering bed and board for which strangers
intellectual and emotional, a place where the human being could transformation. They set about redefining themselves, taking the know about what I was able to see in two or three hours.’ (Misson, 1722 pay them.’ (Heidegger,1787, pp. 84-85)
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feel small and infinitely fragile in the face of the immensity and first steps along the path that would lead to the ‘modern’ guide of [1691], vol. 2, p. 89) ‘Strangers are made comfortable and welcome here: However, while Heidegger fails to mention any, names of
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the perceived permanence of nature (fig. 2). the 1840s. While travellers had for years used as guides the simple the air is pure and healthy; water and other things necessary to life are inns first began to appear in guidebooks around the same time,
The transition from Grand Tour to tourism – the second travelogues the authors of which had tried to make as neutral as abundant and very good, the surroundings hilly. Strangers like this town, as we see from Thomas Martyn’s Guide du voyageur en Suisse,
term being a derivation of the first – began before 1850. Although possible, from 1770-80 onwards we see a clear separation between not for the town itself which has nothing pleasant about it, but for its good published in 1788. Under the heading ‘Lausanne’, an asterisk in
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during the first few decades of the century there still existed an travel literature of this kind and the modern guidebooks of the society, the beauty of its vistas, the purity of its air, and for the freedom with brackets refers the reader to the following note: ‘It takes 1 hour 45
elite group of travellers, steeped in the culture of the classical era future. Freed from the constraints of neutrality and thoroughness, which one may live here.’ (Martyn, 1788, pp. 39-40) minutes from Morges. The Lion d’or, an excellent inn.’(Martyn, 1788,
and with sufficient time and money to do the Grand Tour, real writers of the former could be subjective, biased and opinionated, Negative comments about the town itself which, unlike its p. 37). Since it does not form part of the text, its brevity is hardly
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tourists began to emerge at the same time. Tellingly, the word while authors of the latter sought to present a comprehensive location, attracted severe criticism for many years, were mainly surprising. Rather, it should be regarded as a step towards the
‘tourist’ featured in dictionaries of the period (in 1800 in English description that remained as objective as possible without the need directed at its topography, which was all uphill and down, its modern type of guidebook and an attempt to adapt to travellers’
and 1803 in French) although it was not widely used in France for flowery turns of phrase. Soon, there were obvious differences labyrinthine streets, and the quality of its architecture, which was changing needs. Even so, inns find their way somewhat timidly
until after the publication of Stendhal’s Mémoires d’un touriste in between the two genres, in terms of language, choice of subject frequently criticised (fig. 5). Despite this, Lausanne’s fame spread into the pages of the guides. Most of the time, there is only one
1838. The transition from aristocratic traveller to middle-class matter and in their way of presenting itineraries and destinations. and, predictably, various types of visitor accommodation were for each town, while for some places no inn is mentioned. In fact,
tourist was a gradual one. According to historians and sociologists Veering away from the old-style travelogue or travelogue-cum- quickly put in place, with inns existing side by side with private it is entirely up to the author, who usually recommended the inn
with an interest in the subject, tourists are not born but made. guide, which only described the itinerary followed by the author, boarding houses and families offering hospitality to their social where he himself had stayed in the town in which he had broken
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The state of being a tourist is, they claim, the result of a social from the time he left home until his return several months or equals. However, this wide range of accommodation is never his journey. Did he not stay the night in Cossonay? Did he not
learning experience, influenced by a variety of factors. Among the years later the new guides began to look for other ways to present mentioned in eighteenth-century travel literature. pass through Vevey? No inn is mentioned for either. Whether a
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most important of these are time and money. Unlike those who the ground travellers might cover, opening up fresh opportunities Henry Heidegger’s Manuel pour les voyages par la Suisse, guide would list the names and brief reviews of several inns in a
took the Grand Tour, ‘new style’ travellers were less able to stay and suggesting new regions to be explored. Descriptions of inns published in 1787, illustrates this continued absence. While he single place – usually, but not always, a larger town – depended on

< Fig. 3 L. Sabatier, Ouchy and Lausanne (Lake Geneva). Lithograph, c.1865.
Ouchi and Lausanne. Lithograph printed by Lemercier, Paris, c.1825-35.

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