Travel or tourism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Abstract

The stories of 19th century French travellers to Spain and their exotic vision of the country are well known. Many left their impressions of the country, from populars authors such as Georges Sand and his work Un hiver à Majorque (1855), translated in 1902, to the Geneva-based Valérie de Gasparin. In 1869, one of his works À travers les Espagnes, was published in Paris, the Spanish version of which was entitled Paseo por España (Valencia, 1875). The translation of this work is the starting point of our article as it links directly to the press as a vehicle for “tourist” information on the different cities of Spain. In this work we will expose the relevance of travel books, the press and even architecture books such as Espagne, Portugal. Notes historiques et artistiques sur les villes principales de la Péninsule ibérique, by French architect Gustave Clausse (Paris, 1889), in the gradual evolution of travel to tourism.