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A Poet's Bazaar: A Journey to Greece, Turkey and Up the Danube
The author recounts his experience traveling through Greece, the Orient, and Austria and shares his observations on train travel
207 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1842
3 people are currently reading
153 people want to read
About the author
Hans Christian Andersen
7,799 books3,548 followersHans Christian Andersen (often referred to in Scandinavia as H.C. Andersen) was a Danish author and poet. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories — called eventyr, or "fairy-tales" — express themes that transcend age and nationality.
Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Little Mermaid", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Nightingale", "The Emperor's New Clothes" and many more. His stories have inspired plays, ballets, and both live-action and animated films.
Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Little Mermaid", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Nightingale", "The Emperor's New Clothes" and many more. His stories have inspired plays, ballets, and both live-action and animated films.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 29, 2022
Un jurnal de călătorie, cum altfel decât poetic, doar e vorba de Andersen, povestitorul de top al copilăriei. Interesantă perspectiva istorico-antropologică a scriitorului asupra meleagurilor și populațiilor europene de mijloc de veac XIX.
January 18, 2022
Minunate relatările lui Andersen din călătoria sa prin Germania, Italia, Grecia, Orient (fostul Imperiu Otoman
- un adevărat tărâm de basm în viziunea autorului), țările dunărene (m-a întristat dar şi amuzat experienţa lui prin Constanţa şi pe drumul către Cernavodă).
Se citeşte uşor şi rămâi cu imagini foarte pitoreşti ale acestor locuri din vremuri apuse.
- un adevărat tărâm de basm în viziunea autorului), țările dunărene (m-a întristat dar şi amuzat experienţa lui prin Constanţa şi pe drumul către Cernavodă).
Se citeşte uşor şi rămâi cu imagini foarte pitoreşti ale acestor locuri din vremuri apuse.
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February 4, 2020On Friday I thought that I really ought to get going on the EU27 project before Article 50 became irrevocable and the wheels were set in motion for leaving the EU. This was one of (I think) two options that I had readily available, and as a narrative of a European travelling in Europe it seemed particularly appropriate in itself.
This book covers Andersen’s journey south from Copenhagen, via Germany, Italy, Malta and Greece, to Turkey, and back again up the Danube, in the early 1840s. It’s very much a travel narrative, but we don’t forget about Andersen the teller of fairy tales. Occasionally a particular landmark results in a self-contained story embedded within the text; sometimes Andersen remarks that some experience might prompt a story; most often it’s his lovely lucid style that reminds us that this man knew how to tell a story.
Sometimes his experiences felt very familiar to me, and I was pleased when he reached Pressburg (Bratislava in my time) and his boat moored in a stretch of the Danube that I’ve looked out over. And this, though it’s from the very earliest days of rail travel, captures exactly what I like about travelling by train:
Just look out! The nearest fields go by in an arrow-swift stream, grass and plants run into each other – one has the feeling of standing outside the globe and watching it turn. It hurts one’s eyes to look for too long in the same direction; but if you look somewhat farther away, other things do not move any quicker than we see them move when we are driving at a good pace, and farther out on the horizon everything seems to stand still – one has a view and impression of the whole district.
This is precisely how one should travel through flat country. It is as though towns lie close together, now one, now another! The ordinary travellers on the by-roads seem to be stationary. Horses in front of carts lift their feet but seem to put them down again in the same place – and so we have gone by them.
Replace that horse and cart with a car, and that’s still what a train journey feels like. At other times, it’s evident how much things have changed – not least when Andersen talks to some of his fellow travellers about the most famous Dane in history. They agree this is Tycho Brahe; nowadays, of course, it would be Andersen himself. On the practical level, Andersen’s journey is hampered by ten days of quarantine, and in certain places on the Danube his boat has to be pulled upstream by teams of men on the shore. Earlier in the journey, he learns that there’s considerable unrest in Rumelia (now part of Romania), there are rumours that the couriers of the post from Belgrade to Constantinople have been murdered, and he wonders whether to cancel the Danube leg altogether. I got a distinct sense of a Europe that has always been in turmoil at one or more of its edges.
There are inevitably a few ‘man of his time’ moments, including a particularly eyebrow-raising visit to the slave market in Constantinople. Leaving those aside, however, it’s a very enjoyable read, and makes me think that I’d enjoy swapping travellers’ tales with Hans Christian Andersen.
This book covers Andersen’s journey south from Copenhagen, via Germany, Italy, Malta and Greece, to Turkey, and back again up the Danube, in the early 1840s. It’s very much a travel narrative, but we don’t forget about Andersen the teller of fairy tales. Occasionally a particular landmark results in a self-contained story embedded within the text; sometimes Andersen remarks that some experience might prompt a story; most often it’s his lovely lucid style that reminds us that this man knew how to tell a story.
Sometimes his experiences felt very familiar to me, and I was pleased when he reached Pressburg (Bratislava in my time) and his boat moored in a stretch of the Danube that I’ve looked out over. And this, though it’s from the very earliest days of rail travel, captures exactly what I like about travelling by train:
Just look out! The nearest fields go by in an arrow-swift stream, grass and plants run into each other – one has the feeling of standing outside the globe and watching it turn. It hurts one’s eyes to look for too long in the same direction; but if you look somewhat farther away, other things do not move any quicker than we see them move when we are driving at a good pace, and farther out on the horizon everything seems to stand still – one has a view and impression of the whole district.
This is precisely how one should travel through flat country. It is as though towns lie close together, now one, now another! The ordinary travellers on the by-roads seem to be stationary. Horses in front of carts lift their feet but seem to put them down again in the same place – and so we have gone by them.
Replace that horse and cart with a car, and that’s still what a train journey feels like. At other times, it’s evident how much things have changed – not least when Andersen talks to some of his fellow travellers about the most famous Dane in history. They agree this is Tycho Brahe; nowadays, of course, it would be Andersen himself. On the practical level, Andersen’s journey is hampered by ten days of quarantine, and in certain places on the Danube his boat has to be pulled upstream by teams of men on the shore. Earlier in the journey, he learns that there’s considerable unrest in Rumelia (now part of Romania), there are rumours that the couriers of the post from Belgrade to Constantinople have been murdered, and he wonders whether to cancel the Danube leg altogether. I got a distinct sense of a Europe that has always been in turmoil at one or more of its edges.
There are inevitably a few ‘man of his time’ moments, including a particularly eyebrow-raising visit to the slave market in Constantinople. Leaving those aside, however, it’s a very enjoyable read, and makes me think that I’d enjoy swapping travellers’ tales with Hans Christian Andersen.
January 11, 2021
How moving are Andersen’s descriptions! He conveys all the excitement, the strangeness and the familiar that he finds in every place he visits.
In “A poet’s bazaar”, Andersen sets from Denmark on a long voyage through Europe. Swiftly crossing through Germany on his first time on a train, his descriptions of the station’s bustle and the sensation of the travel take us to our very first childhood experience on a train. Then he attends and masterfully describes all the passion (from heaven or from hell?) of a piano performance by Liszt.
Italy had enchanted Andersen on his first visit. This second one starts as humorous series of bad inns and worse travel companions. He describes Florence by means of a fairy tale, in which a famous statue of a pig becomes alive during the night, carrying a child on his back on a marvelous visit of Florence’s wonders. Then there is Rome, its churches, its Christmas celebrations, its carnival; and Naples, from where he boards a ship to Greece. After a brief stop in Malta, he can hardly believe he is setting foot in Athens, recognizing the places where the classic poets wrote, the Acropolis from picture books from his childhood, the solemn Easter celebrations, a love story between shepherds.
Next he crosses to Constantinople, with its bazaars, mosques, and festivals. Everything is different and interesting, and Andersen accommodates himself to the local customs, gaining some Turks’ respect which allows him to visit places barred to other tourists. A strange dance by holy fools leaves a strong impression, as does a slave market. After crossing the Black Sea, the last stage of the journey is made on a steamship up the Danube. Constanta was still half in ruins after a Russian campaign 30 years before; in Wallachia the people are quite poor, living on mud huts. Town after town pass by, Serbian fortresses, Roman ruins, the Iron Gates. After a tiresome two week quarantine as they leave the Ottoman lands, they continue along the Danube on an always more crowded ship, with no room to strech at night, sitting on the floor or on table corners. They cross Budapest and Pressburg, and finally arrive in Vienna. The trip is almost ended and homesickness surfaces in his comparisons of Vienna’s theatre with the Danish one, and his visit to Tycho Brahe’s tomb in Prague. To his surprise, Brahe was the only Dane whose name was known to the people he met along the trip, “and him we exiled!”- al least, those who knew about Denmark, as a number of Italians, Greeks and Turks asked him in different occasions if Denmark was in America.
In “A poet’s bazaar”, Andersen sets from Denmark on a long voyage through Europe. Swiftly crossing through Germany on his first time on a train, his descriptions of the station’s bustle and the sensation of the travel take us to our very first childhood experience on a train. Then he attends and masterfully describes all the passion (from heaven or from hell?) of a piano performance by Liszt.
Italy had enchanted Andersen on his first visit. This second one starts as humorous series of bad inns and worse travel companions. He describes Florence by means of a fairy tale, in which a famous statue of a pig becomes alive during the night, carrying a child on his back on a marvelous visit of Florence’s wonders. Then there is Rome, its churches, its Christmas celebrations, its carnival; and Naples, from where he boards a ship to Greece. After a brief stop in Malta, he can hardly believe he is setting foot in Athens, recognizing the places where the classic poets wrote, the Acropolis from picture books from his childhood, the solemn Easter celebrations, a love story between shepherds.
Next he crosses to Constantinople, with its bazaars, mosques, and festivals. Everything is different and interesting, and Andersen accommodates himself to the local customs, gaining some Turks’ respect which allows him to visit places barred to other tourists. A strange dance by holy fools leaves a strong impression, as does a slave market. After crossing the Black Sea, the last stage of the journey is made on a steamship up the Danube. Constanta was still half in ruins after a Russian campaign 30 years before; in Wallachia the people are quite poor, living on mud huts. Town after town pass by, Serbian fortresses, Roman ruins, the Iron Gates. After a tiresome two week quarantine as they leave the Ottoman lands, they continue along the Danube on an always more crowded ship, with no room to strech at night, sitting on the floor or on table corners. They cross Budapest and Pressburg, and finally arrive in Vienna. The trip is almost ended and homesickness surfaces in his comparisons of Vienna’s theatre with the Danish one, and his visit to Tycho Brahe’s tomb in Prague. To his surprise, Brahe was the only Dane whose name was known to the people he met along the trip, “and him we exiled!”- al least, those who knew about Denmark, as a number of Italians, Greeks and Turks asked him in different occasions if Denmark was in America.
July 9, 2015
Det var en lang rejse, HCA begav sig ud på i oktober 1840. Det tog bogstaveligt talt lang tid at komme ned igennem Europa i 1840'erne. Men man fornemmer tidernes skifte. Damplokomotiv og dampskibe er lige begyndt at komme frem. Det meste af tiden går det dog stadig med hestevogn. Man får et enestående indblik i, hvordan det rent praktisk foregik, når man skulle på rejse i det 19. århundrede. Helt ned i detaljerne lærer man om toldhuse, karantæner, og samkørselsordninger.
Bogen tager sin tid at læse, og det er ikke alle passager, som er lige medrivende. Men man bliver dog så rigeligt belønnet, når digteren for alvor folder sig ud. Landskaber, smukke mennesker såvel som stygge mennesker, stejle klipper, sol, regn, blæst, forrygende kulde og ditto varme. Han forstår på bedste vis at spidde dem, han anser for selvhøjtidelige og opblæste, som f.eks. den tykke Engellænder og en, forstår man, temmelig anstrengende italiensk frue, som oplever et "livsmoment" da en flok svin skal fragtes til markedet i den by, de netop er ankommet til. Man får også et billede af en HCA som står med kufferten pakket og klar, gerne en time eller to før postillonens forventede ankomst. Og hans irritation er umulig for ham at kamuflere, da han beretter om hvordan ovenstående Engellænder og italiensk frue har svært ved at stille til tiden.
Man griner med ham, fornemmer den trange plads i postvognen, og forestiller sig let atmosfæren via hans brilliante beskrivelser og stemningsbilleder.
Jeg var grøn af misundelse, da jeg fulgte ham op på Akropolis, hvor han sad hver aften - helt alene! - og nød udsigten over et Athen, som i sammenligning med i dag har været en lille landsby. Og tænk at opleve at høre Franz Liszt ("en af pianoets fyrster") spille sine egne kompositioner - live!
Man lærer at han tilsyneladende ubesværet kan tale med næsten alle han møder, om det så er på tysk, italiensk eller fransk. Græsk lader han også til at være bekendt med, ligesom, naturligvis, latin. En sand verdensmand, som heller ikke er ukendt ude i Europa. Ved hjælp af sine velgørere og sine digte bevæger han sig i de fineste cirkler, ligesom han også deler dæksplads på skibene med gamle jøder, tyrkere og utallige andre folkeslag stuvede sammen på vej over Sortehavet.
Det er en lang rejse, og bogen kan tage lidt tid at komme igennem, ligesom det er en fordel at kunne huske noget af det tyske man lærte i skolen, hvis man læser den uredigerede version (man ser slægtskabet med det tyske sprog langt tydeligere i 1800-tallets dansk end i dag), men det er så sandelig en rejse, der er værd at begive sig ud på.
Hans Christian Andersen er en stor digter. For børn og for voksne.
Bogen tager sin tid at læse, og det er ikke alle passager, som er lige medrivende. Men man bliver dog så rigeligt belønnet, når digteren for alvor folder sig ud. Landskaber, smukke mennesker såvel som stygge mennesker, stejle klipper, sol, regn, blæst, forrygende kulde og ditto varme. Han forstår på bedste vis at spidde dem, han anser for selvhøjtidelige og opblæste, som f.eks. den tykke Engellænder og en, forstår man, temmelig anstrengende italiensk frue, som oplever et "livsmoment" da en flok svin skal fragtes til markedet i den by, de netop er ankommet til. Man får også et billede af en HCA som står med kufferten pakket og klar, gerne en time eller to før postillonens forventede ankomst. Og hans irritation er umulig for ham at kamuflere, da han beretter om hvordan ovenstående Engellænder og italiensk frue har svært ved at stille til tiden.
Man griner med ham, fornemmer den trange plads i postvognen, og forestiller sig let atmosfæren via hans brilliante beskrivelser og stemningsbilleder.
Jeg var grøn af misundelse, da jeg fulgte ham op på Akropolis, hvor han sad hver aften - helt alene! - og nød udsigten over et Athen, som i sammenligning med i dag har været en lille landsby. Og tænk at opleve at høre Franz Liszt ("en af pianoets fyrster") spille sine egne kompositioner - live!
Man lærer at han tilsyneladende ubesværet kan tale med næsten alle han møder, om det så er på tysk, italiensk eller fransk. Græsk lader han også til at være bekendt med, ligesom, naturligvis, latin. En sand verdensmand, som heller ikke er ukendt ude i Europa. Ved hjælp af sine velgørere og sine digte bevæger han sig i de fineste cirkler, ligesom han også deler dæksplads på skibene med gamle jøder, tyrkere og utallige andre folkeslag stuvede sammen på vej over Sortehavet.
Det er en lang rejse, og bogen kan tage lidt tid at komme igennem, ligesom det er en fordel at kunne huske noget af det tyske man lærte i skolen, hvis man læser den uredigerede version (man ser slægtskabet med det tyske sprog langt tydeligere i 1800-tallets dansk end i dag), men det er så sandelig en rejse, der er værd at begive sig ud på.
Hans Christian Andersen er en stor digter. For børn og for voksne.
May 25, 2015
Det ses jo som ikonoklastisk at kritisere vore nationalhelt, men læser man de samtidige anmeldelser fra 1841 forstår man god samtidens reaktion. Der er megen selvoptagethed, overfølsomhed, leflen og drama i denne beretning. Samtidigt har den også en lang række forsonende passager med fortællerstyke og skarpsind. En meget ujævn klassiker.
January 16, 2018
great stories about old istanbul.
March 7, 2019
An interesting read. Loved his description of what it was like to travel by train for the first time.
June 7, 2023
"Colosseumul ne predică despre viața lumii, despre grandoarea și neputința neamului omenesc, astfel încât sufletul e deopotrivă înălțat și umilit."
August 14, 2023
Il secondo viaggio di Andersen in Italia. Un diario di viaggio che sa di favole, con racconti, disegni e umorismo.
September 14, 2014
Tranne in alcuni passaggi, le descrizioni di Andersen sono parse molto poco ispirate. Tuttavia, escludendo passaggi orribili come quello del dialogo tra i cavalli o gli stivali, è stata una lettura interessante, anche solo per scoprire come si viaggiava nell'800.
December 10, 2015
An interesting book about a "Grand Tour taken by Hans Christian Anderson. his descriptions of various places in Eure were beautiful.
April 17, 2017
En særdeles fascinerende og underholdende skildring af H.C. Andersens rejse til Sydeuropa og Tyrkiet i 1840-41.
Med humor og tydelig eventyrlyst skriver Andersen om de genvordigheder der fulgte med en lang rejse med tog, dilligence og skib for snart 180 år siden; men først og fremmest beretter han om de spændende oplevelser og interessante mennesker han stødte på undervejs.
Fremstillingen er lidt ujævn, så derfor giver jeg kun fire stjerner; men kan man leve med det lidt ujævne tempo, er det en særdeles læseværdig bog.
Med humor og tydelig eventyrlyst skriver Andersen om de genvordigheder der fulgte med en lang rejse med tog, dilligence og skib for snart 180 år siden; men først og fremmest beretter han om de spændende oplevelser og interessante mennesker han stødte på undervejs.
Fremstillingen er lidt ujævn, så derfor giver jeg kun fire stjerner; men kan man leve med det lidt ujævne tempo, er det en særdeles læseværdig bog.
February 16, 2018
Il cambiamento della letteratura di viaggio 800esca: Andersen, come gli altri viaggiatori del suo tempo, si ritrovavano a dover affrontare la stesura di opere riguardanti città e paesi già descritti da decine e decine di artisti prima di loro, per questo avviene un cambiamento di prospettiva, Andersen utilizza delle tecniche molto "furbe"per aggirare il problema, usa altre tecniche per descrivere città come Firenze, quella della fiaba, infatti la città ci viene descritta attraverso un racconto nel racconto, quello del porcellino (nel capitolo dedicato all'italia). Lo sguardo di questo tipo di viaggiatore non si sofferma più di tanto, come guardasse le cose dall'alto, spesso le scruta solo superficialmente. Lettura interessante per comprendere i cambiamenti dell'odeporica nella storia.
bøgernes-verden
October 12, 2018Afrika og Mellemøsten
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