Victorian Travellers, Greek Hotels, and Uneasy Hospitalities
Victorian Travellers, Greek Hotels, and Uneasy Hospitalities

Summary/Abstract: At the end of the nineteenth century, Athens began to acquire the image of a European capital through architectural modernisation, urban planning, and investment in tourism. Its elegant new buildings included several first-class hotels, suggesting that the city had already started to define itself as a tourist destination. Attracted mainly but not solely by ancient monuments, late Victorian travellers to Greece represented a new lifestyle and mobility enabled by Britain’s economic and political power, the rise of the tourist industry, and the advances in transportation. Yet, while seeking the comforts of cosmopolitan hotels, Victorians also lamented the encroachment of modernity upon ancient sites, as travellers witnessed modern hotels rising next to antiquities. At the same time, Victorians venturing to the countryside relied on the resources of their guides to find lodging, both dependent on and exposed to the (often-challenging) hospitality of their hosts. This essay examines representative travel accounts of the period that reveal the conflicting emotions of Victorian guests of Athenian hotels or country lodgings, reflecting on the uneasy hospitalities in accounts of Greece, which are split between an imperial fetishism for authenticity and a consumerist pursuit of service and comfort.

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