DIARY OF HOLIDAY to ITALY via MALTA & SICILY
January & February 1909
By a Gloucester Lady
This is a very well written and very interesting travel
diary by an unnamed young lady from a wealthy Gloucester Family recounting a trip
by ship from Tilbury Docks through the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean, with
time spent at Malta touring around the sights, then onto Sicily and Italy.
The young lady who wrote the account was travelling with her
father, unfortunately she does not give her name, but they seem to be from a
well to do family as they have wealthy friends abroad that they call in on during
the trip.
They depart from Tilbury “Royal Albert Docks” on January 9th
1909 on the P&O Line Ship SS Simla. They have a rough time sailing through
heavy swells in The Bay of Biscay with most of the passengers suffering from
seasickness which is recounted in detail.
Passing The Rock of Gibraltar they sail to Malta, with a
detailed account of visiting several places on the island, after their stay in
Malta they sail on to Sicily. While on Sicily they visit Messina on 21st
January and the site of the devastating earthquake that happened a few weeks
before on 28th December. She gives a detailed account of the ruins and
the devastation stating it was a fearful sight with whole streets being utterly
swept away from the resulting Tsunami that followed the earthquake.
She goes on to mainland Italy visiting Rome, Pompei, climbing
up to the crater of Vesuvius, Naples, Venice, etc giving detailed accounts of
each place.
She also gets to meet the Pope, an event that she was very
nervous about.
The whole of the account is hand typed and runs to 123
numbered pages, bound in green cloth with red cloth spine,
Apart from light marking to the cloth, the book is in very
good condition.
A VERY WELL WRITTEN AND DETAILED ACCOUNT, WITH SOME FURTHER RESEARCH AND FOLLOWING CLUES IN THE BOOK IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO IDENTIFY THE AUTHOR..
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