Travels in Greece and Turkey

"Some of the best introductions to the realities and mentalities of this area are by English and French travellers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. That was before the Ottoman Empire began to weaken, so they had to respect its power and influence. Their observations are in many ways more refreshing than those writing in the 19th and 20th centuries, who often show western condescension towards the local inhabitants. Lord Charlemont travels all around the eastern Mediterranean. He was a great observer, and very keen on women. He has an amorous adventure on the Greek island of Mykonos, writing about “the peculiar charms and irresistible attractions of the ladies of this island. Fifteen times I entered into the holy bonds of matrimony.” He also talks about brothels in Constantinople. He gives vivid accounts of meeting pashas at the Sublime Porte, the Ottoman Empire’s government offices in Constantinople, and being received with “a cordial unaffected politeness”. They are accounts of an upper class person from Britain speaking to another upper class person from the Ottoman Empire. People often forget that France and England were for centuries allies of the Ottomans. It wasn’t East versus West. They were all united in their opposition to Russia, in an alliance that culminated in the Crimean War. Yes, but it’s only a selection of his essays. A complete edition would be wonderful. He was one of a number of great writers about the Ottoman Empire at this time, including the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and British prelate and anthropologist Richard Pococke, who described how easy it was to travel to Baalbek and Aleppo in the 1740s. It was also easier to go to Damascus then than it is now. The pace of travel then was so different. You had to spend several weeks or months in each place, which gave a very different view on a society and its people. The goal of many travellers at this time was to look at Greek remains and Roman temples. They wanted to get hold of antiquities they could show off to their friends back home. There weren’t many restrictions. As long as you had money and bought a ferman [official permit] from the government or local governor, you could travel quite easily. Many travellers, including Byron, said they felt safer within the Ottoman Empire than in many other parts of Europe, as there were fewer bandits. In the 1740s there were even highwaymen in Kensington, London."