May 1, 2020
KMA Blog Post 6.
These posts are part of a series superimposing the art of Irish-American painter Robert David Gauley with contemporary text from letters my great-great grandmother, Christina Meyer, sent home from a trip throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. Together, they offer a vivid glimpse of travel in the last decade of the 19 th century.
Beyrouth, April 17, 1896;
Precious Mother and Sister,
. . . We had much rain when we left Jerusalem which was on Good Friday. For two days we had to remain in our tent because it rained all day and we even had to ride through the rain. It did not seem to hurt us any because Mrs. Smith and I did not become ill . . . We arrived in Bayrouth Apr. 17 th and will board the steamer tomorrow for Constantinople where we expect to land Thursday, because we want to stop at Smyrna because we want to spend a day in Ephesus. No one seems to enjoy the steamer trip but “he who wants to eat the kernel must crack the nut.”
Constantinople, April 26 th , 1896.
Dear Sister Lena and Miss Perring,
. . . We are in Constantinople and we arrived Wednesday at 1 o’clock. Our trip from Beyrouth to Constantinople was fine. Stopped at Smyrna, we took a train to Ephesus where we saw the old temples in the moonlight. Smyrna is a beautiful city, European style, and we were elated to find a fine clean place.
