What is Grand Tour?
{{Other uses}} [[Image:Batoni - Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville.jpg|thumb|The Grand Tourist [[Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset|Francis Basset]], by [[Pompeo Batoni]], 1778]][[File:Grand Tour William Thomas Beckford.jpg|thumb|250px|William Beckford's Grand Tour through Europe shown in red.]] The '''Grand Tour''' was the name of travel through [[Europe]] by rich [[Europe]]an (mostly British) young men between 1660 until about 1840. It was done to learn about European society and art. The idea was that what they learned on their travels could be used to help those that stayed at home. [[Italy]] was often the final country to visit. They would mostly travel with servants and a teacher called a ''[[bear-leader]]''. ==Example Grand Tour== Which places the Grand Tour would visit <ref>See Fussell (1987), Buzard (2002), Bohls and Duncan (2005)</ref> changed through the years. An example would be a British tourist would go from [[Dover]], [[England]] and crossed the [[English Channel]] to [[Ostend]],<ref>Ostend was the initial starting point for William Beckford on the continent.</ref> in the [[Spanish Netherlands]]/[[Belgium]], or [[Calais]], or [[Le Havre]] in [[France]]. There they could rent or buy a [[carriage]] and travel to Paris. Or they could make the trip by boat, traveling up the [[Seine]] to Paris, or up the [[Rhine]] to [[Basel]]. In Paris, the traveler could take lessons in French, [[dancing]], [[fencing]], and [[horse riding]]. Paris was popular because of the language and fashion of French high society. From Paris he would go to [[Switzerland]] for a while, often to [[Geneva]]. From there the traveler would make a difficult crossing over the Alps into [[northern Italy]]. Once in Italy the tourist would visit [[Turin]], then might spend a few months in [[Florence]]. Other Grand Tourists would be in Florence to welcome him. A trip to [[Pisa]] then on to [[Padua]],<ref>The ''Registro dei viaggiatori inglesi in Italia'', 1618-1765, consists of 2038 autograph signatures of E