Dec 16 2008
Elisabeth of Austria - the traveller
Not only was the empress Elisabeth of Austria, nicknamed ‘Sissy’ a vey beautful woman who was much ahead of her time as far as exercise, diet and beauty treatments were concerned, she was also a great traveler. Turkey and the Middle East were very fashinable in the 19th century, when the exotic tales of harems, sultans, great art and fabulous jeels reached the west and ignited a veritable ‘orient fashion’.
As I told you before, Ludwig II of Bavaria, a great admirer of Sissy, created his own sentimental oriental paradise in one of his palaces, music and belly dancers included. Elisabeth was not immune to the ‘orient fashion’ and as one of the first woman travelelrs visited Turkey. She travelled the country widely and as she was also very educated, she not only visited Istanbul (then Constantinople) but also the excavations of Troy, conducted by the German businessman turned archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann.
Her heart however was drawn to the Greek islands and in particular to Corfu whre she spent many holidays, not leat to find relief from her respiratory and muscle problems which were a result of her strenous exercise regime. Elisabeth also visited Great Britain, Ireland and Hungary which of course belonged to her empire and where she impressed the famous Hungarian horsemen with her own equestrian skills.
An absolute favoite of Elisabeth’s was Switzerland and the city of Geneva. It was on the promenade of Lake Geneva, that she was attacked and stabbed to death by a deranged Italian fanatic thus putting a premature end to an exceptionally versatile and ‘modern’ queen.
