CHAPTER 9Rizal’s Grand Tour ofEurope with Viola (1887)

Dr. Maximo Viola Rizal’s travelling

companion in Europe

Potsdam, a city near Berlin

Frederick the great made famous

[The Tour Begins]

May 11,1887- at dawn, they left Berlin by train it was an ideal season for travel:

-Spring; flowers blooming; meadows turning green; village humming with activity

[Dresden]Rizal and Viola tarried for some timeTheir visit coincide with the floral exposition

•Rizal studied the “numerous plant varieties of extraordinary beauty and size”

They visited Dr. Adolph B. Meyer• Director of the Anthropological and Ethnological

Museum

Museum of Art

- Rizal was impressed a painting of “Prometheus Bound” (same idea in an art gallery in Paris)

They met Dr. Jagor while strolling at the scene of the Floral Exposition

• (Celebrated German scientist-traveler and author of Travels in the Philippines)- Heard their plan to visit Leitmeritz (now

Litomerice, Czechoslovakia)- Advised to wire Blumentritt (was in nervous

desposition)

Prometheus Bound

Dr. Feodor Jagor

Teschen-(now Decin, Czechoslovakia)-next stopover after Dresden

[First Meeting with Blumentritt]1:30p.m., May 13, 1887- the train

they boarded arrived at the railroad station of Leitmeritz, Bohemia

Ferdinand Blumentritt

Professor Blumentritt was at the station carrying a pencil sketch of Rizal.

They greeted each other in fluent German.Blumentritt, the genial host, helped Rizal and

Viola get a room at Hotel Krebs.- brought them to his house and

introduced to his familyMay 13 to May 16, 1887- stayed in Leitmeritz

[Beautiful Memories of Leiteritz]-Rizal’s visit enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Blumentritt

family. The professor’s wife Rosa, prepared special

Austrian dishes

Blumentritt and Rosa’sChildren:

- Dolores(called Dora/Dorita by Rizal)

- Condrad

- Fritz

Blumentritt proved to be a great tourist guide as well as a hospitable host.

scenic and historical spots one afternoon, invite Rizal and Viola to a beer

garden (best beer of Bohemia is served)

Burgomaster (town mayor)-Blumentritt knew; approached and introduced his two Filipino friends

- he and his friendsamazed at Rizal’s fluency in talking German

-lauded Rizal’s “privileged talent”

Tourists’ Club of Leitmeritz- Blumentritt was the secretary

-Rizal and Viola was invited to a meeting

-Rizal spoke in fluent German:

- praising Austria’s idyllic scenes and its hospitable, nature-loving, and noble people.

To commemorate Rizal’s happy hours, he painted a portrait of the kind professor and gave it to him.

Dr. Carlos Czepelak- renowned scientist of Europe

-Rizal et during visit in Leitmeritz

- Blumentritt brought Rizal Czepelak’s house.

Professor Robert Klutschak- eminent naturalist. Last night in Leitmetritz:

-Rizal and Viola tendered a banquet(farewell dinner) at their hotel to reciprocate Blumentritt’s hospitality.

May 16, 9:45 A.M.- Rizal and Viola left Leitmeritz by train

- Blumentritt’s family were at the railroad station to see them off.

May 24, 1887- letter written in Vienna, concern for the illness of Dora

Ferdinand Blumentritt and his family. Drawn by Rizal while in Dapitan. From the book “Jose Rizal – Filipino Doctor and Patriot

[Prague]

They carried letters of recommendation from Blumentritt to

Dr. Willkomm.

- professor of natural history in the University of Prague

- his wife and daughters welcomed Rizal and Viola and showed the city’s

historic spots:tomb of Copernicus museum of natural history bacteriological laboratories famous cave where San Jose Nepomuceno, the

Catholic saint, was imprisoned bridge from which S.J.N was hurled into the river

Brunn- nothing of importance happened in the city.

[Vienna]May 20- Rizal and Viola arrived in the

beautiful city of Vienna

- capital city of Austria-Hungary

- ”Queen of Danube” beautiful buildingsReligious images haunting waltzesMajestic charm

Norfenfals- one of the greatest novelists in Europe at that time.

- Austrian novelist

- “whose genius he so much admired”

Diamond stickpin- received in Vienna

- found by a maid in Hotel KrebsBlumentrittRizal

Rizal and Viola stayed at Hotel Metropole. They visited the city’s interesting places. They met two good friends of Blumentritt―Masner and Nordmann, Austrian scholars.

[Danubian Voyage to Lintz]

May 24- left Vienna by a river boat to see the beautiful sights of Danube River.

barges loaded with productsflowers and plants boats with families living on them quaint villagesThe passengers were using paper napkins

instead of cloth

[From Lintz to Rheinfall] The river voyage ended in LitzTraveled overland to Salzburg, then to

Munich -savored the famous Munich beer. The best in Germany

Nuremberg- one of the oldest cities of Germanysights: horrible torture machines used by the Inquisition

-they also visited the manufacture of dolls

Ulm- its cathedral was “the largest and tallest in all Germany”

-climbed by Rizal and Viola

Ulm Münster

768 steps

Ulm Stuttgart, Baden Rheinfall (Cascade of the Rhine)

“ The most beautiful waterfall in Europe”

[Crossing the Frontier to Switzerland]Rheinfall Schaffhausen, Switzerland

(June 2 – 3, 1887Continued: Basel (Bale) , Bern, and Lausanne. [Geneva] after sightseeing in Lausanne, Rizal and Viola

left on a little boat, crossing the foggy Leman Lake to Geneva.

Geneva- one of the most beautiful cities in Europe

-visited by world tourists every year -people were linguists: French, German,

Italian -Rizal and Viola went boating on the

lake

June 19,1887- Rizal treated Viola a blow-out

- 26th birthday of Rizal -sumptuous meal Rizal and Viola spent 15 delightful days in

Geneva

June 23- Rizal and Viola parted Viola – Barcelona Rizal – continued the tour to italy

[Rizal Resents Exhibition of Igorots in 1887 Madrid Exposition]

Geneva,June 6, 1887-Letter to Blumentritt “My poor compatriots (Igorots-Z) who are now being

exhibited in Madrid are mocked by Spanish newspapers, except El Liberal which says that it is not consistent with human dignity to be exhibited side by side with animals and plants. I have done everything possible to prevent the display of this degradation of men of my race, but I have not succeeded. Now, one woman died of pneumonia. The Igorots were housed in a barraca (rustic house made of bamboo, grass, and tree branches-Z). And El Resumen still makes mean jokes about it!”

Geneva, June 19, 1887 Rizal said he is in favor of holding and

exposition, “but not at exhibition of odd individuals, showing our countrymen as a curiosity to entertain the idle inhabitants of madrid”. He emphatically reiterated “We want an industrial exposition, but not an exhibition of human beings who are compelled to live almost outdoors and die of nostalgia and pneumonia or typhus!”

[Rizal in Italy] Visited:

TurinMilanVeniceFlorence

June 27, 1887- Rizal reached Rome, the “Eternal City” and also called the “City of the Caesars”

-describing to Blumentritt, the “grandeur that was Rome”, he wrote on June 27,1887

“ I am in Rome! Everything I step on is the dust of heroes. Here I breathe the same air which the Roman heroes have breathed. I salute every statue with reverence, and to me, a humble native of a small island, it seems that I am in a sanctuary. I have already seen the Capitolium, the Tarpeian Rock, the Palatinum, the Forum Romanum, the Amphitheatre, etc.

Everything here is glorious except the cafes and the café singers. I do not enter these (cafes) because I loath to hear their French songs or see modern industries. My favorite places are the Amphitheatre and the Roman Forum; there I remain seated for hours, contemplating everything and restoring life to the ruins …I have also visited some churches and museums, like the Capitoline Museum and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which is also grandiose.

June 29th –◦the feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul◦Rizal visited for the first time the

Vatican, the “City of the Popes” and the capital of Christendom.

After a week of wonderful sojourn in Rome, he prepared to return to the Philippines. He had already written to his father that he was coming home.