I - 61 : Was our Trip possible 100 Years ago?

Ala Littoria's Flight Schedule 1939 - you can see Rhodes

A good 2 months to go until we set foot on the Myra, our sail boat from 19 of July to 9 of August. This years trip will take us from Rhodes to Pylos on the Peloponnese. Time to ask participants for their passport details, arrival / departure times, dietary constraints, decide on who will sleep in which cabine, finalise the menu with the chef and order wine and beverages for the trip. In a good month’s time I will have to make the finaly lease payment and discuss the route with the captain. By then we should have a good grasp on the weather to expect for the three weeks ahead. Of course we hope to sail as planed. But the prevailing winds will eventually set out course. As they did for thousands of years. All these preparations made me wonder whether this trip would have been possible in 1925, just 100 years ago, a time I covered in many of this year’s articles.

In 1881, Piraeus was still a sleepy Port with 250'000t of carge. 25 years later, it quadripled

The answer is a “possibly but probably not as planned”. The travel infrastructure we take so much for granted, simply did not exist. Below a few salient points

Mariquita, an iconic Yacht, was built in 1911 in Scotland for Racing Regattas

• First, there was no sailboats to rent in 1925. This segment of tourism took off during the late 1960s when the post WW2 boom created an affluant middle class. In 1925, we would have had to bring our own sailboat from a Naval Club in Europe or the Americas. In 1925, Gulets were still coastal freighters, built on the shores of the Mediterranean.

  
  

• In 1925, we also would not have been able to fly to Athens. Commercial flights started in Florida in 1914 and in Germany in 1919. Zeppelins offered commercial transport around 1910 but the many accidents of these hydrogen filled “cigars” did not endear them with the public.

  
  

  

  Imperial Ariways Main Routes in 1933. The HQ was in foggy Croyden, an Airport in the South of London which closed with the Opening of Heathrow Ariport.

  
  

• Imperial Airways, a predecessor of today’s British Airways, began operating commercial flights from London to Athens in 1933. A year later Ala Littoria offered flights to Rhodes which would stop in Athens. The cabins were small though. The maximum number of passengers was usually 20 people. We would have had to book early since there was only one flight per week.

  
  

  

  Ala Littoral (Coastal Wings) - the Trip from Rome to Rhodes took 10 h and 30 min

  
  

• Could we have reached Athens by ship and rail? Definitely. The Indian Mail Route from London to Calcutta run first by train to Brindisi, then by ship through the Suez Canal (opened 1869) to Bombay and then by train again to Delhi and Calcutta in Benghal. The route started in 1871 and was still going strong in 1925 – it was just the time before airplanes took over the long haul passenger business.

  
  

  

  
  

• It took 45 hours from London to Brindisi but luxuriolus hotels on the way and spacious cabins on the cruisers made the travelling comfortable. The India Mail Route though did not stop in Athens. It continued directly to Port Said. We would have had to transfer to one of the ships from P&O or Navigazione Adriatico Orientale who run regular mail services to Patras since 1869. Since 1987 a narrow-gauge railway connected Partras to Athens. The journey was slow, took 5 hours almost. But it got us to Athens.

  
  

  

  The Narrow-Gauged Peloponnese Railways, here in Kalamata in 1910

  
  

• Once there, however, how would we get to Rhodes? The Dodecanesre islands were part of the Italian Kingdom who had no interests in returning them to Greece. After Mussolini came to power, many links to mainland Greece were severed. Eventually, in 1940, the two countries went to war. As a consequence, there was no regular service to Rhodes. We would have to wait for the occasional freighter that stopped in Pireaus and ask for a ride. At that time, all commercial freighters offered cabins for passengers which they picked up on route. But this was beyond the control of anybody. We may have had to wait for months until a suitable ride came along.

The Argolis was one of the first Greek Steamers - built in 1879

• Alternatively, we could have reached Athens via the new Saloniki – Athens railroad completed in 1918. However, the branch to Skopie and Belgrad to the north was in the middle of the WWI war zone which saw vicious fighting from 1914 – 1918. Could not find out when these lines were repaired. I remember they suffered considerable damage. Still, in Athens we would have the same problem as with the solution above.

Harbor Scene on Ithaca sometimes in the Middle of 1860

In a nutshell, if we were rich, had access to a sailing yacht and plenty of time, we could have made the trip from Rhodes to Pylos in 1925. 10 years later, with Imperial Airways and Ala Littoral, it was already considerably easier. This still leaves us with the issue of finding a sailboat. But maybe we could just have hired a local fishing boat with its crew and bunked in their cabins. Am sure it would have been a crowded and smelly experience but also very adventurous.

Commercial Airline Cover in 1925 - covered Areas in Black