Europe—whither bound? (Quo vadis Europa?) : $b being letters of travel from the capitals of Europe in the year 1921 — John Shaqi
Europe—whither bound? (Quo vadis Europa?) : $b being letters of travel from the capitals of Europe in the year 1921Graham, Stephen
History
Europe—whither bound? (Quo vadis Europa?) : $b being letters of travel from the capitals of Europe in the year 1921
Graham, Stephen
Europe -- Description and travel
the one hand and before entering the gates of the Cathedral of Sancta
Sophia at Constantinople on the other.
One of the worst places is Vintimiglia on the Franco-Italian line. The
French frank you out of their country; the Italians frank you in. You
step into a separate chamber and are searched and asked particular and
impertinent questions. Before leaving Italy the Italian police demand
your personal attendance and take a small due. In some countries you
are required to obtain police permission to leave the country; in some
not. No one tells you what you have to do. You can take a ticket and
proceed gaily to the frontier and then be turned back. This can happen
even in the enlightened State of Czechoslovakia. Greece, however, is
one of the worst international offenders in this matter. The traveller
has to spend a morning with the police, and he may be held up for some
days if Church Festivals intervene. If he goes to the frontier without
the police stamp on his passport he gets sent back. Two examples of
how this lack of international manners works out I append: A German
officer captured by the Russians in 1915, was sent to Siberia, escaped
and got somehow down to Tashkent, the ex-capital of Russian Central
Asia, struggled out of Asia and through Asia Minor in an utterly
indigent condition, and this year stowed away on a Greek ship and got
to Athens. So great was the interest in his case that a subscription
was made for him publicly, and he was given a first-class ticket to
Berlin, and a place in the sleeping car was reserved. Incredible as it
may seem, he was turned off the express at midnight at Ghevgeli and
returned to Salonica by slow train because his passport had not the
Greek police visa. Of course he lost his sleeping-car accommodation
and resumed his journey homewards by ordinary trains. Another case was
that of a young Roumanian returning from the Far East after endless
vicissitudes in the Koltchak and Bolshevik adventures. He also was
turned off and had to go to Salonica to visit the police.
However, the British authorities could not throw stones at the Greeks.
It would be unwise. Constantinople under British domination is one of
the worst places of obstruction in Europe. You need a military pass to
get in; you need a good deal more than that to get out. The Australian
Colonel in charge of the work going on at the Dardanelles gave me a
letter to G.H.Q. Constantinople, asking D.M.I. (we still talk of
D.M.I.'s) to put my passport through quickly. Here I was met by one of
those drawling incapables who make England loathed on the Continent.
"I--don't--really--see," says he, and pauses, and looks at my
weather-beaten cap and tramping boots--"I don't really see----"
Inability is a guiding sign of the administration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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