Tourist sites

Tennis, Deauville, France

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DEAUVILLE – PLAGE FLEURIE – Les Tennis vus vers les Jetées
(Tennis looking towards the piers)
c.1940 but from an earlier photo
Publisher: Compagnie Alsacienne des Arts Photomécaniques Strasbourg

Google Maps.

Deauville was conceived with tourists in mind. It emerged from the sand dunes in the 1860s, thanks to the vision of one Dr Joseph Olliffe and his close friend, Emperor Napoleon III’s half-brother, the Duke de Morny. At the end of the 1850s, only marshes lay between the sea and small hillside village here. Dr Olliffe convinced wealthy backers to invest in a major scheme to drain the marshes and create a seaside resort from nothing. The resort was designed by architect Desle-François Breney, inspired by Baron Haussmann’s redevelopment of Paris. Aided by an all-important, brand-new railway line, the resort came into full bloom within just four years. Grand hotels built in the Anglo-Norman timber-frame style, smart bathing facilities and a stylish racecourse catered to elegant Parisians.
Normandie Tourism

Niagara Falls, US & Canada

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American Falls from Goat Island Niagara Falls
1900s
Souvenir Post card Co., New York & Berlin (1905-1915)

Known in the past as the premiere Honeymoon destination, this geological wonder is not only one of most popular tourist attractions in the state of New York, but also functions as one of the major power providers to the state itself. Comprised of three waterfalls — American Falls, Horseshoe Falls and Bridal Veil Falls — Niagara Falls water stems from the upper Great Lakes and the river is estimated to be 12,000 years old. The wonder of the falls has intrigued many and has prompted daredevils to “conquer” the falls in various contraptions from wooden barrels to rubber balls.

Niagara Falls consists of two waterfalls on the Niagara River, which marks the border between New York and Ontario, Canada: the American Falls, located on the American side of the border, and the Canadian or Horseshoe Falls located on the Canadian side. To the right of the American Falls is a smaller waterfall that has been separated from the American Falls by natural forces, which is usually called Bridal Veil Falls.
History.com


American Falls, view from Canadian Side, Niagara Falls, N.Y
Postmarked 1907
Publisher: Illustrated Post Card (1904-1914)

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The Blue Grotto, Capri, Italy

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On back:
CAPRI – Grotta Azzurra
c.1910
Publishers: Trampetti & Migliaccio, Naples

During Roman times, the grotto was used as the personal swimming hole of Emperor Tiberius as well as a marine temple. Tiberius moved from the Roman capital to the island of Capri in 27 AD. During Tiberius’ reign, the grotto was decorated with several statues as well as resting areas around the edge of the cave.
…
During the 18th century, the grotto was known to the locals as Gradola, after the nearby landing place of Gradola. It was avoided by sailors and islanders because it was said to be inhabited by witches and monsters. The grotto was then “rediscovered” by the public in 1826, with the visit of German writer August Kopisch and his friend Ernst Fries, who were taken to the grotto by local fisherman Angelo Ferraro.
Wikipedia

The Blue Grotto is 60 meters long by 25 meters wide. The clear blue waters below the boat are 150 meters deep. The unearthly blue light effect is caused by the refraction of daylight through the above water cave opening and a larger submerged opening. The acoustics inside the grotto are famously beautiful. At the back of the main cave, three connecting branches lead to the Sala dei Nomi, or “room of names”, named after the graffiti signatures left by visitors over the centuries. Two more passages lead deeper into the island, before it becomes inaccessible. For many years it was thought that the fissures at the back of the cave may have been ancient stairways leading up to the Emperor’s pleasure palaces, but it now seems that these are merely natural passages which narrow and then end, no palace in sight.

Three statues of the sea gods Neptune and Triton were recovered from the grotto floor in 1964 (now on display at a museum in Anacapri), and seven statue bases were found in 2009. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder described the statues in the grotto as “playing on a shell” – the position of the now missing arms of the Triton statue, usually depicted with a conch shell, indicate that these were the statues that he saw in the 1st century AD. Four more statues may yet be hidden in the sandy depths.
Atlas Obscura


CAPRI – La Grotta Azzurra
c.1910
Publisher: “de Luca Gentile & C, Napoli”

Niagara Falls, Canada & USA

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General View of Falls from Canadian Side, Niagara Falls.
1920s

On back:
Niagara Falls is between Lakes Erie and Ontario, distant about twenty miles from Buffalo. Niagara River has a total fall of three hundred and thirty feet, in the thirty-six miles of its course as follows: The smaller Rapids above the Falls, fifteen feet; the principal waterfall, one hundred and sixty feet; the large Rapids below, fifty-five feet, and from the Falls to Lewiston, through the gorge, one hundred feet. The summer time clothes the margins of the the Falls with beautiful verdure, and it is then that they are visited by the largest number of tourists, drawn to this wonder spot from all countries of the world.


Horseshoe Falls from Goat Island by Illumination, Niagara Falls
c.1925

On back:
This new beauty of Niagara differs from the beauty that the Creator made working through inanimate life. For here He worked through the inventive genius of man, and gave Niagara a new glory that can be turned on and off at the mere pressing of a switch-button, throwing on the billion candle power batter of electric searchlight which floodlights the Falls, the batteries being hidden in the foliage work invisibly and in no way mare the scenery with the imprint of man’s hand. Nor does the conquest end here, for the searchlights of Niagara when sent upward into the sky may be seen for seventy five miles away.

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Public buildings, Pompeii, Italy

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Master list of all posts for Pompeii


L’ Anfiteatro | Pompei
1900s
Publisher: Ettore Ragozino, Galleria Umberto-Napoli

Google Street View.

Pompeii. Its history, buildings, and antiquities (1871), Chapter VIII The Amphitheatre

The amphitheatre is sited in the most easterly corner of the city, presumably because the area was still free of buildings at the time and because the earth fill against the city walls could be used to support the eastern part of the cavea. . . . The amphitheatre was used exclusively for sports, gladiatorial contests and spectacles involving wild beasts and drew crowds from the neighbouring area. Posters advertising the games and illustrating the programme appear frequently on the walls of Pompeii. The spectacles were passionately participated in by the crowds and various gladiators became highly popular, as witnessed by the inscriptions.

As with some sports today, support could be fanatical. During one particular gladiatorial contest in AD59, fighting broke out in the crowd between factions from the colonies of Pompeii and Nuceria. According to the historian Tacitus (Annals XIV, 17): ‘it arose at a show arranged by Livineius Regulus. During the exchange of taunts abuse led to stone throwing, and then swords were drawn. Many Nucerians were taken home wounded and mutilated; many bereavements, too, were suffered by parents and children… Livineius and others held responsible for the disorders were exiled.’ Because of the violence the Senate prohibited Pompeii from holding similar events for a period of ten years but this measure was revoked three years later after the earthquake of AD62.
AD 79: Destruction and Rediscovery


On the back:
The Basilica 

Google Street View.

AD 79: Destruction and Rediscovery

A Roman basilica was a large public building where business and legal matters were discussed. The basilica of Pompeii was built in 130-120 BC and is one of the oldest examples of such a building. It had three naves and it was situated at the south-western corner of the Forum; its entrance was on its eastern narrow side and its layout resembles that of an early church. A raised loggia at the western end of the building was most likely the site of the tribunal. Archaeologists believe it was preceded by wooden stairs. Two small rooms under the loggia might have been used as the temporary prison. Lawyers without customers, teachers without pupils, artists without commissions and other jobless citizens spent their days at the basilica hoping to find a way to make some money. Some of them, perhaps during a particularly idle day, wrote graffiti on the walls complaining they were not invited to dinner by anyone or that Venus did not help them in courting a woman, notwithstanding the offers they had made to the goddess.
Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller


Pompei, Quartiere dei Soldati
Soldier Quarters

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Houses, Pompeii

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Master list of all posts for Pompeii


POMPEI – Casa di Marco Lucrezio
House of Marco Lucrezio

Dated 1917
Publishers: Trampetti & Migliaccio

Google Street View
AD 79: destruction and rediscovery

Even though the House IX 3,5/24 was at the time of its discovery a fairly popular target for visits, it lost its attraction quite soon to larger and more luxuriously decorated houses at Pompeii. The insula has been closed from tourists for most of the past century. One of the most beautiful sights in it, the statues in the garden were removed in the 1960s after the Silenos statue standing in the niched fountain was stolen.
Research history of insula IX 3


Pompei – Casa della degil Amorini d’oro
House of the Golden Cupids

Google Street View (reverse view)
AD 79: destruction and rediscovery


Pompei – Casa del Fauno
House of the Faun

Google Maps
Google Street View
AD 79: destruction and rediscovery
Wikipedia.


Pompei – Casa di Panza
House of Pansa

Google Maps
Google Street View
AD 79: destruction and rediscovery


On back:
The Peristyle, House of Vettil, restored, Pompeii, Italy–Pompeii is an ancient town of Campania, situated on the shore of the Bay of Naples, almost at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. It was destroyed A.D. 79, and after its discovered in modern times, has been known as a place of world-wide fame, and having the most interesting relics preserved to us from antiquity

Google Maps.
AD 79: destruction and rediscovery
Khan Academy.
Wikipedia.