Itinerary - An Early Modern Journey

From Ulm to Münster

23 May – 31 December 1585

Samuel Kiechel began his journey in Ulm, travelling through various European cities. He visited Prague, Dresden, and Berlin, and finally reached Hamburg. After a few days there, he continued along the North Sea coast, passing through the Dutch Republic until he arrived at the port of Vlissingen.
From Vlissingen, Kiechel boarded a ship that took him across the sea to Dover. He continued his journey, stopping in Canterbury before finally reaching London. Our traveller spent two months in the English capital. He then left England and travelled via the Spanish Netherlands to Cologne. On Christmas Day, Kiechel left Cologne and found himself in Münster as the new year began.

List of dates and places

Places I could not identify are marked with (?).

23 May 1585	Ulm – Günzburg – Lauingen
24 May	Laugingen – Höchstädt – Neuburg an der Donau
25 May	Neuburg – Ingolstadt
26 May	Ingolstadt
27 May	Ingolstadt – Regensburg
28 May	Regensburg
29 May	Regensburg – Amberg
30 May	Amberg – Roadside Inn “Schindehitten”
31 May	“Schindehitten” – Přimda
1 June	Přimda – Plzeň
2 June	Plzeň – Beroun
3 June	Beroun – Prague
4 – 6 June	Prague
7 June	Prague – Budyně nad Ohří
8 June	Budyně nad Ohří – Usti nad Labem – Petrovice u Chabařovic
9 June	Petrovice – Dresden
10 June	Dresden – Meissen – Oschatz
11 June	Oschatz – Leipzig
12 June	Leipzig – Halle (Saale)
13 June	Halle – Leipzig
14 – 15 June	Leipzig
16 June	Leipzig – Bad Düben
17 June	Bad Düben – Wittenberg
18 – 19 June	Wittenberg
20 June	Wittenberg – Zerbst
21 June	Zerbst – Magdeburg
22 June	Magdeburg
23 June	Magdeburg – Zerbst – Wittenberg
24 June	Wittenberg
25 June	Wittenberg – Treuenbriezen
26 June	Treuenbriezen – Berlin
27 June	Berlin – Spandau
28 June	Spandau – Brandenburg
29 June	Brandenburg – Nidlig (?)
30 June	Nidlig – Helmstedt
1 July	Helmstedt – Goslar
2 July	Goslar – Wolfenbüttel – Braunschweig
3 – 4 July	Braunschweig
5 July	Braunschweig – Groß Oesingen
6 July	Groß Oesingen – Lüneburg
7 – 8 July	Lüneburg
9 July	Lüneburg – Hamburg
10 – 12 July	Hamburg
13 July	Hamburg – Stade
14 – 15 July	Stade – Bremervörde – Bremen
16 – 17 July	Bremen – Oldenburg – Aurich – Emden
18 – 23 July	Emden
24 July	Emden – at Sea (Dokkumer Diep)
25 July	Dokkumer Diep – Dokkum – Leeuwarden – Franeker
26 July	Franeker – Harlingen – at Sea (Zuiderzee)
27 July	Zuiderzee
28 July	Zuiderzee – Enkhuizen – Zuiderzee
29 July	Zuiderzee – Amsterdam
30 July	Amsterdam
31 July	Amsterdam – Haarlem
1 August	Haarlem – Leiden – Den Haag – Delft
2 August	Delft – Rotterdam – Dordrecht
3 – 4 August	Dordrecht – Middelburg
5 August	Middelburg – Vlissingen
6 August – 6 September	Vlissingen
7 – 8 September	Vlissingen – Dover
9 September	Dover
10 September	Dover – Canterbury – Sittingbourne
11 September	Sittingbourne – Gravesend – London
12 September – 13 November	London
14 November	London – Gravesend
15 November	Gravesend
16 – 17 November	Gravesend – Canterbury – Dover
18 – 20 November	Dover
21 – 22 November	Dover – Calais
23 – 24 November	Calais
25 November	Calais – Saint-Omer
26 November	Saint-Omer
27 November	Saint-Omer – Béthune
28 November	Béthune – Lille
29 November	Lille – Kortrijk
30 November	Kortrijk – Ghent
1 December	Ghent – Haasdonk
2 December	Haasdonk – Antwerp
3 – 9 December	Antwerp
10 December	Antwerp – Mechelen
11 December	Mechelen – Diest
12 December	Diest – Maastricht
13 December	Maastricht – Aachen
14 December	Aachen – Wüeh (?)
15 December	Wüeh – Kerpen – Cologne
16 – 24 December	Cologne
25 December	Cologne – Wermelskirchen
26 December	Wermelskirchen – Gevelsberg
27 December	Gevelsberg – Dortmund
28 December	Dortmund – Lünen – Wehren (?)
29 December	Wehren – Münster
30 – 31 December	Münster

From Münster to Merkinė

01 January – 30 June 1586

Kiechel left Münster and returned to Hamburg. He went to Lübeck and Flensburg, arriving in Copenhagen at the beginning of February. After four days in the Danish capital, Kiechel crossed the Øresund and travelled by horse and sledge via Jönköping and Norrköping to Stockholm. Our traveller spent two weeks in the Swedish capital and visited Uppsala. From Stockholm, he went south to Kalmar and then via Åhus and Malmö back to Copenhagen.
Kiechel went to Gedser on the southern tip of the island of Falster and crossed the Baltic Sea to Rostock on the German coast. He continued east along the coast via Stralsund and Szczecin to Gdańsk. After a week in Gdańsk, Kiechel continued his journey eastward to Königsberg (Kaliningrad) and Grodno. By the end of June, Samuel Kiechel was close to Merkinė in Lithuania.

List of dates and places

1 January 1586	Münster – Lengerich
2 January	Lengerich – Osnabrück
3 January	Osnabrück
4 January	Osnabrück – För (?)
5 January	För – Wildeshausen
6 January	Wildeshausen
7 January	Wildeshausen – Delmenhorst – Bremen
8 January	Bremen – Pennigbüttel
9 January	Pennigbüttel – Hagenah
10 January	Hagenah – Stade – Hamburg
11 January	Hamburg
12 January	Hamburg – Höltenklinken
13 January	Höltenklinken – Lübeck
14 – 23 January	Lübeck
24 January	Lübeck – Rotmannsdorf (?)
25 January	Rotmannsdorf – Kiel – Gottorf
26 January	Gottorf – Flensburg
27 January	Flensburg
28 January	Flensburg – Vejbæk
29 January	Vejbæk – Assens
30 January	Assens – Nyborg
31 January	Nyborg
1 February	Nyborg – Korsør – Rüneschburg (?)
2 February	Rüneschburg – Copenhagen
3 – 7 February	Copenhagen
8 February	Copenhagen – Helsingør
9 February	Helsingør – Helsingborg – Ruy (?)
10 February	Ruy – Onolzböckh (?)
11 February	Onolzböckh – Abüe (?)
12 February	Abüe – Jönköping
13 February	Jönköping – Gränna
14 February	Gränna – Onsdau (?)
15 February	Onsdau – Linköping – Söderköping
16 February	Söderköping
17 February	Söderköping – Norrköping
18 February	Norrköping – Birlingstau (?)
19 February	Birlingstau – Nyköping – Önnersta
20 February	Önnersta – Strängnäs
21 – 22 February	Strängnäs
23 February	Strängnäs – Stockholm
24 February – 6 March	Stockholm
7 March	Stockholm – Rosersberg
8 March	Rosersberg – Uppsala
9 March	Uppsala
10 March	Uppsala – Stockholm
11 March	Stockholm
12 March	Stockholm – Botkyrka
13 March	Botkyrka – Stockholm
14 – 15 March	Stockholm
16 March	Stockholm – Löstring (?)
17 March	Löstring – Nyköping – Birlingstau (?)
18 March	Birlingstau – Söderköping
19 March	Söderköping
20 March	Söderköping – Stegeborg – Söderköping
21 – 22 March	Söderköping
23 March	Söderköping – Hälla
24 March	Hälla – Degree (?)
25 March	Degree – Nügart (?)
26 March	Nügart – Wy (?)
27 March	Wy – Auaby (?)
28 March	Auaby – Cadry (?)
29 March	Cadry – Abwy (?)
30 March	Abwy – Kalmar
31 March – 4 April	Kalmar
5 April	Kalmar – Söderåkra
6 April	Söderåkra – Nättraby
7 April	Nättraby – Ronneby – Hestory (?)
8 April	Hestory – Åhus
9 April	Åhus – Webre (?)
10 April	Webre – Lund – Malmö
11 – 12 April	Malmö
13 April	Malmö – Copenhagen
14 – 18 April	Copenhagen
19 – 22 April	Copenhagen – at sea around Møn
23 – 25 April	on ship close to Møn
26 April	ship – Bissen (Busene?) – Stege
27 April	Stege – Stubbekøbing
28 April	Stubbekøbing – Nykøbing – Gedser
29 April	Gedser
30 April	Gedser – Warnemünde

From Merkinė to Rome

01 July – 31 December 1586

Samuel Kiechel visited Vilnius and, after a few days in the Lithuanian capital, travelled north to Riga. From Riga, he went to Dorpat (Tartu) and crossed Lake Peipus to Pskov.
From Pskov, Kiechel returned to Dorpat and then went via Narva to Reval (Tallinn). Our traveller left Livonia by ship and returned to Gdańsk in mid-September.
After two weeks in the city, he travelled via Poznań and Wrocław to Vienna. Kiechel spent a week in the Austrian capital and then continued south. He crossed the Alps late in the year and arrived in Venice in November.
Our traveller spent a month in Venice. He left in mid-December and arrived in Rome on the last day of 1586.

List of dates and places

From Rome to Milan

01 January – 30 June 1587

Kiechel spent the first two weeks of 1587 in Rome, then went to Naples. He spent two weeks there, after which he took a boat south along the Italian coast to Sicily, arriving in Messina in early March.
From Messina, our traveller followed the Sicilian coast to Syracuse and beyond. He crossed to Malta, arriving at the end of March. He spent three weeks on the island but could not travel farther south and had to return to Naples, where he arrived in mid-May.
From Naples, Kiechel went via Rome, Florence and Genoa to Milan. He arrived in Milan at the end of June.

List of dates and places

From Milan to Tripoli

01 July – 31 December 1587

Samuel Kiechel left Milan at the beginning of July and travelled via Verona and Parma to Bologna. He then returned to Venice.
In Venice, Kiechel learnt that a ship would soon depart for Tripoli, Syria. Our traveller decided to visit the Holy Land, but, much to his chagrin, the departure was repeatedly delayed. He spent two months in Venice waiting for the ship to set sail.
Eventually, our traveller left Venice at the end of September. Due to the wind and various stops, the journey to Tripoli took more than two and a half months.
Kiechel spent the end of 1587 in Tripoli.

List of dates and places

From Tripoli to Cairo

01 January – 30 June 1588

In Syria, Kiechel joined a group of Catholic pilgrims and travelled to Aleppo. He spent a month there, then travelled via Damascus to Jerusalem. After a few days in Jerusalem, Kiechel returned via Beirut to Tripoli.
From Tripoli, Samuel Kiechel sailed to Cyprus and then continued to Egypt. He spent two weeks in Cairo and then joined a caravan to the monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai. He spent a day at the monastery and climbed Mount Sinai. He then left St. Catherine and returned via Suez to Cairo. Kiechel spent another two and a half weeks in the Egyptian capital, during which he visited the Pyramids.

List of dates and places

From Cairo to Abydos

01 July – 31 December 1588

Samuel Kiechel left Cairo in early July and returned to Alexandria, where he spent nearly two months because he had become seriously ill and because the wind prevented ships from leaving the harbour.
He left Alexandria in September on a ship to Constantinople (Istanbul). The ship crossed the Mediterranean, sailed along the Anatolian coast to Rhodes, and arrived at the island of Chios. Kiechel left the ship and spent October on Chios, where he became ill again.
At the end of the month, our traveller left the island on a galley and travelled via Gallipoli to Istanbul. He spent one and a half months in the Ottoman capital.
Samuel Kiechel left Constantinople on 24 December by ship and, by the end of the year, was at anchor below the fortress of Abydos (Çanakkale) in the Dardanelles.

List of dates and places

From Abydos to Ulm

01 January – 30 June 1589

Our traveller arrived in Rethymno, Crete, at the end of January. He stayed in the town for a month, then went to Iraklion, where he remained for three weeks. Our traveller left Crete in April aboard a ship for Venice and arrived there one and a half months later. After a week in Venice, he returned via Trento, Landsberg and Augsburg to Ulm.

List of dates and places