From Ulm to Münster
23 May – 31 December 1585
Samuel Kiechel embarked on his journey, starting from Ulm and making his way through various cities in Europe. He visited Prague, Dresden, and Berlin and finally reached the city of Hamburg. After spending a few days there, he continued along the North Sea coast, passing through the independent Dutch provinces 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. During his time there, he visited the Tower Tower and Westminster Abbey. He also witnessed the festivities that accompanied the appointment of a new Lord Mayor and even caught a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth I outside Richmond Palace.
However, Kiechel had to abandon his plans to travel to Scotland and Ireland when news of a plague outbreak reached him. Instead, he left England and travelled via the Spanish Netherlands to Cologne.
On Christmas Day, Kiechel left Cologne behind and found himself in Münster as the new year began.
From Münster to Merkinė
01 January – 30 June 1586
Samuel Kiechel left Münster and returned to Hamburg. He went to Lübeck and followed the coast of the Baltic Sea northwards to Flensburg. Travelling across the Danish Isles, he arrived in Copenhagen at the beginning of February.
After four days in the Danish capital, he crossed the Øresund at Helsingør and travelled by horse and sledge via Jönköping and Norrköping to Stockholm.
Our traveller spent a few days in the Swedish capital and visited Uppsala. But he got bored and decided to leave, only to learn that the sea was frozen and he could not travel by ship. He had to return to Copenhagen. But he decided to take a different route. From Stockholm, Kiechel went south to Kalmar. There, he saw the Swedish royal family. He continued his journey via Åhus to Malmo. At Malmo, he crossed the Øresund again and arrived back in Copenhagen in the middle of April.
To leave Denmark, Kiechel went to Gedser on the southern tip of the island of Falster. From Gedser, he took a boat to Rostockon on the German coast. After a few days in Rostock, our traveller went via Stralsund and Szczecin to Gdańsk. He spent a week in Gdańsk and then continued his journey eastward to Königsberg (Kaliningrad) and Grodno.
By the end of June, Samuel Kiechel was close to Merkinė in Lithuania.
From Merkinė to Rome
01 July – 31 December 1586
At the beginning of July 1586, Samuel Kiechel was on his way to Vilnius. He spent a few days in the Lithuanian capital and then travelled north to Livonia. He arrived in Riga and spent a few days in the city. From Riga, he went to Dorpat (Tartu) and across Lake Peipus to Pskov.
While in Pskov, Kiechel abandoned his plans to travel to Moscow. He learnt that the distance to the Russian capital was too large, and there was nothing to see in between. Due to the distances, he would be forced to spend the following winter in Russia.
Instead, Kiechel went via Narva to Reval (Tallinn). The region had been devastated by a long war, and Kiechel travelled through a depopulated countryside where suspicions and superstitions were commonplace. On his way to Reval, our traveller was abandoned by his guide, heard rumours about werewolves and became the unwilling accomplice in the theft of a horse.
Samuel Kiechel left Livonia by ship. He arrived back in Gdańsk in the middle of 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 visited the Arsenal and various islands in the Lagoon. Also, he inveigled himself into a guided tour of the treasure chamber of St. Mark’s.
Samuel Kiechel left Venice in mid-December and arrived in Rome on the last day of 1586.
From Rome to Milan
01 January – 30 June 1587
Samuel Kiechel spent the first two weeks of 1587 in Rome. He visited various churches and ancient Roman sites. He pretended to be a member of the retinue of a German nobleman and was thereby allowed to witness a papal audience.
Kiechel left Rome and went to Naples to visit the ruins of Pozzuoli. He spent two weeks in Naples, and afterwards, he took a boat to travel along the Italian coast south to Sicily. Kiechel arrived in Messina in early March.
From Messina, our traveller followed the Sicilian coast to Syracuse and further south. He crossed the sea to Malta, where he arrived at the end of March. He spent three weeks on the island. However, he could not travel further south and had to return to Naples.
The return journey to Naples proved hazardous. In Sicily, Kiechel fell victim to fraud. On his way back via Palermo to Naples, he was nearly caught and enslaved by an Ottoman fleet that harassed the unprotected coast of southern Italy. There was also the constant danger of being a Protestant deep in Catholic territory. He arrived back in Naples in the middle of May.
From Naples, Kiechel travelled north. He went via Roma, Florence and Genoa to Milan. He arrived in Milan at the end of June.
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.
Two weeks after he arrived in Venice, Kiechel learnt that a ship would soon leave for Tripoli in Syria. Rather spontaneously, our traveller decided to visit the Holy Land. He paid for passage on the ship, but, much to his chagrin, the departure got repeatedly delayed. He spent two months in Venice waiting for the ship to set sail.
Eventually, the ship with 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.
From Tripoli to Cairo
01 January – 30 June 1588
Due to an outbreak of the plague in Jerusalem, Kiechel was forced to make a detour. He joined a group of Catholic pilgrims and travelled to Aleppo in Syria. Samuel Kiechel spent a month in Aleppo. He explored the city, visited the bathhouses and waited for news that the plague in Jerusalem had subsided.
Kiechel then travelled via Damascus to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was difficult for our Protestant traveller. He joined his Catholic companions in visiting all the important religious sites. But they had noticed that Kiechel was not as engaged in Catholic practice as was appropriate in such a place. They accused him of heresy and threatened to report him to the Inquisition once they were back in Venice. This conflict would continue to simmer during their return journey to Tripoli via Beirut.
However, Kiechel had no intention to return to Venice straight away. He left his companions and travelled by ship to Egypt. He spent two weeks in Cairo and then joined a caravan to the monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai. The journey through the desert took over a week, and our traveller did not enjoy riding a camel. He spent a day at the monastery and climbed Mount Sinai. Then, he left St. Catherine and returned to Cairo via Suez.
Kiechel spent another two and a half weeks in the Egyptian capital. During this time, he visited the Pyramids and almost got lost inside.
From Cairo to Abydos
01 July – 31 December 1588
Samuel Kiechel left Cairo on 7 July and returned to Alexandria. He would spend nearly two months in Alexandria, partly because he became seriously ill but also due to the wind that prevented ships from leaving the harbour.
He left Alexandria in September on a ship to Constantinople (Istanbul). The journey was very unpleasant. When the ship came into a devastating storm, some Muslim passengers accused our traveller, the only Christian on board, of being the reason for the storm. Kiechel was almost thrown overboard had not his companion intervened.
The ship crossed the Mediterranean, sailed along the Anatolian coast to Rhodes and came to the island of Scio. Kiechel left the ship and spent October on Scio. 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. He explored the ancient Roman and modern Ottoman sights of the city. When the German ambassador was invited to visit the Sultan’s zoo, Kiechel hid among the ambassador’s entourage. He saw various strange animals, among them an elephant and a rhinoceros.
Samuel Kiechel left Constantinople on 24 December by ship. His next destination was Crete. He would spend the end of the years on a ship at anchor below the fortress of Abydos (Çanakkale) in the Dardanelles.
From Abydos to Ulm
01 January – 30 June 1589
Our traveller arrived at Rethymno on Crete at the end of January. Due to fear of the plague, no one was allowed to enter the city. All passengers and crew were quarantined for five days in an old, crumbling building in the harbour. The building was cold and wet, and our traveller got ill again.
Eventually, everyone was allowed to leave, and Kiechel stayed in Rethymno until 28 February. He then went to Iraklion, where he stayed for three weeks. Kiechel visited a few of the many ancient ruins around the city.
Our traveller left Crete in April on board a ship to Venice and arrived there one and a half months later. He spent a week in Venice and then returned via Trient, Landsberg and Augsburg to Ulm.