His entire stock and trade is on his back as he walks down the sun scorched streets of Athens in the early 1900s, selling lemons.  Just lemons. And if you wanted lemons, I suppose you would have to track him down whatever street he happened to be on that day. It is hard for us to even imagine a world where shopping is conducted this way.

The Lemon Merchant of Athens

At the dawn of the twentieth century, before television and radio had begun their work of shaping mass culture, the south of Brittany retained an even more unique aspect than it does today.

Our tour of old Brittany begins in the town of Quimperlé where an open air pottery market has drawn several women dressed in traditional Brittany costumes.

Pottery Market in Brittany

Arriving on a night of bright moonlight, one finds a peaceful, quiet town, which looks fantastic, with empty streets and winding alleys, facades, which overhangs and receding down houses. The bell tower of Saint-Michel rises above the houses of the upper town. The blue moonlight shines on the stone colossus.

A Girl from Brittany Wearing Traditional Head Dress

All sleep the sleep of small towns that sleep;  sleep really is the death of mankind. No step on the pavement of the streets, no noise of a carriage, not even the whistle of a train. All is silent, not like the nights of the great Paris, whose hollow ground rings with the noise from the the tubes and pipes of various services, the sound of all that is in motion.

Here two women from Brittany wait outside a mourning chamber, where the body of a deceased lies.  Their expressions and creepy hoods would scare the crap out of me!

In Mourning

Below a trio of young women from Pont Avon in Brittany chat next to a doorway. They are wearing their peculiar traditional dresses that features wing like shoulder adornments. The girls of Brittany liked to make themselves look pretty and had a well -deserved reputation for flirting and coquetry.

young women

Brittany has always depended on the sea, and many men and women worked in the fisheries. Here woman are setting sardines out to dry.

Drying Sardines

Filling the cans of sardines. Note the lack of any automation.

An Old Fisherman

So now it is time to say goodbye to the grizzled old fishermen, and the pretty country girls of Brittany.

A View of Tunis Facing the Harbour

A Street in Tunis

Note some of the details: all the people in the photograph are wearing traditional dress, indicating a lack of western cultural influence at that point in time. There are few women on the street, most of the pedestrians are men. There are no horses or carriages, let alone motorized vehicles. There is no indication of electricity or telegraph wires. But what is also interesting is that no one seems to be paying the least attention to the photographer, indicating perhaps a familiarity with the concept or complete indifference.

A Jewish Woman in Tunis, 1902

Until the post World War 2 period when Arab nationalism and demagogues such as Egypt’s Nasser made the Jews into a convenient bogey man in order to radicalize and manipulate their populations, most Arab countries had sizable Jewish populations living relatively peacefully besides the Muslim majority. This is not to say that the life of Jews in an moslem country such as Tunis would have been easy or that they enjoyed equality. From the time of the Arab conquest, Jews and other non-muslims had been required to pay a special poll tax, they had been required to wear special clothes identifying them as non-believers, they were prohibited from holding certain offices, and were often segregated into their own quarters of the city.

Wealthy Arabs in Tunis - The fellow on the right looks especially cocky and conscious of his social standing.

Becquia the mosque in Tunis.

A Covered Bazaar in Tunis

I have been to the large bazaar in Istanbul, built during the late Middle Ages.  It is a huge complex containing thousands of tiny shops.  The shops specialize in varioues things, some sell tea, others sell leather goods, while others sell jewelry.  The shops are grouped by what they sell, so that in any one area there may be a hundred shops selling basically the same thing.  As you walk by the shop keepers attempt to entice you. They may invite you in for tea while they show you their wares, or if they see you looking at an item they will immediately approach you and name a price. The opening price is never the real price and it is expected that you will haggle. I found that the best way to lower the price was to reject their offer and simply walk away without making a counter offer. As I walked away the shopkkeeper would start yelling out lower and lower prices until they would usually reach 50 percent off of their original price by the time you were almost out of ear shot. If  I liked the price I would turn around at that time and complete the bargain. It was a fascinating shopping experience but also very tiring. I could not imagine having to engage in heated bargaining to buy even the most basic of items.

Triumphal Arch of Trajan in ruins. Sic transit gloria.

A Village Built into the Side of a Cliff. The minaret of a mosque protrudes from the cavelike structures.

Camels and the Sahara

Tuaregs of the Sahara

The Tuaregs are nomadic inhabitants of North Africa. They lead a primitive existence in a very hostile climate, and controlled the trade routes between North Africa to Timbuktu and sub saharan Africa.

Dancers from the tribe of Oulad-Nayl.

Bougie.-Facing to the sea and the fortress Abd-el-Kader.

View of the city and the quays of Algiers.

This brings us to the end of our tour of Algiers and Tunis of 1902. We hope that you enjoyed your trip back in time with us.

Milk Wagon Drawn by Dogs

In this remarkable photograph a woman is delivering milk using a cart drawn by dogs.  The cart is full of milk jugs and she seems to be dispensing the milk directly into containers provided by her customers. This picture in itself captures just how much the world has changed since then:  if anyone tried to deliver milk using a team of dogs people would be horrified by the lack of hygiene. Back then this was normal.

Fish Sellers at Ostend, Belgium

A Belgian Flower Market

A Morning Market

Vegetable Market

Antwerp Cathedral

Belgium in 1902 was described as a nation of bells; the church bells would  sing joyously several times a day.  Above is a photo of a woman who was the custodian for one of the bell towers. During World War I, the invading Germans took most of the bells from the countries they conquered and melted them to make weapons. I wonder what became of this woman and her bell?

Brussels, 1902

Brussels in 1902 was a spacious and orderly city, known as a Little Paris because of its magnificent architecture and wide boulevards. It was the cultural and financial center of Belgium.

A Boulevard in Brussels

The Brussels Bourse (Stock Exchange)

Children in the Park, Belgium

City Hall, Antwerp

Antwerp Port

Flemish Draft Horses

Traditional Belgian Costume

And so ends our little tour of a by-gone Belgium.

Dutch Women in Traditional Dress Shopping At the Fair

Skinny Old Dutch Woman

The original Dutch caption reads “Een mager oudje” which Google Translate says means “A Skinny Old Woman”.   I am not sure if the picture is labeled correctly because this person does not look like a woman to me.  The sign on the building in the background translates as  Edek Music and Art Trade.

Young Dutch Peasant Girl

Above is a picture of a young peasant girl taken in 1906.   Although she is a member of the working class, the girl is well dressed in a traditional Dutch costume.  Her head is covered by a bonnet and she is carrying a large woven basket which is tied to what looks like a halter around her neck, presumably to help her carry the heavy load more easily.   The basket is empty so it is difficult to tell what she would normally have carried, but she likely would have used the basket to carry goods to market or to bring food home.

Draw Bridge - Holland, 1906

In this picture several Dutch men and women wait while a draw bridge is raised to allow a sailing ship to travel down a canal. It is interesting to note that the road appears to be made of cobblestone and that the people waiting are all pedestrians.  There are no cars or carriages waiting to cross the draw bridge.

Dutch Housewives Out Shopping

Dutch Housewives Buying from a Street Vendor

Chatting on a Wet Street in Holland, 1906

In this picture a married couple is chatting with an old man on a rain soaked cobblestone street. The original caption for this photograph reads “Conferentie over de dikte van de bieten.” which Google translates as “Conference over the thickness of the beat.”   I am assuming that this is some sort of Dutch figure of speech for gossiping.

Horse Drawn Cart

Two men are riding in a horse drawn cart down a cobblestone street in Holland.

A Train

I think that this picture is of a man and a woman standing next to a train carriage.

A Grandfather and His Grandson

A Dutch grandfather and his grandson walk down a cobblestone street. They look very stylish – the man is wearing a top hat and has a walking stick; the boy is wearing a suit.   I wonder where they were going that day in 1906.

The Bridge Master

A bridge master, whose job it was to raise and lower the draw bridge to let ships and traffic pass through the canal, keeps watch.

Gossip Girls

The innkeeper’s daughters gossiping with a neighbor girl over the fence.

A Load of Hay

A cart full of hay is being drawn by two strong work horses.   Note the extremely narrow lane.

Dutch Boy and Girl

Dutch Farm Children

Dutch Girls Doing Traditional Dutch Dance by the Seashore

Lost in Thought

A Dutch man stands by the seashore looking out to sea.  Note the traditional wooden clog shoes that he is wearing.

Holland - Sheep Grazing on a Canal

In this picture a Dutch shepherd and his sheepdog are grazing a flock of sheep on the banks of canal.  Notice the stereotypical Dutch windmill in the background.

Man With Horse

A pipe smoking man stands next to his horse.  The man is wearing clog shoes which probably are not the best suited for riding.

Windmill

A large windmill in Holland,  located on the Wemeldinge dike.

Two men look out to sea on the west coast of Holland. They are wearing Dutch clogs. The wooden stakes are to prevent erosion.

Dutch boys wearing clogs march down a quiet cobblestone street. Their clogs must have made quite the racket.

Traditional Dutch Dancing. Boys and Girls dance with clogs.

Dutch Girls Perform a Traditional Dance Around a Pole. Is this related to the May Pole?

Wash Day in Volendam, Holland (1906)

The Dutch Village of Volendam, in 1906.

Women Working and Caring for Children - Holland, 1906

A Young Mother

Fisherman Wearing Baggy Pants. Holland, 1906

Two Old Men Hanging Out

Two Dutch Children

A Washerwoman Putting the Clothes Out to Dry

Dutch Girls Skipping Along

A Shy Boy and Girl

This brings us to the end of our journey back in time to 1906 Holland.

Beautiful Women

1908 England was a time of change. The Victorian era, with its stultifying codes of social behaviour had come to an end, and the Edwardian era had begun. Although very socially conservative by today’s standards, Britain’s Edwardian society was undergoing a period of rapid change in what was acceptable. Only a few years before, prudish Victorians had covered the legs of their pianos with stockings for fear that the sight of a wooden furniture leg might give offence; now women were appearing in what was then sexy poses in magazines.  This article examines how standards of beauty have changed over the last 100 years.

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Shut Ins

The Shut In Society is selling “All Kinds of fancy and useful articles made by our invalids. Passe-Partout orders carefully executed. Lace mending beautifully done.  Exchange open daily from 10 to 4. ” New York in 1908.

See the Mighty Avalanche,  the Devastating Prairie Fire, the Battle of Summit Springs,  the World’s Rough Riders Led by the Only and Original Colonel Wm. F.  Cody (Buffalo Bill) Who Positively Appears at Every Performance.   Seats are only 25 cents or you can get a box seat for just $2.00.  Its a great bargain and a great way to spend an afternoon in 1908 New York.

Here is an advertisement for soda water that was supposed to make you healthy and strong:

Manufactured by Mrs. Blanche Thomas of New York, San Francisco and St. Louis, the Herbo-Nervo Tonic was an all in one tonic, confection and soda drink guaranteed under the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 to “build up the whole system and give renewed vigor and vim.”   It was made purely of “vegetables and herbs”.   The ad claimed that  “Children can take it with impunity” because it contains nothing but sugar and the tonic.  At least one part of the advertisement was accurate.