Europe, the inner continent : account of 43-day train journey through 20 cities

Abstract

As the train went on, and more cities unfolded themselves in front of us, it somehow became less difficult to look back and take stock of the whole thing. Was it real, after all? More than one hundred writers from all over Europe were called to meet on a particular day in Lisbon, at a particular hotel. From there they were to depart on a trip which for various reasons, including the fact that the guests happened to be busy people, was to be rather long. A journey through twelve countries across the continent, with cultural events planned in detail for every two or three day stop-over in twenty European cities... That already sounds like the outline of a novel. So it was meant to be, a far reaching inquiry into something much profounder than encountering new persons, making new friends, beholding the astounding beauty of some of the more important cities in Europe. [excerpt]