On the Road With Plantin: Travel in the 16th Century

Plantin travelled a lot, to Paris, where he had a bookstore and lace trade, to Leiden where he had a second business, to Frankfurt for the buchmesse, … He was on his way almost half of the year. He was an experienced traveller. How did people travel in a time without motorways, GPS, smartphone or trip advisor? Plantin had tables available that calculated how long the trajectories lasted. Unfortunately, he did not keep track of where he slept, ate, and how much he spent. Fortunately, there are other contemporaries, such as Durer and Montaigne who did take extensive notes during their travels. In the wake of Plantin, we send young photographers on different journeys with various means of transport. How do travel distances and travel times differ from journeys in the 16th century?