A citizen of the world
Pack your bags and take an emotional journey to Miguel de Unamuno's favorite destinations
Envelope´s postcard (September 16, 1917)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
Miguel de Unamuno loved to travel. As a young man, he took his first trip with his uncle Claudio. Over 49 days they visited Italy, France, and Switzerland. While living in Salamanca, he traveled around the province on many occasions.
Over the years, he got to know Spain and its islands, he visited Portugal more than 20 times, and he returned to those European countries he had visited in his youth for many different reasons. The New World got away from him; he always wanted to visit Argentina and other foreign territories.
Postcard (July 24, 1906)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
A true globetrotter
While Unamuno was a homebody, he did love to go on vacation and plan trips. For him, travel offered opportunities to learn about other ways of life and experience different landscapes, which would inspire him in his writing.
The contemplative voyager
Some of his works are really guidebooks: Wanderings and Spanish Visions, Through the Lands of Portugal and Spain, My Country … (Andanzas y Visiones Españolas, Por Tierras de Portugal y de España, De mi País…) But Unamuno shied away from the tourist trail and, as he himself asserted, always looked for "a voyage of contemplation."
"These excursions do not just provide comfort, rest, and a learning opportunity; they are also, and above all, one of the best ways of reinforcing love and affection for your own country.
The journey within
Sometimes the journey starts with your inner self, with the real work leading you to a specific place, on a kind of pilgrimage. This is what happened in 1916, when he visited the monastery of Poblet with the manuscript of The Christ of Velázquez (El Cristo de Velázquez), to read it next to the high altar.
Sometimes, people who worked and lived in the countryside would accompany Unamuno on his travels. Many of his drawings depict these characters, considered representatives of an eternal nature, and symbols of the country's soul. The ranch of Traguntía, in Salamanca, was one of his favorite destinations. He visited on many occasions to "wear his heart on his sleeve" and put some distance between himself and the city and its inhabitants.
"It's not the destination, it's the journey."
Miguel de Unamuno in italian war front (September 1917)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
1917: War reporter
Did you know Unamuno visited the Italian front in the midst of World War I? He was joined by important intellectuals of the time: Manuel Azaña, Luis Bello, Américo Castro, and the painter Santiago Rusiñol.
Lake Maggiore postcard (September 16, 1917)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
Stresa 16 IX 17
Dear Concha, I write you this card on the banks of Lake Maggiore, a splendid place. We will shortly head to one of its islands. Tomorrow night, Monday, we will leave for the front. What I don't know is when we will be finished. We are overwhelmed by the hospitality.
Lots of love,
Your Miguel
Between 1924 and 1930, his forced exile took him first to the island of Fuerteventura, and then on to Paris and Hendaye. Despite being forced to make the journey, he managed to appreciate the positive side of this uncertain course, compensating for the harsh reality of being far from home.
Miguel de Unamuno by boat to Paris (July 1924)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
From Fuerteventura to Paris
Unamuno left Fuerteventura and headed to Las Palmas, on board the schooner
L'Aiglon on July 9, 1924. From there, he sailed on the ship Zeelandia toward the French port of Cherbourg, where he took a train to Paris with the final destination of St. Lazarus station.
Miguel de Unamuno and his family (July 1928)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
The summer reunion
In 1926, he reached the port of Hendaye for the last stage of his exile. Fortunately, every summer he spent there he was visited by his family, with whom he rented a typical country house to enjoy the summer vacation. This gave him a powerful boost in order to deal with his interminable exile.
Making up for lost time
Once back in Salamanca, with the Republic in full swing, Unamuno took various trips around Castile. It was his way of reconnecting with his homeland, on a journey through the space and time from his memories to his hopes.
"Tourism? Excursionism? More like emigration through time, through years past, through memories. Journeys through time entertain the soul. And through personal time, through the time of private memories."
Miguel de Unamuno with friends (August 1934)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
The comfort of work and friendship
In 1934, the loss of his wife and eldest daughter plunged the writer into profound pain. He was immensely supported by his friends and professional colleagues who wouldn't let him be alone at all. It was a time to take journeys, to impart conferences and courses, to alleviate the pain of the soul.
The homeland of sad loves
In 1935, he took his last trip to Portugal, symbolizing a kind of farewell to the country.
In Bussaco, he met the writers Wenceslao Fernández Flórez and Gabriela Mistral, and also the Hispanist Ernst Robert Curtius.
"In Portugal, the sun never comes up: it sets into the sea which was the theater of its exploits, and crib and tomb of its glories."
Unamuno Miguel De 1864-1963LIFE Photo Collection
The last voyage
After a lifetime in which he developed a love for his homeland by traveling through it, Unamuno was put under house arrest following the outbreak of the Civil War. It was in his home when, on the final day of 1936, he set out on "the final voyage, the voyage that would never end, the voyage to the eternal sunset."
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