In the years following his prolonged grand tour 1833-34, Andersen felt very strongly that he would be forced to go abroad again to find a springboard for his further development. In 1840 he succeeded in obtaining the funds for this, leaving on the journey that was to take him furthest away, Germany, Austria, Italy, Malta, Greece, Turkey (Constantinople), along the Danube with glimpses of the bordering Balkan countries, through Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Prague and back through Germany. The journey resulted in the brilliant travel account A Poet's Bazaar. (1842)

Taken from Hans Christian Andersen
by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs