Rizal arrived in Leitmeritz on May 13, 1887, together with his friend, Maximo Viola. It was the first time he met his pen-pal Blumentritt, a professor at the Municipal Atheneum of Leitmeritz, scholar, polyglot and author of articles and books on the Philippines. Their correspondence began on July 31, 1886, when Rizal heard that Blumentritt was studying Tagalog. Our hero wrote him a letter in German and sent him a copy of Rufino Baltazar Hernandez’s Aritmetica in Tagalog and Spanish.

Dr. Rizal made a brief visit in Vienna on 20-24 May 1887 and stayed at the Metropole Hotel in Vienna’s 1st District. For the last 3 days, they were conducted around the city by Mr. Masner to see the points of interest, especially the Museum. Rizal was also interviewed for their local newspaper Extra Blatt. 

There they also met Norfentals, one of the greatest Austrian novelists was favorably impressed by Rizal, and years later he spoke highly of Rizal, “whose genius he so much admired.”

Rizal and Viola arrived in Schaffhausen by train on June 2, 1887. It is a small town where they stayed at Hotel Muller on Bahnhofstrasse 28. While it’s easy to guess why Rizal would want to go to bigger, arguably more important cities in Europe like Paris, Madrid or Berlin, it’s unclear why he wanted to stop in this tiny Swiss town. 

After Schaffhausen, Rizal and Viola traveled by train to Basel. The duo toured the city and drank beer at Bayrische Bierhalle in the center of town. 

Rizal and Viola only stayed one night in Basel. Their next destination was Bern, which was the federal capital of Switzerland. The pair stayed at the Hotel Scweizerhof near the Hauptbahnhof, or the main train station.

After one night’s stay in Bern, Rizal and Viola journeyed on to Lausanne. They did sightseeing in the town that was right on the banks of Lake Geneva before continuing to the city of Geneva itself.

On June 6, the duo finally arrived in Geneva. They chose to stay at Pension Bel-Air on Rue du Rhone 3. Rizal spent about two weeks in the city, and it was here where he celebrated his 26th birthday. Rizal took Viola out for a meal to celebrate the occasion. Geneva turned out to be Rizal’s last stop in Switzerland. It was also here where he parted with Viola. Rizal caught a train for Turin, Italy on June 21, while Viola boarded one bound for Barcelona, Spain.

Rizal reached Rome on June 27, 1887 and was fascinated by “the sights and memories of the Eternal City.” He visited Turin, Milan, Venice and Florence.

On June 29 ,Rizal visited for the first time the Vatican, the “City of the Popes” and the capital of Christendom.

After a week of wonderful sojourn in Rome, Rizal prepared to return to the Philippines. He had already written to his father that he was coming home.