Hostels

Description

Hostels were a European invention - German to be exact. The first youth hostel appeared in 1912 at the Altena Castle in small town in Western Germany. It was a beautiful old castle and rooms were provided to inner city teenagers who wanted to experience the outdoors and fresh air. It was the brainchild of a man name Richard Schirrman and the whole idea was considered very experimental. In the early years of hostels, guests were to manage the whole facility on their own. They did the chores, the cleaning and cooked for themselves as a character building process. It also kept the costs down and enabled the youths to stay free or for a tiny amount of money. The early years saw what was referred to as a lock out during the middle of the day when not that many were around anyway. The accommodations were very basic but the idea caught on and caught on big. In one year, that one hostel turned into over 300 and by 1920, it had doubled in Germany alone. By then, the first directory that listed all the hostels was published and thus began Read more... Discuss this item on the forums. (0 posts)

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