Although Richard Rassels first used the phrase, the Grand Tour, in a printed work in 1670, the forerunner of this custom was Sir Philip Sidney, an Elizabethan diplomate. The Grand Tour could be defined as that a young man, with his older tutor who was commonly called bear-leader, made a journey through France and Italy, etc., as finishing touch to education. The Grand Tour was not an exclusively British phenomenon. But compared with other nations, the British in the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century were emphatically the people who could afford it. Travel in early modern period was easily to face many hazards and dangers-war, religious persecution, disease, pirates, burglary, and the shortage of money. A Grand Tourist was expected to improve his grasp of French, Italian and German and to develop gentlemanly elements such as manners, sports and taste for art. Although most tourists went to Dover in order to cross to Calais, there were other sailing routs to France. In France, Paris was the most important sight for tourists and the Loire valley was also popular in the first half of the eighteenth century. The Loire academies were especially valued because of the purity of the French spoken in the area. By the second half of the century, however, the Loire's popularity had fallen because people preferred the high mountains and the raw beauty of nature. From France to Italy, tourists had to choose between the Alps and the Mediterranean and the majority of tourists preferred to cross the Alps. From Lyons to the Franco-Savoyard frontier at Pont-de Beauvoisin was the most common route. The major sights in Italy were Genoa, Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. Rome was the goal of many tourists, the furthest point of numerous tours. Tourists purchased paintings and antiquities, hired antiquarians and sought artistic advice. Italy offered classical and Baroque art, and it was almost necessary to visit Italy in order to appreciate Italian art and architecture. Tourists often commissioned paintings by Italian artists such as Batoni, and by British artists resident abroad. The Grand Tour often produced criticism, ranging from its supposed effeminate import to the loss of wealth to the country. There were, however, social benefits for those who returned having been polished by Continental society. This custom could be perceived as a kind of rite of passage for social aspirants to enter the elite circle in early modern Europe. With the benefit of Grand Tour, European elite developed homogeneous culture which made the spread of ideology, such as enlightenment, easily and rapidly. In the early nineteenth century, as the steamship narrowed the sea, and the railways shortened the distances of Europe for the travellers, the lure of the Grand Tour diminished. When the British found they could visit the Continent every year, the grandiose programme of a once-for all visit became unnecessary. Now, mass tourism democratized and substituted the Grand Tour, but its impulses and aspirations live on.