FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   418   419   420   421   422   423   424   425   426   427   428   429   430   431   432   433   434   435   436   437   438   439   440   441   442  
443   >>  
le and confusion. The second fire broke out in the following night. Every one had retired to sleep, but the fire-watch rushed through the street, knocking with his iron-mounted staff at the doors of the houses and waking the people. I sprang terrified out of bed, ran to the window, and saw in the direction of the fire a faint red light in the sky. In a few hours the noise and redness ceased. They have at last begun to build stone houses, not only in Pera but also in Constantinople. I left Constantinople on the evening of the 7th of October, by the French steamer Scamander, one hundred and sixty-horse power. The passage from Constantinople to Smyrna, and through the Greek Archipelago is described in my journey to the Holy Land, and I therefore pass on at once to Greece. I had been told, in Constantinople, that the quarantine was held in the Piraeus (six English miles from Athens), and lasted only four days, as the state of health in Turkey was perfectly satisfactory. Instead of this, I learnt on the steamer that it was held at the island of AEgina (sixteen English miles from Piraeus), and lasted twelve days, not on account of the plague but of the cholera. For the plague it lasts twenty days. On the 10th of October we caught sight of the Grecian mainland. Sailing near the coast, we saw on the lofty prominence of a rock twelve large columns, the remains of the Temple of Minerva. Shortly afterwards we came near the hill on which the beautiful Acropolis stands. I gazed for a long time on all that was to be seen; the statues of the Grecian heroes, the history of the country came back to my mind; and I glowed with desire to set my foot on the land which, from my earliest childhood, had appeared to me, after Rome and Jerusalem, as the most interesting in the earth. How anxiously I sought for the new town of Athens--it stands upon the same spot as the old and famous one. Unfortunately, I did not see it, as it was hidden from us by a hill. We turned into the Piraeus, on which a new town has also been built, but only stopped to deliver up our passports, and then sailed to AEgina. It was already night when we arrived; a boat was quickly put out, and we were conveyed to the quay near the quarantine station. Neither the porters nor servants of this establishment were there to help us, and we were obliged to carry our own baggage to the building, where we were shown into empty rooms. We could not even get a
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   418   419   420   421   422   423   424   425   426   427   428   429   430   431   432   433   434   435   436   437   438   439   440   441   442  
443   >>  



Top keywords:

Constantinople

 

Piraeus

 

October

 

steamer

 

lasted

 

plague

 

Grecian

 

stands

 

twelve

 
AEgina

English

 

Athens

 

quarantine

 

houses

 
country
 

baggage

 

heroes

 

building

 

history

 

glowed


desire

 

earliest

 
obliged
 
statues
 

beautiful

 

Acropolis

 

deliver

 

Shortly

 

stopped

 

Minerva


childhood

 
Unfortunately
 

quickly

 

Temple

 

famous

 

sailed

 

passports

 
hidden
 

arrived

 

conveyed


Neither

 
appeared
 
station
 

porters

 
turned
 

servants

 

anxiously

 
sought
 

Jerusalem

 

interesting