menu_book Chapter 41

Section 41 of A Women's Journey Around the World. A Woman's Journey Around the World. By Ida Laura Pfeiffer. Chapter 24. CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.

CONSTANTINOPLE. CHANGES. TWO FIRES. VOYAGE TO GREECE. QUARANTINE AT EGINA.

A DAY IN ATHENS. KALAMACHI. THE ISMOS. PATRAS. KORFU.

Little can be said of the passage from Odessa to Constantinople. We continued out at sea and did not land anywhere. The distance is 420 miles. The ship belonged to the Russian government. It was named Odessa.

It was of 260 horsepower and was handsome, clean and neat. In order that my parting with my dear friends, the Russians, might not be too much regretted, one of them was so good at the end of the passage as to behave in a manner that was far from polite. During the last night, which was very mild and warm, I went out of the closed cabin on

to the deck and placed myself not far from the compass box, where I soon began to sleep, wrapped in my mantle. When all the sailors came, and giving me a kick with his foot, told me to leave the place. I thanked him quietly for the delicate way in which he expressed himself, and requesting him to leave me at peace, continued to sleep.

Among the passengers were six English soldiers who had taken a new ship to Odessa and were returning home. I spoke with them several times, and had soon quite won them. As they perceived that I was without any companion, they asked me if I spoke enough Turkish to be able to get what I wanted from the ship's people and porters.

On my answering that I did, they offered to manage everything for me if I would go on shore with them. I willingly accepted their offer. As we approached land, a customs officer came on board to examine our luggage. In order to avoid delay, I gave him some money.

When we landed, I wanted to pay, but the English sailors would not allow it. They said I had paid for the customs officer, and it was therefore their time to pay for the boat. I saw that I should only have affronted them if I had pressed them further to receive the money.

They settled with the porter for me, and we parted good friends. How different was the behaviour of these English sailors from that of the three well-bred Russian gentlemen at Jalta! The passage into the Bosphorus, as well as the objects of interest in Constantinople, I have already described in my journey to the Holy Land.

I went immediately to my good friend Mrs. Belbiani, but to my regret found that she was not in Constantinople. She had given up her hotel. I was recommended to the Hotel aux Quatre Nations, kept by Madame Proust. She was a talkative French woman who was always singing the praises of her housekeeping, servants,

cookery, etc., in which, however, none of the travellers agreed with her. She charged forty piastres, eight shillings, and put down a good round sum in the bill for servants' fees and such like. Since my last stay here a handsome new wooden bridge had been erected over the Golden Horn, and the women did not seem to be so thickly veiled as on my first visit to Constantinople.

Many of them wore such delicately woven veils that their faces could almost be seen through them. Others had only the forehead and chin covered, and left their eyes, nose, and cheeks exposed. The suburb of Pira looked very desolate. There had been a number of fires, which were increased by two during my stay.

They were called small, as by the first only a hundred and thirty shops, houses, and cottages, and by the second only thirty were burned to the ground. They are accustomed to reckon the number destroyed by thousands. The fire broke out in the evening as we were seated at table. One of the guests offered to accompany me to see it, as he thought I should be interested

by the sight if I had not seen such a one before. The scene of the fire was rather distant from our house, but we had scarcely gone a hundred steps when we found ourselves in a great crowd of people, who all carried paper lanterns, by which the streets were lighted. Everyone was shouting and rushing wildly about.

The inhabitants of the houses threw upon their windows and inquired of the passers by the extent of the danger, and gazed with anxiety and trembling at the reflection of the flames in the sky. Every now and then sounded the shrill cry of, God da, God da! Take care of the people, who carried small fire engines and buckets of water on their

shoulders and knocked everything over that was in their way. Mounted and foot soldiers and watchmen rushed about, and passers rode down with their attendants to urge the people on in extinguishing the fire and to render them assistance. Unfortunately, almost all these labours are fruitless. The fire takes such hold of the wooden buildings painted with oil colours and spreads with

such incredible rapidity that it is stopped only by open spaces or gardens. One fire often destroys several thousand houses. The unfortunate inhabitants have scarce time to save themselves. Those who live some distance off hastily pack their effects together and hold themselves prepared for flight at any moment.

It may easily be supposed that thieves are not rare on such occasions, and it too often happens that the few things the poor people have saved are torn away from them in the bustle and confusion. The second fire broke out in the following night. Everyone 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 Pira, but also in Constantinople.

I left Constantinople on the evening of the 7th of October by the French steamer Scavander, 160 horsepower. 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 Perius, six English

miles from Athens, and lasted only four days, as the state of health in Turkey was perfectly satisfactory. Instead of this, I learned on the steamer that it was held at the island of Aegina, sixteen English miles from Perius, 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 Perius, on which a new town has also been built, but only stopped to deliver up our passports, and then sailed to Aegean. It was already night when we arrived, a boat was quickly put out, and we were conveyed

to the Cay 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 light. I had fortunately a wax taper with me, which I cut into several pieces and gave to my fellow

passengers. On the following morning I inquired about the regulations of the quarantine. They were very bad and very dear. A small room, quite empty, cost three drachmas, two shilling three pence, a day. Bored, five drachmas, three shillings, nine pence.

Very small, separate portions, sixty or seventy leptas. Six pennies or seven pennies. The attendants, that is, the superintendents of the guardian, two drachmas a day, the supply of water, fifteen leptas daily, the physician, a drachma, and another drachma on leaving, for which he inspects the whole party and examines the state of their health.

Several other things were to be had at a similar price, and every article of furniture has to be hired. I cannot understand how it is that the government pays so little attention to institutions which are established for sanitary purposes and which the poor cannot avoid. They must suffer more privation here than at home.

They cannot have any hot meals, for the landlord, who is not restricted in his prices, charges five or six times the value. Several artisans, who had come by the vessel, were put into the same room with a servant girl. These people had no hot food the twelve days.

They lived entirely upon bread, cheese, and dried figs. The girl, after a few days, begged me to let her come into my room, as the people had not behaved properly to her. In what a position the poor girl would have been placed if there had not happened to be a woman among the passengers, or if I had refused to receive her.

Are such arrangements worthy of a public institution? Why are there not a few rooms fitted up at the expense of government for the poor? Why cannot they have a plain hot meal once in a day for a moderate price? The poor surely suffer enough by not being able to earn anything for so long a time without being deprived of their hard earnings in such a shameful manner.

On the second day the courtyard was opened, and we were permitted to walk about in an enclosed space a hundred and fifty paces wide on the seashore. The view was very beautiful. The whole of the Cyclades lay before us, small mountainous islands, mostly uninhabited and covered over with woods.

Probably they were formerly a part of the mainland, and were separated by some violent convulsion of nature. On the fourth day our range was extended. We were allowed to walk as far as the hills surrounding the Lazaretto under the care of a guard.

The remains of a temple stand upon these hills, fragments of a wall, and a very much decayed column. The latter, which consisted of a single piece of stone, was fluted, and, judging from the circumference, had been very high. These ruins are said to be those of the remarkably fine Temple of Jupiter.

21 October. This was the day we were set at liberty. We had ordered a small vessel the evening before which was to take us to Athens early in the morning. But my fellow travellers would insist upon first celebrating their freedom at a tavern,

and from this reason it was eleven o'clock before we started. I availed myself of this time to look about the town and its environs. It is very small and contains no handsome buildings. The only remains of antiquity which I found were traces of the floor of a room in mosaic work of coloured stones.

From what I could see of the island of Aegina it appeared extremely barren and naked, and it does not show any indications of having been once a flourishing seat of art and commerce. Aegina is a Greek island, about two square miles in extent. It was formerly a separate state, and is said to have received the name of Aegina from the daughter of Aesop.

It is supposed that the first money of Greece was coined in this island. Our passage to the Piraeus occupied a long time, there was not a breath of wind, and the sailors were obliged to row. We did not land at our destination until nearly eight in the evening. We were first visited by the health officer, who read through the certificates which we

brought from the quarantine very leisurely. There was unfortunately nobody among us who was inclined to make it more understandable to him by a few drachmas. Of course we could not neglect going to the police office, but it was already closed, in consequence of which we dare not leave the town.

I went into a large fine-looking coffee house to look for night-quarters. I was conducted to a room in which half of the window panes were broken. The attendant said this was of no consequence, it was only necessary to close the shutters. In other respects the room looked very well, but I had scarcely laid down on the bed when certain animals compelled me to take to flight.

I laid down upon the sofa, which was no better. Lastly, I tried an easy-chair, in which I passed the night, not in the most agreeable position. I had already been told in Aegina of the great dirtiness and number of vermin prevalent in the Pyrrhus inns, and had been warned against passing a night there.

But what was to be done? For we could not venture to leave the town without permission of the police. 22 October. The distance of the harbour of the Pyrrhus from Athens is 13 stadia, or six English miles. The road leads through olive plantations and between barren hills.

The Acropolis remains continually in sight. The town of Athens does not appear till afterwards. I had intended to remain eight days in Athens in order to see all the monuments and remarkable places of the town and environs leisurely, but I had scarcely got out of the carriage when I heard the news of the breaking out of the Vienna revolution of October.

I had heard of the Paris revolution of 24 February while in Bombay, that of March in Germany, at Baghdad, and the other political disturbances while at Tiberus, Tiflis, and other places. No news had astonished me so much in my whole life as that from Vienna. My comfortable, peace-loving Austrians, and an overthrow of the government.

I thought the statement so doubtful that I could not give full credit to the verbal information of the resident at Baghdad. He was obliged to show it to me in black and white in the newspaper to convince me. The affair of March so delighted and inspirited me that I felt proud of being an Austrian. The latter occurrences of May, however, cooled my enthusiasm, and that of the 6th of October

completely filled me with sadness and dejection. No overthrow of a state ever began so promisingly. It would have stood alone in history if the people had gone on in the spirit of the March movement and then to end in such a way. I was so grieved and upset by the result of the 6th of October that I lost all enjoyment

of everything. Moreover, I knew my friends were in Vienna, and I had heard nothing from them. I should have hastened there immediately if there had been an opportunity of doing so, but I was obliged to wait till the next day as the steamer did not start till then. I made arrangements to go by it.

And then took a Cicciolone to show me all the objects of interest in the town, more for diversion than pleasure. My fate had been very unfortunate. Twelve days I had patiently endured being shut up in the lazaretto of Agena in order to be able to see the classic country, and now I was so anxious to leave it that I had

neither rest nor peace. Athens, the capital of the former state of Attica, is said to have been founded in the year 1300, 1400 years before Christ, by Sykrops, from whom it then took the name of Sykropia, which in aftertimes was retained only by the castle. Under Erictonius the town was named Athens.

The original town stood upon a rock in the centre of a plain, which was afterwards covered with buildings. The upper part was called the Acropolis, the lower the Catopolis, only a part of the fortress. The famous Acropolis remains on the mountain, where the principal works of art of Athens stand.

The principal feature was the Temple of Minerva, or the Parthenon. Even its ruins excite the astonishment of the world. The building is said to have been 215 feet long, 97 feet broad, and 70 feet high. Here stood the statue of Minerva by Phidias. This masterly work was executed in gold and ivory.

Its height was 46 feet, and it is said to have weighed more than 2,000 pounds. Fifty-five columns of the entrance to the temple still remain, as well as parts of enormous blocks of marble which rest upon them and belong to the arches and roof. This temple was destroyed by the Persians, and was again restored with greater beauty by Pericles, about 440 years after the birth of Christ.

There are some fine remains of the temples of Minerva in Neptune, and the extent of the amphitheatre can still be seen. There is but little of the theatre of Bacchus remaining. Outside the Acropolis stands the Temple of Thesias and that of Jupiter Olympus, the one on the north, the other on the south side.

The former is in the Doric style and is surrounded by 36 fine columns. On the Metope are represented the deeds of Thesias in beautiful reliefs. The interior of the temple is full of fine sculptures, epithets, and other works in stone, most of which belong to the other temples, but are collected here. Outside the temple stand several marble seats which have been brought from the neighbouring

Areopagus, the former place of assembly for the patricians. Of the Areopagus itself nothing more is to be seen than a chamber cut out of the rock to which similarly cut steps lead. Of the Temple of Jupiter Olympus so much of the foundation walls still remain as to show what its size was.

There are also sixteen beautiful columns, fifty-eight feet in height. This temple, which was completed by Hadrian, is said to have exceeded in beauty and magnificence all the buildings of Athens. The exterior was decorated by 120 fluted columns six feet in diameter and fifty-nine in height. The gold and ivory statue of Jupiter was, like that of Minerva, the production of the

masterly hand of Phidias. All the temples and buildings were of pure white marble. Not far from the Areopagus is the Athenian Nynx where the free people of Athens met in council. Of this nothing more remains than the rostrum, hewn in the rock and the seat of the scribe.

What feelings agitate the mind when it is remembered what men have stood there and spoke from that spot? It was with sadness that I examined the cave near here where Socrates was imprisoned and poisoned. Of this memorable grotto stands a plain monument erected in memory of Philopopoi.

The Turks surrounded the Acropolis with a broad wall and the building of which they made use of many fragments of columns and other remains of the most beautiful temples. No remnants of antiquity are to be seen in the old town of Athens except the Tower of the Winds or, as others call it, Diogenes' Lantern, a small temple in the form of an octagon covered with fine sculpture.

Also the monument of Lysicrates. This consists of a pedestal, some columns and a dome in the Corinthian style. The chapel Maria Maggiore is said to have been built by the Venetians 700 years after Christ. Its greatest peculiarity is that it was the first Christian church in Athens.

The view of the whole country from the Acropolis is also very interesting. There can be seen the Haematos, the Pentelechon, Taurigelousis, Marathon, Philae and Dachalia, the harbour, the sea and the course of the Aeolus. Athens contains a considerable number of houses, most of which are, however, small and unimportant. The beautiful country houses, on the contrary, surrounded by tasty gardens, have a very agreeable

appearance. The small observatory was built by Baron Sina, the well-known banker in Vienna, who is by birth a Greek. The royal palace, which is of modern date, is built of brilliant white marble in the form of a large quadrangle.

On two sides, which occupy a large part of the breadth of the wings under a peristyle, is a kind of small porch which rests upon pillars. The one approach is for the ministers, ambassadors, etc., the other for the royal family. With the exception of these two peristyle, the whole building is very tasteless and has not the least ornament.

The windows are in the ordinary form, and the high large walls appeared so naked, bare and flat that even the dazzling white of the beautiful marble produces no effect. And it is only on a close approach that it can be seen what a costly material has been employed in the building. I regretted having seen this palace, especially opposite to the Acropolis, on a spot which

has made its work of art as classic as its heroes. The palace is surrounded by a rather pretty, though recently formed, garden. In the front stand a few palms, which have been brought from Syria, but they bear no fruit. The country is otherwise barren and naked.

The marble of which this palace is built, as well as the temples and other buildings on the Acropolis, is obtained from the quarries of the neighbouring mountain, Pentelican, where the quantity of this beautiful stone is so great that whole towns might be built of it. It was Sunday, and the weather was very fine, to which I was indebted for seeing all the

world of Athens, and even the court, in the open promenade. This place is a plain avenue at the end of which a wooden pavilion is erected. It is not decorated by either lawns or flower beds. The military bands play every Sunday from five to six. The king rides or drives with his queen to this place to show himself to the people.

This time he came in an open carriage with four horses and stopped to hear several pieces of music. He was in Greek costume. The queen wore an ordinary French dress. The Greek, or rather Albanian, costume is one of the handsomest there is.

The men wear full frocks, made of white percol, which reach from the hips to the knees, buskins from the knee to the feet, and shoes generally of red leather. A close-fitting vest of coloured silk without arms over a silk shirt, and over this another close-fitting spencer of fine red, blue, or brown cloth, which is fastened only at the waist by a few buttons or a narrow band, and lays open at the top.

The sleeves of the spencer are slid up, and are either left loose or slightly held together by some cords around the wrists. The collar of the shirt is a little turned over. The vest and spencer are tastily ornamented with cords, tassels, spangles, and buttons of gold, silver, or silk, according to the means of the wearer.

The material, colour, and ornament of the tsaraki correspond with those of the spencer and vest. A dagger is generally worn in the girdle, together with a pair of pistols. The headdress is a red fez with a blue tassel. The Greek dress is, as far as I saw, less worn by the women, and even then much of its

originality is lost. The principal part of the dress consists of a French garment, which is open at the breast. Over this a close spencer is drawn on, which is also open, and the sleeves wide and rather shorter than those of the gown. The front edges of the gown and the spencer are trimmed with gold lace.

The women and girls wear on their head a very small fez, which is bound round with rose or other coloured crepe. 24th October. I left Athens by the small steamer Baron Kubek, 70 horsepower, and went as far as Kalamachi, 28 miles.

Here I had to leave the ship and cross the isthmus, three English miles broad. At Loutraci we went on board another vessel. During the passage to Kalamachi, which lasts only a few hours, the little town of Megara is seen upon a barren hill. Nothing is more unpleasant in travelling than changing the conveyance, especially when it

is a good one and you can only lose by doing so. We were in this situation. Herr Littenberg was one of the best and most attentive of all captains that I had ever met with in my travels, and we were all sorry to have to leave him and his ship. Even in Kalamachi, where we remained this day in the following, as the ship which was

to carry us from Loutraci did not arrive on account of contrary winds, until the 25th, he attended to us with the greatest politeness. The village of Kalamachi offers but little of interest. The few houses have only been erected since the steamers plied, and the tolerably high mountains on which it lies are for the most part barren, or grown over with low brambles.

We took several walks on the isthmus and ascended minor heights. From whence on one side is seen the Gulf of Lepanto, and on the other the Aegean Sea. In front of us stood the large mountain Acrocorinth, rising high above all its companions. Its summit is embellished by a well-preserved fortification, which is called the remains of the castle of Acrocorinth, and was used by the Turks in the last war as a fortress.

The formerly world-famous city of Corinth, after which all the fittings of luxury and sumptuousness in the interior of palaces were named, and which gave the name to a distinctive order of architecture, is reduced to a small town with scarcely a thousand inhabitants, and lies at the foot of the mountain in the midst of fields and vineyards. It owes the whole of its present celebrity to its small dried grapes, called currants.

It is said that no town of Greece had so many beautiful statues of stone and marble as Corinth. It was upon this isthmus, which consists of a narrow ridge of mountains and is covered with dense fig groves, in which stood a beautiful temple of Neptune, where held the various ismian games. How greatly a people or a country may degenerate!

The Grecian people, at one time the first in the world, are now the furthest behind. I was told by everyone that in Greece it was neither safe to trust myself with a guy nor to wander about alone, as I had done in other countries. Indeed, I was warned here in Kalamachi not to go too far from the harbour and to return before the dusk of the evening.

26th October. We did not start from Loutrache until towards noon by the steamer Helenos of 120 horsepower. We anchored for a few hours in the evening near Vostiza, the ancient Aegean, now an unimportant village at the foot of a mountain. 27th October.

Patras. That portion of Greece which I had already seen was neither rich in beauty, well cultivated, nor thickly inhabited. Here were, at least, plains and hills covered with meadows, fields and vineyards. The town, on the Gulf of Lepanto, was formerly an important place of trade, and before the

breaking out of the Greek Revolution in 1821 contained 20,000 inhabitants, it has now only 7,000. The town is defended by three fortresses, one of which stands upon a hill, and two at the entrance of the harbour. The town is neither handsome nor clean, and the streets are narrow.

The high mountains pleased me better, and their chain can be followed for a considerable distance. I saw grapes here whose beauty and size induced me to buy some, but I found them so hard, dry, and tasteless that I did not even venture to give them to a sailor, but threw them into the sea.

28th October. Corfu is the largest of the Ionian islands, which formerly belonged to Greece, and lie at the entrance to the Adriatic Sea. Corfu, the ancient Coursera, has been subject to England since 1815. The town of Corfu is situated in a more beautiful and fertile country than Patras, and is far

larger. It contains 18,000 inhabitants. Adjoining the town are two romantic peaks of rock, with strong fortified works, upon which stand the telegraph and the lighthouse. Both are surrounded by artificial ditches, with drawbridges leading across.

The immediate environs of the town, as well as the whole island, are rich in delightful groves of olive and orange trees. The town contains handsome houses and streets, with the exception of the by-streets, which are remarkably crooked and not very clean. At the entrance of the town stands a large covered stone hall, in which on one side are

the stalls of the butchers, on the other those of the fishermen. In the open space in front are exposed the choicest vegetables and most beautiful fruits. The theatre presents a very pretty appearance, it would seem, from the sculptures upon it, to have been used for a church. The principal square is large and handsome.

It is intersected by several avenues, and one side faces the sea. The palace of the English governor stands here, a fine building in the Grecian Italian style. The famous and much-visited church of St. Spiridzian is but small. It contains many oil paintings, some are good specimens of the old Italian school.

In a small dark chapel at the furthest end of the church lies, in a silver sarcophagus, the body of St. Spiridzian, who is held in great veneration by the Ionians. The chapel is always full of devotees who tenderly kiss the sarcophagus. On the 29th of October we saw the low mountain country of Dalmatia, and on the 30th I entered Trieste, whence I hastened on to Vienna the day following.

I was obliged to pass several days in the greatest anxiety before the town, as it had been taken by storm on the last day of October and was not opened until the 4th of November. It was not until I had seen that all my relations were safe that I was able to return thanks with a grateful heart to the good providence which, in all my dangers and troubles, had so remarkably protected and preserved me in health and strength.

With equal gratitude I remembered those people who had treated me with such kindness, had so disinterestedly received me, and through whose help I had been enabled to overcome the frequent great hardships and difficulties I encountered. From my readers I hope for a charitable judgment upon my book, which in simple language describes what I have experienced, seen and felt, and makes no higher pretension than that of being

sincere and trustworthy.