DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0382
364
CLIMATE OF GREECE.
back to Athens, riding on donkeys, or packed into rough
carts, which seemed to our notions highly infra dig. for
the gold-embroidered velvet jackets worn by both the
men and the women.
We had intended to make a rather extensive tour
in Greece, and on arriving in Athens we had at once
commenced our preparations de voyage: but, to our
great disappointment, we were met on all sides with
the most complete discouragement: the people seemed
to think us more than half crazy for the very idea
of travelling in Greece in the month of June. At
first we assured them we had come from a hotter
country, and were well inured to the sun, but when we
found the very dragomans who offered their services
refused to engage for excursions in the country, we
began to think there " must be something in it," and
we very soon learned by our own experience that the
Grecian sun was not to be despised, and that Apollo, in
fact, was twin brother to Baal; moreover, that the air
of Greece has such an effect upon the nerves, that
the heat is more irritating and injurious there than in
Syria, from the body being in a less healthy condition.
On first arriving in Greece, the stranger feels exhi-
larated and buoyant: he realises that he is " lightly
tripping through an atmosphere of surpassing bright-
ness ;" * he feels so strong and well and happy that he
is delighted with himself and with everything around
him : but in this very charm lies a sweet poison ; the
nerves, which have rejoiced in their sudden tension,
are in a day or two (or more, according to the power of
the sun and the constitution of the individual) strung to
a pitch beyond endurance, and the result is either fever,
* Euripides.
CLIMATE OF GREECE.
back to Athens, riding on donkeys, or packed into rough
carts, which seemed to our notions highly infra dig. for
the gold-embroidered velvet jackets worn by both the
men and the women.
We had intended to make a rather extensive tour
in Greece, and on arriving in Athens we had at once
commenced our preparations de voyage: but, to our
great disappointment, we were met on all sides with
the most complete discouragement: the people seemed
to think us more than half crazy for the very idea
of travelling in Greece in the month of June. At
first we assured them we had come from a hotter
country, and were well inured to the sun, but when we
found the very dragomans who offered their services
refused to engage for excursions in the country, we
began to think there " must be something in it," and
we very soon learned by our own experience that the
Grecian sun was not to be despised, and that Apollo, in
fact, was twin brother to Baal; moreover, that the air
of Greece has such an effect upon the nerves, that
the heat is more irritating and injurious there than in
Syria, from the body being in a less healthy condition.
On first arriving in Greece, the stranger feels exhi-
larated and buoyant: he realises that he is " lightly
tripping through an atmosphere of surpassing bright-
ness ;" * he feels so strong and well and happy that he
is delighted with himself and with everything around
him : but in this very charm lies a sweet poison ; the
nerves, which have rejoiced in their sudden tension,
are in a day or two (or more, according to the power of
the sun and the constitution of the individual) strung to
a pitch beyond endurance, and the result is either fever,
* Euripides.