DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0406
388
CONSTANTINOPLE.
Suleymanyeh, &c, rise behind them as crowning points
above the general mass; on the other side of the water
is Skutari, green and white like Stamboul, with the
quaint-looking Maiden Tower *, as redolent of legends
as any Ehenish Castle, standing in the sea before the
point,— while stretching away in the distance came the
pretty outlines of the Prince's Islands, in front of the
blue wall of the Asia Minor mountains, from which for
an hour or two, the beautiful snowy heights of Olympus,
shone out with majestic grace against the clear blue sky,
This was just for the time a really fine view. The
climate is also delightfully refreshing, even in the city,
after Greece; and on the Bosphorus the air is still more
enchanting.
We were anxious to get out, but the how until I was
strong enough to walk was a difficulty: I could not
quite manage to ride, and we had, besides, left our
saddles in Greece: donkeys are beasts unknown at
Constantinople for carrying human burdens, and the
caiques were too far off. So we sent for a telega, and
the article was soon at the door: imagine an oval
pill-box warranted to contain four people when packed
like figs in a drum, painted a brilliant rose colour, co-
vered with carving and gilding like a juvenile Lord-
Mayor's coach, and with windows all round, mounted
on huge wooden and leather springs of the most primi-
tive construction. The horse was driven by a man who
walked beside the vehicle (which is called an araba
when oxen are harnessed to it) — but sometimes he sat
on a little seat considerably below the level of his horse's
back: the furious jolting is quite indescribable, and
until we had left the streets of Pera, very far from
* Absurdly called by Europeans "Leander's Tower."
CONSTANTINOPLE.
Suleymanyeh, &c, rise behind them as crowning points
above the general mass; on the other side of the water
is Skutari, green and white like Stamboul, with the
quaint-looking Maiden Tower *, as redolent of legends
as any Ehenish Castle, standing in the sea before the
point,— while stretching away in the distance came the
pretty outlines of the Prince's Islands, in front of the
blue wall of the Asia Minor mountains, from which for
an hour or two, the beautiful snowy heights of Olympus,
shone out with majestic grace against the clear blue sky,
This was just for the time a really fine view. The
climate is also delightfully refreshing, even in the city,
after Greece; and on the Bosphorus the air is still more
enchanting.
We were anxious to get out, but the how until I was
strong enough to walk was a difficulty: I could not
quite manage to ride, and we had, besides, left our
saddles in Greece: donkeys are beasts unknown at
Constantinople for carrying human burdens, and the
caiques were too far off. So we sent for a telega, and
the article was soon at the door: imagine an oval
pill-box warranted to contain four people when packed
like figs in a drum, painted a brilliant rose colour, co-
vered with carving and gilding like a juvenile Lord-
Mayor's coach, and with windows all round, mounted
on huge wooden and leather springs of the most primi-
tive construction. The horse was driven by a man who
walked beside the vehicle (which is called an araba
when oxen are harnessed to it) — but sometimes he sat
on a little seat considerably below the level of his horse's
back: the furious jolting is quite indescribable, and
until we had left the streets of Pera, very far from
* Absurdly called by Europeans "Leander's Tower."