DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0442
424
MOUNT OLYMPUS.
was covered with small loose stones, but between them,
the ground was thickly spread over with large yellow pan-
sies, blue gentian, pink hyacinths, and a little pink heath,
and the air was quite perfumed with the pansies. The last
part of the ascent was very steep, but nothing difficult,
and we hoped to be rewarded by the magnificent view
which extends from Smyrna to Constantinople, and is
justly famed for including one of the most lovely
panoramas in the world : we were not mistaken in our
hopes, for we had indeed a most extensive view from
the summit—but it was entirely of--clouds! mass
after mass rolled by, varying from an inky grey up to
brightly shining silver and snow — and during the half-
hour we braved the cold on the summit, wrapped up in
cloaks, we only got one pretty glimpse to the south, and
two or three broken hasty views of the sea of Marmora
and the mountains beyond Constantinople and Ismid:
we only saw enough to be quite sure of the immense
beauty and grandeur there must be in the view when
clear, and I envy the traveller that ascends there on a
clear day at the end of the autumn.
We did not leave the shepherd's hut till six o'clock,
and the pitch darkness under the thick, lofty forest in
the descent was very trying, and the horror umbrarum
seized me pretty strongly, as, though a tolerably good
path by daylight, there were plenty of jutting crags and
deep holes in the narroAV paths, where a false step would
have been destruction, and the branches were continu-
ally threatening to sweep one out of one's saddle, so we
had good reason to say " El harndu illah ! " (praise be to
(rod)—when, to the great astonishment of the dogs, we
reached the hotel exactly at midnight.
Almost more, even, we enjoyed the ride to Moudhania,
when we at last succeeded in tearing ourselves away
MOUNT OLYMPUS.
was covered with small loose stones, but between them,
the ground was thickly spread over with large yellow pan-
sies, blue gentian, pink hyacinths, and a little pink heath,
and the air was quite perfumed with the pansies. The last
part of the ascent was very steep, but nothing difficult,
and we hoped to be rewarded by the magnificent view
which extends from Smyrna to Constantinople, and is
justly famed for including one of the most lovely
panoramas in the world : we were not mistaken in our
hopes, for we had indeed a most extensive view from
the summit—but it was entirely of--clouds! mass
after mass rolled by, varying from an inky grey up to
brightly shining silver and snow — and during the half-
hour we braved the cold on the summit, wrapped up in
cloaks, we only got one pretty glimpse to the south, and
two or three broken hasty views of the sea of Marmora
and the mountains beyond Constantinople and Ismid:
we only saw enough to be quite sure of the immense
beauty and grandeur there must be in the view when
clear, and I envy the traveller that ascends there on a
clear day at the end of the autumn.
We did not leave the shepherd's hut till six o'clock,
and the pitch darkness under the thick, lofty forest in
the descent was very trying, and the horror umbrarum
seized me pretty strongly, as, though a tolerably good
path by daylight, there were plenty of jutting crags and
deep holes in the narroAV paths, where a false step would
have been destruction, and the branches were continu-
ally threatening to sweep one out of one's saddle, so we
had good reason to say " El harndu illah ! " (praise be to
(rod)—when, to the great astonishment of the dogs, we
reached the hotel exactly at midnight.
Almost more, even, we enjoyed the ride to Moudhania,
when we at last succeeded in tearing ourselves away