DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0086
mode of
le me 1^
at this pin ■
■
»'lm'hInowk
numbers oh
the light boc
Turks ak
zh are very 1
r standi
a in the
.11, and tht-
si'vt'ritv
•
• •
»f vegetation
i penuadi
regard I
fancying k
l DO cold 6
.civ long
than in ai;
r femal
tV- .in the i
CONSTANTINOPLE.
65
are
ogen, ■
,1 aboutt
3 obtain ai
a ininli
i in summer.
.. but all i
the East. ri|
ke the vegetate
here, folded in the bud: in a warmer atmosphere they may-
expand. I can only speak of the substantial features of the
city, and must leave its gayer colouring to poets, or those
who may visit it during a more genial season.
The streets of Constantinople are certainly better than
those of other eastern cities, but I know none in Europe
that I can mention to convey an idea sufficiently bad even
for the best of them. In some a carriage may be, and occa-
sionally is, dragged along, but the partial pavement renders
it unsafe. The conveyance for ladies is drawn by a single
horse or ox, led by a man, the body swinging like a ham-
mock ; }^et I know not what danger there can be, for there
is not width to allow of the carriage being upset; and as
the ladies sit at the bottom, they cannot be jolted from
their seats. The wheels and body are all carved and gilded,
and hung with drapery of gay colours; but these carriages
are not numerous; for besides the above objections to their
use, all the districts of the city—Pera, Gralatea, Constan-
tinople, and the Seraglio Point, or Grolden Horn,—being
situated on a series of hills, the greater number of the streets
would be impassable for such a conveyance. Por all com-
mercial purposes connected with the shipping the water
must be crossed, therefore boats are used with more advan-
tage than carriages, and the fares are very low. Horses stand
in the streets for hire, as hackney-coaches with us.
The mosques are prodigious masses of building, piled
together without plan or reference to outward effect. Put
the elegant minarets are redeeming features, and render the
general effect almost beautiful, especially when backed by a
clear horizon. The proportion which the mosques bear in
size to all other buildings is so colossal, that this alone
renders them imposing: in fact there are no other public
edifices, unless the bazaars may be so called. These are
delightful places of amusement, through which you may
walk perhaps for miles, generally under cover of a kind of
le me 1^
at this pin ■
■
»'lm'hInowk
numbers oh
the light boc
Turks ak
zh are very 1
r standi
a in the
.11, and tht-
si'vt'ritv
•
• •
»f vegetation
i penuadi
regard I
fancying k
l DO cold 6
.civ long
than in ai;
r femal
tV- .in the i
CONSTANTINOPLE.
65
are
ogen, ■
,1 aboutt
3 obtain ai
a ininli
i in summer.
.. but all i
the East. ri|
ke the vegetate
here, folded in the bud: in a warmer atmosphere they may-
expand. I can only speak of the substantial features of the
city, and must leave its gayer colouring to poets, or those
who may visit it during a more genial season.
The streets of Constantinople are certainly better than
those of other eastern cities, but I know none in Europe
that I can mention to convey an idea sufficiently bad even
for the best of them. In some a carriage may be, and occa-
sionally is, dragged along, but the partial pavement renders
it unsafe. The conveyance for ladies is drawn by a single
horse or ox, led by a man, the body swinging like a ham-
mock ; }^et I know not what danger there can be, for there
is not width to allow of the carriage being upset; and as
the ladies sit at the bottom, they cannot be jolted from
their seats. The wheels and body are all carved and gilded,
and hung with drapery of gay colours; but these carriages
are not numerous; for besides the above objections to their
use, all the districts of the city—Pera, Gralatea, Constan-
tinople, and the Seraglio Point, or Grolden Horn,—being
situated on a series of hills, the greater number of the streets
would be impassable for such a conveyance. Por all com-
mercial purposes connected with the shipping the water
must be crossed, therefore boats are used with more advan-
tage than carriages, and the fares are very low. Horses stand
in the streets for hire, as hackney-coaches with us.
The mosques are prodigious masses of building, piled
together without plan or reference to outward effect. Put
the elegant minarets are redeeming features, and render the
general effect almost beautiful, especially when backed by a
clear horizon. The proportion which the mosques bear in
size to all other buildings is so colossal, that this alone
renders them imposing: in fact there are no other public
edifices, unless the bazaars may be so called. These are
delightful places of amusement, through which you may
walk perhaps for miles, generally under cover of a kind of