DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9695#0032
XXX
INTRODUCTION
present editor, who travelled from Constantinople to
Belgrade in December of 1906, was able to trace the old
post road, either as a road or a track, alongside the rail-
way for miles.
From Kuchuk Chekmeje, the cavalcade kept along the
sea-shore for five miles to Biyuk Chekmeje, the Great
Bridge. In both of these towns Mundy remarked the
bridges spanning the creeks, erected during the reign of
Sulaiman the Magnificent. At Biyuk Chekmeje the party
encamped for the night in the open, Pindar having first set
a guard and arranged for its relief every two hours. Still
skirting the coast for fifteen miles farther, the next halt was
at Silivri, the ancient Selymbria, where again a camp was
pitched in the open. The road now turns northward, and,
abandoning the coast, passes through a ravine, and Mundy
very aptly describes this portion of the route as " a plaine
Champion Countrie without either Tree or bush exceptinge
att Townes or Villages1." At Chorlu, on the 9th May, two
members of the train and an Armenian servant, who had
left at Kuchuk Chekmeje, rejoined the party. The following
day a distance of thirty miles, among open plateaus, was
traversed as far as Lule-Burgas, where a welcome supply
of fresh water was found. Between Baba-eski, some
sixteen miles from Burgas, and Adrianople, there is a
long stretch of country, over which the baggage waggons
could travel without any hindrance.
In six days Pindar and his party reached Adrianople, a
journey that nowadays occupies but eight hours. Here the
usual open-air encampment was impracticable owing to
a heavy thunderstorm, and the party sought shelter in " a
better harbour, which was profered us, beinge a great howse
to lodge the Gran Signiors trayne and horses, when he
cometh thither2." Mundy has a short description of the
Grand Signior's Seraglio at Adrianople, the first building
of importance that he had seen since he left the Turkish
capital. At Adrianople " Stamo the Greeke" quitted the
See p. 60
2 See p. 49.
INTRODUCTION
present editor, who travelled from Constantinople to
Belgrade in December of 1906, was able to trace the old
post road, either as a road or a track, alongside the rail-
way for miles.
From Kuchuk Chekmeje, the cavalcade kept along the
sea-shore for five miles to Biyuk Chekmeje, the Great
Bridge. In both of these towns Mundy remarked the
bridges spanning the creeks, erected during the reign of
Sulaiman the Magnificent. At Biyuk Chekmeje the party
encamped for the night in the open, Pindar having first set
a guard and arranged for its relief every two hours. Still
skirting the coast for fifteen miles farther, the next halt was
at Silivri, the ancient Selymbria, where again a camp was
pitched in the open. The road now turns northward, and,
abandoning the coast, passes through a ravine, and Mundy
very aptly describes this portion of the route as " a plaine
Champion Countrie without either Tree or bush exceptinge
att Townes or Villages1." At Chorlu, on the 9th May, two
members of the train and an Armenian servant, who had
left at Kuchuk Chekmeje, rejoined the party. The following
day a distance of thirty miles, among open plateaus, was
traversed as far as Lule-Burgas, where a welcome supply
of fresh water was found. Between Baba-eski, some
sixteen miles from Burgas, and Adrianople, there is a
long stretch of country, over which the baggage waggons
could travel without any hindrance.
In six days Pindar and his party reached Adrianople, a
journey that nowadays occupies but eight hours. Here the
usual open-air encampment was impracticable owing to
a heavy thunderstorm, and the party sought shelter in " a
better harbour, which was profered us, beinge a great howse
to lodge the Gran Signiors trayne and horses, when he
cometh thither2." Mundy has a short description of the
Grand Signior's Seraglio at Adrianople, the first building
of importance that he had seen since he left the Turkish
capital. At Adrianople " Stamo the Greeke" quitted the
See p. 60
2 See p. 49.