3. ATHENS TO PATRAS, OCCUPYING SEVEN | 4. ATHENS TO ARGOS, RETURNING BY OR EIGHT DAYS. CORINTH; FOUR DAYS' EXCURSION. DAYS. Athens. 1 By Eleusis to Eleuthera (Casa), where sleep. 2 Platæa, Leuctra, Thebes. 3 By Thespia to Lebadea, [or else] 1 Athens, by Phyle to Thebes. 2 Platea, Leuctra, Lebadea; a long day. 3 (and 4) See Cave of Trophonius at Lebadea, and then ride to Orchomenus (Skripu). If you do not go to Orchomenus, you may reach Arachova, taking Chæronea by the way. 5 To Delphi. DAYS. 6 The Corycian Cave and the ascent 7 There is the alternative of either (a) taking boat to Patras from the Scala of Salona, 12 hrs. with a fair wind. (b) Crossing to Vostitza, and thence riding to Patras in 7 or 8 hrs. (c) A very rough ride of 2 days to Lepanto, where you can always find boats to cross to Patras. This route may be varied by omitting Thebes, Lebadea, Orchomenus, &c., and going from Athens by Marathon, Rhamnus, and Chalkis to Thermopyla; and thence by the Khan of Gravia to Delphi. If pressed for time, the following may be the route, omitting Delphi: 1 From the Piræus to Nauplia by DAYS. 1 From Athens to Marathon (Vranà). 2 Rhamnus first, and then to Marcopulos, leaving Kalamos on the right and Grammaticos on the left. There is tolerable accommodation to be had at Marcopulos, and woodcock- Gell likewise mentions the route from Rhamnus to the old fort of Varnava, Barnabas, 3 First to the shore of the Euripus at the Scala, and thence to Oropos : thence across the Diacria to the ridges of Parnes; so straight to Dekelea, and thence to Athens. This is the shortest way, and yet this route is not mentioned by either Gell or Leake. The view of Athens from Dekelea is, perhaps, the most striking of all the views which can be obtained of it. 6. ATHENS BY POROS, TRŒZENE, AND HERMIONE, TO HYDRA: TWO OR THREE DAYS' EXCURSION. DAY. 1 Athens to Poros by steamer. 2 and 3 Poros to Trozene (Damala), and thence ride across the Argolic peninsula to Hermione (Castri); whence a boat will take you in 2 hrs. to Hydra. There are some ancient remains both at Trozene and Hermione, and the orange and lemon-groves around the former are delightful. A little N. of Poros is the volcanic peninsula of Methana, highly interesting to the geologist. 7. TOUR IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAU SANIAS; FROM TWO TO THREE MONTHS. Col. Leake has observed that this would be not an ill-advised route; and it would give the classical traveller the opportunity of comparing exactly the present with the ancient topography of Greece; using Pausanias as his handbook. “The Περίοδος Παυσανιακή, οι Pausaniac tour of Greece, might still be recommended, as forming a very convenient plan of travels through this country; namely, from Athens through the Megaris to Corinth; from thence by Sicyon and Phlius to Argos; round the Argolic Peninsula again to Argos; from Argos to Sparta; round the eastern Laconic peninsula again to Sparta; round the western Laconic peninsula into Messenia; from Messenia into the Eleia and Achaia; and, lastly, the tour of Arcadia, requiring various deviations. After having returned to Athens, the traveller might follow Pausanias to Eleuthera, to Platea, and Thebes; and from thence make the tours of Boeotia and Phocis." 8. TOUR IN THE ÆGEAN: SIX WEEKS OR TWO MONTHS. visit the chief islands, but not to exThe above period would suffice to plore the interior of Crete. Syra should be made the head-quarters of a voyage in the Egean (Section III.), as that island is the centre of the steam navigation. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Greece N. of the Isthmus of Corinth is often called Continental Hellas (n σTEρeà 'Exλás), in contradistinction to the isles of the Egean and Ionian seas, and to the Peloponnesus, or Island of Pelops. It contains three of the Nomes (vóuo), or Departments, into which the modern kingdom is divided, and which correspond, more or less exactly with the ancient divisions of the same names: viz., 1. Attica and Boeotia; 2. Phokis and Pthiotis; 3. Ætolia and Acarnania. Beyond Athens and Attica, the main objects of the traveller in this section of Greece should be to visit the national sanctuary of Delphi, and the national battle-fields of Thermopyla and Platea. The following routes lead to all the most interesting sites and districts; but many Hellenic remains and much wild and beautiful scenery may be enjoyed, perhaps discovered, by those who are willing to leave the beaten tracks, and explore thoroughly the provinces of Ætolia and Acarnania, the forests of Euboca, and the chain of mountains on the frontiers of Thessaly and Epirus. ROUTE 1. inhabited chiefly by Mahommedans. Farther S. is the bay of Gomenitza, a station of the Venetians, whilst they held Corfu. Still farther to the S., and close to the Albanian shore, are the two islets Sybota (see above). FROM CORFU TO ATHENS BY PATRAS, The long sandy point which runs out from the opposite coast of Corfu is called the promontory of Lefchimo, a corruption of Leukimne, as Capo Bianco, the most southern cape of the island, is a translation of the same word. At its southern entrance, the channel of Corfu is about 5 miles across. Emerging into the open Ionian sea, we pass on the right the island of Paxo (see above), and approach Leucadia, or Santa Maura, whose mountains, with those of Cephalonia beyond, rise proudly on the southern horizon. Nothing can be more striking than the view presented by the Albanian coast, The first-class fare from Corfu to Athens, including meals, &c., is about 51. The time occupied, including stop-and its long range of mountains stretchpages, rarely exceeds 2 days. It is a ing on our left. Parga is the small most interesting and delightful voyage. town perched on a low hill close to The northern entrance to the channel the sea. A little farther to the S. is of Corfu has already been described. the entrance of Port Phanári (the We now pass out by the southern en- Sweet Harbour, гAvкùs Auhy, of the trance, which has not the stern features ancients). Far above it, and on a of that from the N. The mountains peaked rock in the gloomy gorge of are lower, and there is more culti- the river Acheron, which flows into vation both in the island and on the Port Phanári, may be descried in opposite continent. The straggling clear weather the white walls of the village, whose white houses hang like far-famed castle of Suli. Farther still a snow-wreath on the side of the to the S., and at the mouth of the Albanian hills, nearly due E. of the Ambracian Gulf, are the ruins of citadel, is called Konispolis, and is Nicopolis, the City of Victory, built by Augustus to commemorate the triumph of his cause off the neighbouring point of Actium. The following verses describe Childe Harold's voyage over these same waters; Twas on a Grecian autumn's gentle eve Childe Harold hail'd Leucadia's cape afar; A spot he long'd to see, nor car'd to leave: Oft did he mark the scenes of vanish'd war, Actium, Lepanto, fatal Trafalgar; Mark them unmov'd, for he would not delight (Born beneath some remote inglorious star) In themes of bloody fray, or gallant fight, But loath'd the bravo's trade, and laughed at martial wight. But when he saw the evening star above Leucadia's far-projecting rock of woe, And hail'd the last resort of fruitless love, He felt, or deem'd he felt, no common glow: And as the stately vessel glided slow Beneath the shadow of that ancient mount, He watch'd the billows' melancholy flow, And, sunk albeit in thought as he was wont, More placid seem'd his eye, and smooth his pallid front. Morn dawns; and with it stern Albania's hills, Dark Suli's rocks, and Pindus' inland peak, Robed half in mist, bedew'd with snowy rills, Array'd in many a dun and purple streak, Arise; and, as the clouds along them break, Disclose the dwelling of the mountaineer: Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak, Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appear, And gathering storms around convulse the closing year. Ambracia's gulf behold, where once was lost Imperial anarchs, doubling human woes! and lose? After leaving Santa Maura on the eft, the steamer sometimes, according to the wind, &c., passes outside, or to the westward, of Cephalonia; sometimes it passes through the channel between Ithaca and Cephalonia, thus affording a good prospect of both those islands. Ithaca is, of course, to It is said that, on the day previous to the battle of Actium, Antony had thirteen kings at his levee. ["To-day (Nov. 12) I saw the remains of the town of Actium, near which Antony lost the world, in a small bay, where two frigates could hardly manœuvre.-Lord Byron to his Mother, 1809.] the left, and Cephalonia to the right (see the descriptions in Section I.). The steamers generally touch at Argostoli, the capital of Cephalonia ; and then at the city of Zante (see above). From Zante the steamer proceeds to the entrance of the Gulf of Corinth. To the left are the mountains of Acarnania and Ætolia, with the lagoons and town of Mesolonghi at their foot; to the right the mountains of the Peloponnesus, with the rich plains of Elis and Achaia skirt the sea. In approaching the shores of Greece, that land to which we are indebted for so much that is graceful in art, exalting in freedom, and ennobling in philosophy, the traveller will be forcibly struck with Lord Byron's apostrophe, written while Greece was still subject to the Turks: And yet how lovely in thine age of woe, Land of lost gods and god-like men, art thou! Thy vales of evergreen, thy hills of snow, Proclaim thee Nature's varied favourite now; Thy fanes, thy temples, to thy surface bow, Commingling slowly with heroic earth, Broke by the share of every rustic plough: So perish all in turn, save well-recorded worth; So perish monuments of mortal birth, Save where some solitary column mourns Above its prostrate brethren of the cave, Save where Tritonia's airy shrine adorns Colonna's cliff,* and gleams along the wave; Save o'er some warrior's half-forgotten grave, Where the gray stones and unmolested grass Ages, but not oblivion, feebly brave, While strangers only not regardless pass, Lingering like me, perchance, to gaze and sigh "Alas!" Yet are thy skies as blue, thy crags as wild; Sweet are thy groves, and verdant are thy fields, Thine olive ripe as when Minerva smiled, And still his honied wealth Hymettus yields; There the blythe bee his fragrant fortress builds, The freeborn wanderer of thy mountain air; Apollo still thy long, long summer gilds, Still in his beam Mendeli's † marbles glare; Art, glory, freedom fail, but Nature still is fair. Where'er we tread, 'tis haunted holy ground; The temple of Athena on Cape Suniur + The Italian name of Pentelicus. The scenes our earliest dreams have dwelt | tern coast of Greece, and the Ægean He that is lonely, hither let him roam, Patras, Patræ in Greek, in Italian Patrasso (pop. 24,000), is the residence of an English Consul. Sea by the Gulf of Corinth. Its modern prosperity has been the result of the cultivation of the dwarf-vine, called Uva passa di Corinto (hence currants), which render the greater part of the plain of Patras some of the most valuable soil in Europe. The ancient Patra was founded by the Ionians, the original inhabitants of the northern shore of the Peloponnesus, afterwards called Achaia. Herodotus (i. 146) enumerates Patræ among the twelve cities of Achaia. It suffered greatly during the wars of the Achæan league. After the battle of Actium, however, it was raised to its former flourishing condition by Augustus, who made it a Roman colony, like Nicopolis, and established some of his veterans in it. In Strabo's time it was a large and populous town; and in the second century, A.D., it was still prosperous (Pausanias, Achaic., 18-21). When Pausanias visited Patræ, it was noted for its cultivation of cotton, which was abundantly grown in the neighbourhood; and there was a large manufacturing population in the town. So great was the number of women attracted to the place by this employment, that the female population is stated by Pausanias to have been double that of the male. The objects described by him were in four different quarters. 1. The Acropolis. 3. A quarter into which there was a gate from the Agora. 4. The quarter near the sea. The chief object of veneration in the Acropolis was the temple of Diana Laphria, containing a statue of that goddess brought from Calydon in Etolia by Augustus. The city contained many other temples and public buildings of importance, especially a famous Inns.-Hôtel de la Grande Bretagne; Odeum. Modern Patras, before the Hôtel des Quatre Nations; both bad. revolution, occupied the same site as A bargain should be made for beds the ancient city. It stood upon a and meals. There are several cafés. ridge about a mile long, which proPatras possesses great advantages jects from the falls of Mount Voidhia in point of situation, from the facility in an easternly direction; to the westof communication by sea with the ward it is separated from the sea by a adjacent islands, with the whole wes-level increasing in breadth from N. to |