The MEDITERRANEAN Its Storied Cities and Venerable Ruins By T. G. Bonney, E. A. R. Ball, H. D. Traill, Grant Allen, Arthur Griffiths and Robert Brown Illustrated with Photogravures NEW YORK James Pott & Company 1907...

THE PILLARS OF HERCULES Portals of the ancient world—Bay of Tangier at sunrise—Tarifa—The Rock of Gibraltar—Wonders of its fortifications—Afternoon promenade in the Alameda Gardens—Ascending the Rock—View from the highest point—The Great Siege—Ceuta, the principal Spanish stronghold on the Moorish coast—The rock of many names. The “Pillars of Hercules!” The portals of the Ancient World! To how many a traveller just beginning to tire of his week on the Atlantic, or but slowly recovering, it may b

ALGIERS “A Pearl set in Emeralds”—Two distinct towns, one ancient, one modern—The Great Mosque—A Mohammedan religious festival—Oriental life in perfection—The road to Mustapha Supérieur—A true Moorish villa described—Women praying to a sacred tree—Excessive rainfall. “Algiers ,” says the Arab poet, with genuine Oriental love of precious stones in literature, “is a pearl set in emeralds.” And even in these degenerate days of Frank supremacy in Islam, the old Moorish town still gleams white in the

MALAGA A nearly perfect climate—Continuous existence of thirty centuries—Granada and the world-renowned Alhambra—Systems of irrigation—Vineyards the chief source of wealth—Esparto grass—The famous Cape de Gatt—The highest peak of the Sierra Nevada—Last view of Granada. Malaga has been very differently described and appreciated. The Arab chroniclers who knew it in the palmy days of the Moorish domination considered it “a most beautiful city, densely peopled, large and most excellent.” Some rose t

BARCELONA The flower market of the Rambla—Streets of the old town—The Cathedral of Barcelona—Description of the Columbus monument—All Saints’ Day in Spain—Mont Tibidaho—Diverse centers of intellectual activity—Ancient history—Philanthropic and charitable institutions. “Barcelona , shrine of courtesy, harbor of the wayfarer, shelter of the poor, cradle of the brave, champion of the outraged, nurse of friendship, unique in position, unique in beauty!” Such was the eulogium bestowed upon Barcelona

MARSEILLES Its Greek founders and early history—Superb view from the sea—The Cannebière—The Parado and Chemin de la Corniche—Château d’If and Monte-Cristo—Influence of the Greeks in Marseilles—Ravages by plague and pestilence—Treasures of the Palais des Arts—The chapel of Notre Dame de la Garde—The new Marseilles and its future. About six hundred years before the birth of Christ, when the Mediterranean, ringed round with a long series of commercial colonies, was first beginning to transform itse

NICE The Queen of the Riviera—The Port of Limpia—Castle Hill—Promenade des Anglais—The Carnival and Battle of Flowers—Place Masséna, the center of business—Beauty of the suburbs—The road to Monte Carlo—The quaintly picturesque town of Villefranche—Aspects of Nice and its environs. Who loves not Nice, knows it not. Who knows it, loves it. I admit it is windy, dusty, gusty. I allow it is meretricious, fashionable, vulgar. I grant its Carnival is a noisy orgy, its Promenade a meeting place for all

THE RIVIERA In the days of the Doges—Origin of the name—The blue bay of Cannes—Ste. Marguerite and St. Honorat—Historical associations—The Rue L’Antibes—The rock of Monaco—“Notre Dame de la Roulette”—From Monte Carlo to Mentone—San Remo—A romantic railway. “Oh , Land of Roses, what bulbul shall sing of thee?” In plain prose, how describe the garden of Europe? The Riviera! Who knows, save he who has been there, the vague sense of delight which the very name recalls to the poor winter exile, banis

GENOA Early history—Old fortifications—The rival of Venice—Changes of twenty-five years—From the parapet of the Corso—The lower town—The Genoese palazzi—Monument to Christopher Columbus—The old Dogana—Memorials in the Campo Santo—The Bay of Spezzia—The Isola Palmeria—Harbor scenes. Genova la Superba—Genoa the Proud—an epithet not inappropriate for this city of merchant princes of olden days, which was once the emporium of the Tyrrhenian, as was Venice of the Adriatic sea, and the rival of the la

THE TUSCAN COAST Shelley’s last months at Lerici—Story of his death—Carrara and its marble quarries—Pisa—Its grand group of ecclesiastical buildings—The cloisters of the Campo Santo—Napoleon’s life on Elba—Origin of the Etruscans—The ruins of Tarquinii—Civita Vecchia, the old port of Rome—Ostia. The Bay of Spezzia is defined sharply enough on its western side by the long, hilly peninsula which parts it from the Mediterranean, but as this makes only a small angle with the general trend of the coa

VENICE Its early days—The Grand Canal and its palaces—Piazza of St. Mark—A Venetian funeral—The long line of islands—Venetian glass—Torcello, the ancient Altinum—Its two unique churches. So long as Venice is unvisited a new sensation is among the possibilities of life. There is no town like it in Europe. Amsterdam has its canals, but Venice is all canals; Genoa has its palaces, but in Venice they are more numerous and more beautiful. Its situation is unique, on a group of islands in the calm lag

ALEXANDRIA The bleak and barren shores of the Nile Delta—Peculiar shape of the city—Strange and varied picture of Alexandrian street life—The Place Mehemet Ali—Glorious panorama from the Cairo citadel—Pompey’s Pillar—The Battle of the Nile—Discovery of the famous inscribed stone at Rosetta—Port Said and the Suez Canal. It is with a keen sense of disappointment that the traveller first sights the monotonous and dreary-looking Egyptian sea-board. The low ridges of desolate sandhills, occasionally

MALTA “England’s Eye in the Mediterranean”—Vast systems of fortifications—Sentinels and martial music—The Strada Reale of Valletta—Church of St. John—St. Elmo—The Military Hospital, the “very glory of Malta”—Citta Vecchia—Saint Paul and his voyages. There is a difference of opinion among voyagers as to whether it is best to approach Malta by night or by day; whether there is a greater charm in tracing the outline of “England’s Eye in the Mediterranean” by the long, undulating lines of light alon

SICILY Scylla and Charybdis—Messina, the chief commercial center of Sicily—The magnificent ruins of the Greek Theater at Taormina—Omnipresence of Mt. Etna—Approach to Syracuse—The famous Latomia del Paradiso—Girgenti, the City of Temples—Railway route to Palermo—Mosaics—Cathedral and Abbey of Monreale—Monte Pellegrino at the hour of sunset. To the traveller who proposes to enter Sicily by the favorite sea-route from Naples to Messina the approach to the island presents a scene of singular intere