27 chapters
9 hour read
Selected Chapters
27 chapters
THE KÜSTENLANDE, ISTRIA, AND DALMATIA
THE KÜSTENLANDE, ISTRIA, AND DALMATIA
Vice-President Of The Institute Of Decorative Designers Cantor Lecturer, Etc. FULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH PLANS. DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR, AND PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN SPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1908 PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY....
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE
PREFACE
This volume is complementary to that dealing with the Italian side of the Adriatic, and follows much the same lines. It has not been thought necessary to repeat what appeared there about the sea itself, but some further details on the subject have been added in an introductory chapter. The concluding chapter treats of the influence which the two coasts exerted on each other, and contains some hints as to certain archæological problems of great interest, which deserve fuller and more individual t
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
The two shores of the Adriatic are totally different in their natural characteristics; the western being almost islandless and destitute of harbours, while the eastern is fringed by an almost continuous chain of islands and possesses several magnificent harbours which communicate with the open sea by narrow channels easily fortified, the rocks rising precipitously from the water along the greater part of the coast, whereas on the Italian side there is an equally continuous strip of alluvial plai
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS
THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS
The people of Istria and Dalmatia are a very mixed race, as might be expected from the history of the countries. On these shores and islands were Greek colonies and Roman municipia , which have left their trace in the names of places and families. Greek colonies were at Issa (Lissa), Pharia (Lesina), Epetium (Stobreč), Tragurium (Traù), Melita (Meleda), Corcyra (Curzola), Buta (Budua), and Ambrachia (Brazza), to name some of those which have survived as towns to the present day. Roman family nam
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
AQUILEIA
AQUILEIA
The city of Aquileia, called by the Greeks Chrysopolis, because it was one of the largest and richest cities of the empire, is now represented by a cluster of houses, a cathedral, and a museum in which the greater part of the objects found by excavating are housed. It is easily reached by carriage from either Villa Vicentina or Cervignano, a pleasant drive of an hour or so; and it gives one some idea of the size of the ancient city to remember that the whole of the ground passed over, at least f
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
GRADO
GRADO
From Aquileia a steam-launch plies back and forth to Grado, a distance of some six or seven miles, at first along a canal with grassy banks plentifully besprinkled with giant snowdrops in the spring, then through wide stretches of lagoon along a channel, marked by piles, sometimes approaching the fishermen's huts, which occupy the summit of slight elevations rising but little above the surface of the water. These huts are mere shelters of reeds, and, one would think, quite unfit for human habita
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
GRADO TO TRIESTE
GRADO TO TRIESTE
There is a small steamer which plies from Grado to Trieste, going one day and returning the next, but fine weather is very necessary for that mode of travel, as the sea can be very rough between Venice and Trieste. We did not hit the day of its sailing, so retraced our steps to Villa Vicentina and went viâ Monfalcone and Nabresina. Between these two places the railway rises steadily, giving fine views over the sea and plain. Looking forward and back the pale-grey line of the viaducts winds round
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA
The name "Istria" is derived from the Istro, confounded by the ancient geographers with the Danube (Ister), and therefore supposed to be a branch of it. Considering the testimony of ancient writers as to the migration of Thracians, it appears probable that the Istrians were of these people, a band who left Pontic Istria by ascending the rivers Danube, Save, and Lubiana, crossed the Julian Alps, and descended to the Adriatic. Some such migration may be at the root of the story of the passage of t
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
MUGGIA TO PIRANO
MUGGIA TO PIRANO
From Trieste steamers, large and small, ply to most of the places on the coast, and the islands down to Fiume. Though there is railway communication with a few places, travelling by water is much pleasanter in fine weather, and the towns are more easily accessible from the seaside. The country people throng to market in the early hours of the morning, and are ready to return by the time the average English tourist has finished his breakfast and sets out sightseeing. We went to Muggia about midda
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
UMAGO TO PARENZO
UMAGO TO PARENZO
The next place along the coast, after passing the Promontory of Salvore and turning south, is Umago. It is sheltered behind a shoal, upon which the Chronicles say that the ship laden with the relics of S. Mark struck during a storm on its way to Venice. It was given as a feud to the bishop of Trieste in 929, at Pavia, by Ugo of Provence, king of Italy, and to the bishop of Cittanova in 1029 or 1038 by the Emperor Conrad. It had been sacked by the Slavs of Croatia and Dalmatia in 876, at the same
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PARENZO
PARENZO
The next town along the coast, Parenzo, is celebrated for its fine sixth-century cathedral, the pride of the whole of Istria "the land of basilicas," and is the headquarters of the Istrian Archæological Society, several of whose members have devoted much time and money to the elucidation of the history, construction, and decoration of the building. The excavations undertaken by the late Monsignore P. Deperis, Parroco Decano, showed that there have been four main epochs of construction, as well a
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
TO POLA BY SEA
TO POLA BY SEA
From Parenzo Pola may be reached either by land or sea, the latter being the more convenient way. The only place of importance passed is Rovigno, though the Canal di Leme, an arm of the sea 7-½ miles long, from 70 to 100 ft. deep, and some 500 yds. broad, which affords accommodation for much more shipping than ever makes use of it, leads up towards Due Castelli, now ruinous, but at one time a thriving and important town. On the way, near Orsera, the little island of "Scoglio Orlandino" is passed
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
TO POLA BY LAND
TO POLA BY LAND
One Easter Sunday we drove in lovely weather from Parenzo to S. Lorenzo in Pasenatico, and on to Canfanaro. By the road we passed every now and then farmers' houses, such as the one illustrated, and met groups of peasants going into Parenzo to the festa . As we got further from the city the men were collected in groups, talking, smoking, or playing bowls; whilst the women also by themselves, in knots of as many as twenty, were seated together enjoying a gossip. The landscape was pleasant, but ra
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
POLA
POLA
The town and arsenal of Pola lie at the head of one of those convenient inlets which provide the Austrian coast so plentifully with fine harbours. As the steamer passes between Cape Compare and Monte Grosso the naval port appears to the right with many powerful ships-of-war anchored in the bay: beyond and above the island of Olivi, occupied by part of the arsenal, rises the town, its buildings climbing the hill towards the castle which crowns the summit. To the left is the ample commercial port
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ISTRIAN COAST
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ISTRIAN COAST
Istria is in great part a dry and stony land, but there are valleys with streams and woods. It slopes to the west and south with a tolerably continuous declivity, so that the base of the triangular peninsula is on the whole the highest part. Much of the vegetation is greyish, and the rocks also are generally a pale grey. It is divided into three districts, named, from, the prevailing colour of the ground, white, yellow, and red. The first is the stony portion, the grey limestone of the Karst; ne
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
COAST TOWNS
COAST TOWNS
The shore (except for the deltas of a few streams) has no flat portions, and the banks (scarcely cliffs), though generally perpendicular and difficult to climb, are not at all lofty. The coast is broken into bays by projecting tongues of land, making harbours of differing degrees of safety, with an enormous number of small islands, many of which are mere rocks, obliging the steamers to keep some considerable distance from the land. The first navigable passage between them and the coast is the Ca
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
FIUME AND VEGLIA
FIUME AND VEGLIA
Fiume is one of the few towns along the coast in which the Italians are in the majority. It lies at the north-eastern end of the Bay of the Quarnero, and is the chief seaport of Hungary, to which it has belonged in the main since the beginning of the twelfth century; and permanently since 1870. Though it was a thriving town in the Middle Ages, and existed in Roman times, there is very little to be seen older than the period of the late Renaissance. It is a busy modern town, and for the archæolog
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
OSSERO AND CHERSO
OSSERO AND CHERSO
On one of our journeys we went by boat from Trieste to Lussin Piccolo, stopping only at Pola. It was just before Easter, and many sailors from the fleet were going home for a holiday. The quay was crowded with passengers, and a queerly shaped engine, belching forth thick smoke, with train attached, was drawn up behind them. This we thought a fair subject for a snap-shot, but the production of the camera attracted the attention of a policeman who would not be satisfied until it was put away, thou
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DALMATIA
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DALMATIA
The history of Dalmatia is obscure and confused for a great part of its course. That there were Greek and Phœnician colonies along the coast and on the islands is certain; the earliest of the former was that founded by the Syracusans in Issa (Lissa) in 390 B.C. A Cyclopean building, the so-called Gradina Gate at Gelsa, is attributable either to this colony or to that of 385 B.C. in the ancient Pharia (Lesina). Tragurium (Traù) and Epetium (Stobreć) were daughter colonies of Issa. The largest num
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ARBE
ARBE
It was very early in the morning when we arrived at Arbe the first time; so early, in fact, that the innkeeper was still in bed and had to be interviewed from his chamber-window, and we had to deposit our belongings at the door before commencing our explorations breakfastless. On this occasion we were unfortunate. The skull of S. Christopher was exposed on the altar, but the shrine was locked up, and the parroco had gone into the country to visit a sick man, with the key in his pocket, while the
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ZARA
ZARA
The continuation of the Canale della Morlacca, which washes the mainland, is the Canale della Montagna, on the west side of which is the island of Pago, the Gissa of the ancients. The city of the same name was founded by the Venetians, and was originally a defensive military post against the Uscocs. The bay upon which it is situated lies open to the "Bora," and therefore cannot always be entered in winter. For this reason Val Cassione, on the west side of the narrow island, is the usual port. A
52 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SEBENICO
SEBENICO
Sebenico lies within a fine harbour at the mouth of the Kerka, some six hours from Zara. The entrance to the bay is defended by the strong fort S. Nicolò, which bears the lion of S. Mark upon the landward side, showing that Venice ruled when it was built in 1540 (according to tradition, from Sanmichele's designs), though the actual sculpture is a replacement of 1824 of the original thrown into the sea by the French in 1813. During the Italian struggle for freedom and unity many patriots were shu
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SPALATO
SPALATO
Spalato appears for the first time in the "Tavola Peutingeriana" under the name Aspalathos, as a station on the shore road which led from the promontory Ad Dianam (at the end of Monte Marjan) to Epetium (Stobreć) below Salona, but appears at that time to have been a place of no importance. It, however, is thus proved to have existed before the end of the third century, which makes the accepted derivation of the name from "ad Palatium" plainly erroneous. Its great celebrity is due to the palace w
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS
THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS
The chain of islands which forms a natural breakwater to the coast of Dalmatia is broken into two groups by the Punta Planka, the ancient Promontorium Syrtis, south of Sebenico. To the northern group belong Veglia, Cherso, Ossero, Arbe, Pago, and a number of smaller and less important islands, including Ugljan, opposite Zara, and Pasman, a little farther south. Of these the first four have been described at length, and the others are mentioned briefly in the chapter dealing with Zara and its sur
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
RAGUSA
RAGUSA
Ragusa is one of the most charming spots in Dalmatia, and one can quite understand the action of the inhabitants who refused to leave it notwithstanding the ruin wrought by the earthquake of 1667, when it was proposed to move the community to a safer situation. The grey town upon its rocky seat, lighted by the brilliant sun, contrasts with the blue of the sea and the green of the luxuriant vegetation (much of it tropical), amidst which villas nestle picturesquely, and from the cliffs on either s
49 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO
THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO
The fine harbour known as the "Bocche di Cattaro" is thirteen miles long from the entrance to Cattaro itself, which lies at the extreme south. The "bocche," the mouths, lie between the Punta d'Ostro and the Punta d'Arza, both fortified, and in the channel is the little rock Rondoni, on which is another fort, Mamola. These defensive works were completed in 1897. The bay was known to the ancients as "Sinus Rhizonicus," Rhizon, from which it was then named, being the modern Risano at the extremity
38 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES
THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES
Between the Eastern and Western shores of the Adriatic there has been constant communication, either peaceful or bellicose, from the earliest times, for the sea was a highway traversed with equal ease by the enterprising merchant or the daring pirate. While the resulting influence of one coast on the other was considerable, more distant lands from which the way was open by the same course can be shown to have also affected the progress of art and craft on either side of the sea—Byzantium, North
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter