The Greece of the Greeks (Volume 1) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER I. ARRIVAL AT ATHENS. On the first of November, 1837, we left the harbour of Boston; and after a voyage of more than sixty days, interrupted only by a short and pleasant stay of two weeks in the beautiful island of Malta, we were allowed to add to other delights, the pleasure of seeing our long voyage at an end; of finding ourselves among the islands, " Which, seen from far Colona's height, Makes glad the heart that hails the sight." In the afternoon of the sixth of January, 1838, we had the island of Salamis before us, ?JSgina to the left, and the broken and varied coast of Attica to the right. We were near enough to the island of JEgina to enjoy a passing view of the temple of the Panhellenian Jupiter; but the light southerly wind, which had been blowing in the early part of the day, had veiled the more distant objects of the coast in a mist, which served to heighten our interest, by giving full scope to our imaginations. We were on the look-out for wonders; and someof us were so far excited with the mere idea of being in sight of Attica, that a ruined wind-mill was mistaken for the "Athenian's grave"?the tomb of Themistocles! It was late in the afternoon when the port of the Piraeus opened before us, and we had barely time to see our way through the narrow entrance of this singular but beautiful basin, before we were overtaken by the evening shades. The port of the Piraeus is so locked in by the rocky skirts of Mu- nichia and Mount jEgaleos, that, in approaching it, we saw the tall masts of the ships in the port long before we could see how we were to add our Alexandras to their number; and we were not a little surprised and delighted, when a single turn brought us into the port, which stood before us like a revealed mystery. The passage, or space betwe...