Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 1 of 2): The Russian Provinces — John Shaqi
Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 1 of 2): The Russian ProvincesLynch, H. F. B. (Harry Finnis Blosse)
History
Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 1 of 2): The Russian Provinces
Lynch, H. F. B. (Harry Finnis Blosse)
Armenia
It is a long climb from the anchorage to the British Consulate, which,
although within the limits of this suburb of gardens, has an elevation
of at least 150 feet. Still, the site has the advantages of a middle
position between the old fortified city in the western bay below us
and the open walks around Boz Tepe. And if the mornings be devoted
to the town and the ruins, the evenings may be spent on that airy
platform or upon the lonely slopes of the adjacent hills.
There are many pleasant spots which, in the course of these rambles,
invite a view over the town. The landscape which you overlook is
that of the west--the vague succession of endless little capes and
inlets, disappearing and combining to form the single feature of a
wide and open bay. Below you lies the old city, mediæval walls and
towers, overgrown by a canopy of leaves, gently sloping to the sea
(Fig. 2). Yet, however beautiful in itself may be the scene that
expands before you, it is rather upon the thoughts and the memories
which it raises that the mind is inclined to dwell. The sea is not so
much the blue floor without limits to which the sinuous outline of
the coast descends, as the open thoroughfare which leads across to
Europe, joining Asia to the West. The fir-clad ridges, which close
the prospect towards the interior, are rather the first outrunners
of that wide belt of troughs and ridges in which so many armies
have become entrapped, than the background of sterner features which
supports the peaceful landscape in which the ruined burgh lies. The
scene itself is the same that brought tears to the eyes of Xenophon,
and which was associated in the mind of the Emperor Hadrian with his
first view of this shore and sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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