Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor: Series One and Series Two in one VolumeWalsh, R. (Robert)
History
Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor: Series One and Series Two in one Volume
Walsh, R. (Robert)
Istanbul (Turkey) -- History; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Pictorial works
The city stands in the centre of an enormous plain, 140 miles, or
about five days’ journey from Constantinople. It is distinguished
by the approaching traveller at the distance of many miles, by the
tall minarets of the mosque of Selim piercing the sky, when all other
objects of the city are imperceptible. An Oriental town is never
discovered like one where coal is consumed, by the dense vapours which
fill the atmosphere about it, but obscuring every other object. The
site of it is usually marked by some conspicuous building rising above
the rest, projecting on the pure air, and seen distinctly at an immense
distance. Adrianople is entered on one side by a street, bounded by
a vast cemetery having even more solemnity and beauty than is usual
in others; this area is intersected by various avenues, and is the
constant retreat of the citizens. There is nothing gloomy or revolting
in the feelings it excites. The tombs are shaded by the ever-verdant
and aromatic cypress, or varied by rose-trees and “flowers of all
hues.” It is the constant resort of all the relatives of those who
sleep below, and the dead and the living meet here morning and evening
in tranquil repose. On another side the city is approached by a wide
causeway, the work of its founder, which he intended as the avenue of
communication between his new city and Byzantium. It is still used for
the same purpose, and forms the highway to Constantinople, but, like
all remains of Roman roads in the country, it is so dilapidated by
Turkish unskilfulness and neglect, that it is nearly impassable, and
travellers, when overtaken on it by darkness, are compelled to light
their lanterns, and pass it with the same precaution as the precipice
of the Balkans.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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