Part 4

Almost all along the coast of the north-western basin of the Mediterranean the recent stratified and contorted headlands abut most picturesquely on the sea. On the north-west only, on each side of the Pyrenees, the basin is bounded by a coast of the primæval bed-rock formation, and is easily accessible from the Iberian mountains by the valleys of the Ebro, Jucar, and other rivers. Still more important are the avenues afforded by the _Aquitanian Plains_ and the _Rhone Valley_. Hence it was that from a very early period the streams of Roman culture flowed through Marseilles and Narbonne to western and central Europe. But these, like the Straits of Gibraltar on the west, the Carso or Karst near Trieste on the north, and the Bosporus on the east, afford inlets also for the cold winds which sometimes pour into the warm mountain-girdled basin of the Mediterranean and force back the zone of southern vegetation (p. xxxv).

The southern margin of the north-western basin of the Mediterranean lies in the same latitude (36°) as the northern margin of the south-eastern basin (Cape Tænaron, on the south coast of Asia Minor). This less favoured south-eastern basin sends two great branches towards central Europe, the Adriatic and the Greek Archipelago, both of which open out in the direction of the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. From these branches run important roads leading to the heart of Europe, in particular those from Venice and Trieste into Austria, and that from Saloniki to Belgrade and up the Danube. This last, as also the road from Belgrade to Sofia, Adrianople, and Constantinople, traverses the RUMELIAN PRIMARY FORMATION, to which the greater part of the south-eastern European peninsula belongs (Thrace and Macedonia, extending into Servia). To the same period probably once belonged also the north-western part of Asia Minor and _Ægaeis_, of which last the only surviving relics are the islands of the _Cyclades_. Here, too, over the primæval bed-rock, recent folded mountains have been gradually built up. The _Balkan_ is one of these ranges. Another is the _Illyrian-Greek Range_, running in a different direction, which with its broad girdle gives the peninsula its southern trend, while shutting it off from the Adriatic and barring direct access to the north-west. As the Balearic Islands belong to the Andalusian stratified formation, and as Sicily and its adjoining islands form part of the Apennines, so the western stratified girdle of the south-eastern European peninsula crumbled, even within the historic period, into peninsulas and islands, formed chiefly by very recent subsidence. Thus arose _Greece_, a hill-country with an extensive seaboard, a new and unique region which was one day to reign supreme in the intellectual world. It is probable that the Greek range of hills was once prolonged eastwards, as appears to be indicated by the lie of the Cretan mountains, and that these in their turn were connected with the similarly stratified _Taurus Mountains_ in Asia Minor. Just as the south-eastern peninsula of Europe, with Asia Minor, thus formed the great stepping-stones of traffic which brought the ancient culture of Europe into contact with that of Mesopotamia and Syria, so when the railway from Constantinople to Bagdad is completed a great future may yet be in store for the Orient.

The =Eastern Mediterranean=, the smaller south-eastern basin to the south of Malta, Crete, and Cyprus (p. xxviii), lies within the region of the great primæval desert-plateau of northern Africa (apart from the Atlas regions), of Arabia, and Syria, and has been formed by the subsidence of part of that plateau. In contrast to the richly varied shores of the western and central basins its coasts, as may even be seen from a glance at the map, are monotonous. Their formation, whether perpendicular or horizontal, is featureless, and there is an almost entire lack of islands, harbours, and rivers. The Nile greatly relieves this monotony, but its sources lie within tropical regions far beyond the limits of the desert. _Alexandria_ possesses almost the only natural harbour on this flat coast of early formation. The old-world characteristics of the land, its inhabitants, and their language at once strike the traveller on landing at _Tripoli_. Yet even this part of the Mediterranean, especially the _Levant Basin_, beyond the passage between Crete and Barca, contains recent formations. The hill-region of _Barca_, the ancient Cyrenaica (p. 413), averaging 1600 feet in height, is composed of miocene marine strata. The bay now filled up by the Nile delta, and at one time connected with the Red Sea, is of even later origin, dating perhaps from the pluvial or glacial era. That the mouth of the Nile once lay much farther to the north and watered Palestine is evidenced by the identity of its fauna with that of the Jordan and the Lake of Tiberias (crocodiles, for instance, occurring in the Nahr ez-Zerkâ, to the south of Mt. Carmel; p. 468). Movements of the earth’s crust also account for the peculiar conformation of that part of the great desert-plateau which we call _Syria_. It is only differentiated from the monotonous North Arabian desert by the great Syrian Valley or trough, running from north to south, and ending at the Gulf of Akaba in the Erythræan depression (the Red Sea), which dates from about the same epoch. On each side of this long narrow furrow, descending to a depth of some 2500 feet below the sea-level, strips of land have been forced upwards so as to form lofty mountains. These, in spite of subsidences and erosion, still attain a height of about 10,000 feet in the twin-giants of _Lebanon_ and _Anti-Lebanon_ in Central Syria. It is to this highly picturesque mountain-wall, which condenses the vapours from the sea and remains snow-clad till late in summer, that the Syrian seaboard, 10–16 miles in breadth, owes its luxuriant subtropical vegetation, and Palestine its cultivability as far as its southern borders. Syria, which may be regarded geographically and anthropologically as a kind of peninsula of the Mediterranean, thus forms a bridge between north and south, connecting Asia Minor and Mesopotamia with Arabia and Egypt, and bounded by the sea on the west and by the desert, only some 60 miles distant, on the east.

The =Black Sea=, which from the north-eastern angle of the Archipelago runs far into the interior of the Old World, lies outside of the Mediterranean regions. Like the inland Caspian Sea it is a relic of the tertiary Sarmatic Sea, which was afterwards broken up into lakes of brackish water. It was not till the diluvial epoch that those subsidences which created the _Sea of Marmora_ brought the Black Sea also into connection with the Mediterranean. Through the Sea of Marmora there must once have flowed a great river, into whose valley the sea afterwards penetrated from the south, forming the _Dardanelles_ and the _Bosporus_ of the present day. Travellers on the Rhine will observe an interesting resemblance between these straits and the Rhine Valley between Bingen and Coblenz. Like these straits the Black Sea also is a great trough hollowed out between lofty stratified mountains. On three sides its bold rocky coasts are inhospitable and forbidding. On the north it is bounded by the ‘steppe’, a plateau of primitive formation, no less monotonous than the desert-plateau on the south side of the Mediterranean, yet cultivable owing to its more northern situation. At two places on this side, through gaps in the mountain rampart, the sea has overflowed the plateau, forming the shallow _Gulf of Odessa_ and _Sea of Azov_. Two great routes of traffic were thus opened up from the Black Sea into the heart of Eastern Europe and even of Central Asia, enriching the world’s commerce with the products of these regions, and at the same time forming the portal through which Byzantine culture and Greek Christianity found their way into Russia. Through these passages great masses of cold northern air are poured into the Black Sea; but between them the _Peninsula of the Crimea_, a relic of the broken-down mountain-girdle, still stands boldly forth, giving shelter to an almost Mediterranean vegetation on its southern coast. On that coast lies the admirable harbour of _Sebastopol_. Nearer the Sea of Azov once lay the flourishing Greek colonies of _Pantikapaeon_ and _Phanagoria_, and in the middle ages the Genoese settlements of _Sudak_ (Kertch) and _Kaffa_ (Theodosia or Feodossiya). As the corn of Southern Russia is now the chief export from Odessa to London and Antwerp, so, from the 14th century onwards, quantities of Russian caviare were brought by Italian merchants from Kaffa to Bruges, which was then one of the world’s greatest markets.

The =Climate= of the Mediterranean is very equable. In every age northerners have been attracted by the mildness of the winters, when the occasional storms and heavy rains are of short duration and are soon succeeded by bright sunshine. The heat of summer is tempered everywhere, especially on the more southern coasts, by refreshing sea-breezes. The farther south one goes, the longer the dry season lasts. At Tripoli, for example, it lasts for seven months and at Alexandria for ten. The subtropical maximum air-pressure over the eastern Atlantic, by which rainfall and wind-movements are determined, is usually continued in winter past the southern limit of the Mediterranean (comp. p. 29), thus bringing the whole of that sea within the zone of the changeable and rainy winds of Central Europe. In summer the pressure lies farther to the north, producing in most parts of the Mediterranean steady northerly currents of air. The climate is tempered also by the warmth of the sea itself. The bar at the west entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar (p. xxix) keeps out the cold water of the deep Atlantic, but allows the influx of the warmer surface-water to compensate for what the Mediterranean loses by evaporation. This loss would otherwise amount to a depth of 10–15 ft. per annum. The influx of water from the Atlantic causes a current to flow along the North African coast from west to east, but its thermal effects are soon lost. In summer the surface of the Mediterranean is heated by the sun up to 75–82° Fahr.; but the temperature diminishes rapidly down to a depth of about 1000 feet, where it reaches a uniform minimum corresponding with the surface temperature of February, the coolest month in the year. This in the north-western basin is 55° Fahr. only, and in the south-eastern 56¼°, but it suffices to temper the cold winds of winter, while additional warmth is brought from time to time by the hot sirocco from the interior of Africa (comp. p. 321). It may be stated generally that the winter temperature on the Mediterranean averages 14° Fahr. above that of almost all other regions in the same latitude. The warmest places are of course those on the coasts facing the south and sheltered from the north, while the average temperature rises gradually from south-east to north-west.

The =Vegetation= is rich and varied. Evergreens abound, being better able to stand the long droughts than deciduous trees and shrubs. Among the forest-trees in the warmer regions the commonest are pines, including stone-pines, and oaks of the evergreen and other varieties. The underwood (_macchia_, _maquis_, or _garrigue_, Grk. _phrýgana_) is composed of mastic-bushes (Pistacia lentiscus), myrtles, arbutus-trees (Arbutus unĕdo), broom, tree-like heaths (Erica arborea and scoparia), resinous and aromatic cistus-shrubs with large blossoms resembling wild roses, and climbing-plants of many varieties. Most prominent among trees in the cultivated lands is the silver-grey olive, which, as well as the vine and the fig-tree, has thriven here from the earliest times and is the most characteristic feature in every Mediterranean landscape. Most of the other fruit-trees also have been known here since remote antiquity. The fruit of the date-palm attains perfection in the oases of North Africa only (comp. p. 171), but the tree bears fruit on the Spanish coast, and is very popular as an ornamental tree on the French and Italian Riviera and in other sheltered situations. Lemons were introduced by the Arabs, and oranges were brought from southern China by the Portuguese about the middle of the 16th century. Many other foreign trees and plants have been introduced since then. Aloes and opuntias, which now grow wild and are often regarded as characteristic of the Mediterranean, were introduced from America. In the beautiful and luxuriant gardens, especially in Italy, on the French Riviera, and in Algeria, the flora of almost every quarter of the globe is represented.

No less varied and interesting are the =Inhabitants= of the Mediterranean lands, who belong to three distinct continents, and who differ widely in race and language, in religion and culture. In remote mountain-regions there still exist peoples, like the _Basques_ and the _Albanians_, who belong to the oldest races in Europe. In the south and the east dwell _Arabs_ and _Turks_, comparatively recent immigrants from the steppes of Asia. On one side, as in Southern France, is witnessed the height of civilization; on the other, as in Albania and many parts of Northern Africa, the population is sunk in the depths of ignorance. The dwellers in the west profess the Roman Catholic faith, those in the east belong to the Greek Catholic church, while they differ materially in culture also. Christianity again is antagonistic to Islam, which prevails in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, and North Africa. The inhabitants of the Atlas regions, of Tripolitania, and of Barca are _Berbers_ (p. 94), who are neither Arabs nor Turks, but are more akin to the Europeans. The Osman Turks of the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor have been so blended with Mediterranean races that they now retain little of their original Mongolian character. Entirely distinct again from the Arabs are the Aramaic _Syrians_, although they speak Arabic, and so too are the _Fellahin_ of Egypt. Most mixed perhaps of all is the blood of the _Modern Greeks_.

I. FROM ENGLAND TO THE MEDITERRANEAN BY THE PORTUGUESE COAST.

Route Page 1. From England viâ Oporto and Lisbon to Gibraltar or Tangier (Marseilles and Genoa) 1 2. Lisbon 6 a. Cidade Baixa, Lisboa Occidental and Oriental, 10.—b. The Streets on the Tagus. Belem, 13.—c. Excursion to Cintra, 15.

1. From England viâ Oporto and Lisbon to Gibraltar or Tangier (_Marseilles and Genoa_).

1. TO GIBRALTAR DIRECT. The chief Steamboat Lines (offices, comp. pp. xviii-xx) are the _Peninsular & Oriental Co._, once weekly from London to Gibraltar, Marseilles, Port Said, etc.; the _Orient Royal Line_, fortnightly from London to Gibraltar, Marseilles, Naples, Port Said, etc.; the _North German Lloyd_, fortnightly from Southampton to Gibraltar, Algiers, Genoa, Naples, Port Said, etc.; the _Anchor Line_ almost weekly from Liverpool or Glasgow for Gibraltar, Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Palermo, Port Said, etc.; fares to Gibraltar in all these from 12_l._ 2_s._ downwards. Less expensive are the _Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.’s_ steamers, fortnightly from London; and from Liverpool, the _Moss Line_ fortnightly and the _Papayanni Line_ occasionally; fares in all these range from 6_l._ to 8_l._

2. COASTING STEAMERS. _Hall Line_, weekly from London to Lisbon, Gibraltar, Málaga, and Cadiz; the _Pacific Line_, fortnightly from Liverpool to La Rochelle-Pallice (for Bordeaux), Corunna, Vigo, Leixões (for Oporto), Lisbon, and St. Vincent (Cape Verde), and thence to S. America (passengers for the Mediterranean requiring of course to tranship at Lisbon or St. Vincent); the _Nederland Royal Mail Steamers_, fortnightly from Southampton for the Mediterranean and Batavia, touch at Lisbon, and so also those of the _Rotterdam Lloyd_, fortnightly from Southampton, for Tangier, the Mediterranean, and Batavia; _Yeoward Bros. Line_, weekly from Liverpool to Lisbon; _Booth Line_, thrice monthly from Liverpool to Havre, Vigo, Leixões (for Oporto), etc.; _Ellerman Line_, weekly from Liverpool to Lisbon and Oporto; the steamers of the _German East African Line_, once every three weeks from Southampton, call at Lisbon, Tangier, Marseilles, and Naples, on their way to Port Said; the Atlantic liners of the _Hamburg-American_ and _Hamburg & South American Cos._, calling several times monthly at Southampton, also touch occasionally at Lisbon; _Royal Holland Lloyd_, monthly from Dover to Boulogne, Corunna, Vigo, Lisbon, etc.; the vessels of the _Compañía Trasatlántica_, monthly from Liverpool, call at Corunna, Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz, Cartagena, Valencia, Barcelona, and Genoa, on their voyages to Colombo and Manila.

3. EXCURSION STEAMERS. Many of the above companies and others besides organize Mediterranean cruises and circular tours at very reasonable fares, whereby everything is made easy and comfortable; but the more enterprising and independent traveller will greatly prefer to piece his tour together for himself, combining the various routes to suit his own convenience, and often lingering for days in profoundly impressive historic places or amid glorious scenery, where the hurriedly conducted tourist can spend a few hours only. Among the excursion steamers may be mentioned the ‘Vectis’ of the _Peninsular & Oriental Co._, which offers a trip of 10 days from London to Lisbon, Gibraltar, Tangier, Málaga, and Marseilles for 10–15 guineas, and another, of 21 days, from Marseilles to Palermo, Constantinople, the Piræus, Naples, and Marseilles, for 21–40 _gs._ Similar cruises are offered by the _Cunard Line_, starting from Liverpool for the Mediterranean and Adriatic, the _Orient Royal Line_ from London (20 days; fares from 18 _gs._), and by ‘_Continental Travel_’ (5 Endsleigh Gardens, London), some of the last-named (either from Southampton or from Marseilles) extending to Egypt and the Holy Land, and lasting from 13 to 34 days (fares 10–26 _gs._).—The voyage from London to Lisbon (about 1170 M.) usually takes 3½ days, and thence to Gibraltar (about 350 M.) one day more; but some of the steamers take longer, while much of course depends on the number of ports called at and on the length of stay made at each. For details as to the sailings, which, as well as fares, are liable to frequent alteration, application should be made to the various companies, or to Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son (Ludgate Circus, London, E.C.) or other tourist-agencies.

TO GIBRALTAR DIRECT. As indicated at p. 1, most of the great steamers bound for Port Said, India, Australia, and other distant parts steer for Gibraltar direct.

Of the COASTING STEAMERS to Gibraltar some touch at Lisbon only, others at Leixões (or Oporto) and Lisbon, and others again at various additional stations. All the important stations are here mentioned in their order.

The Hamburg-American steamers call at _Boulogne_ (see Baedeker’s N. France) to take up passengers for Lisbon and America. Most of the vessels pass the _Cap de la Hague_, a little to the N.W. of Cherbourg, and the _Channel Islands_, which belong to Great Britain. The first of these is _Alderney_ (Fr. _Aurigny_); next comes the islet of _Burhou_; beyond it, behind the dangerous rocks called the _Casquets_, marked by a triple flashing light, lies _Guernsey_ (‘green island’), and farther away, to the left, is _Jersey_. The coast of Brittany or Bretagne is visible in clear weather only.

All the steamers leave the English Channel near _Ushant_ (_Ouessant_; lighthouse), an island near the coast of Brittany, and steer to the S.S.W. across the _Bay of Biscay_ (_Viscaya_), where, even in fine weather, the heavy swell of the open Atlantic is distinctly felt. The steamers of the Pacific Line and of the Rotterdam Lloyd touch at =La Pallice=, 3 M. from _La Rochelle_. From La Rochelle, an interesting historic town, by railway to (145 M.) Bordeaux, see Baedeker’s Southern France. The Bay of Biscay is bounded on the S. by the N. coast of Spain, with which the W. coast of France forms a right angle. In this angle, far to the E. of the steamer’s course, lie Bayonne and the famous health resort of Biarritz. To the S.W. of the latter is (8 M.) St. Jean de Luz, and 8 M. farther is Hendaye, on the Spanish frontier (see Baedeker’s S. France).

In Spain, 12 M. to the W. of the frontier, is situated San Sebastián, a strikingly picturesque town and fashionable seaside resort; 71½ M. farther to the W. lies Bilbao, famed for its iron and steel, 74 M. beyond which is Santandér, with its important harbour. About 280 M. farther to the W. are the N.W. headlands of Spain which mark the S.W. end of the Bay of Biscay.

The steamers of the Pacific Line, the Compañía Trasatlántica, and some others next call at =Corunna=, Span. _La Coruña_, a picturesque and important seaport famed in history, and the chief arsenal of N. Spain (see Baedeker’s Spain and Portugal; debarkation or embarkation 1 peseta). Time permitting, passengers may spend an hour or two on shore in walking through the new town (_Pescadería_) and the loftily situated old town (_Ciudad Vieja_), and in ascending to the _Torre de Hércules_ (185 ft.; lighthouse), about 1 M. to the N. of the town, for the sake of the splendid view it affords. Some 35 M. to the W. of Corunna lie the small _Sisargas Islands_, beyond which all the vessels steer to the S., past _Cabo Villano_ (lighthouse), _Cabo Toriñana_ (lighthouse), and _Cape Finisterre_. To the E., in clear weather, we may descry the long outlines of the Galician mountain-range (‘sierra’). Beyond Cape Finisterre we pass a number of far-penetrating inlets (_rias_) which abound on the W. coast of Galicia. Many steamers touch also at =Vigo=, a seaport and sea-bathing place most picturesquely situated on the _Ria de Vigo_, the southmost inlet of Galicia, which runs 19 M. inland (debarkation or embarkation 1 peseta). Fine view near the lofty Castillo del Castro, to the S. of the town. Some eight or nine hours’ steaming carries us from Vigo, past the mouth of the _Minho_, the boundary between Spain and Portugal, to—

=Leixões= (pron. layshŏengsh; Brit. vice-consul, T. Coverley), the first Portuguese port, lying at the mouth of the little river _Leça_ and forming the outer harbour of _Oporto_. About 2½ M. farther to the S. is the mouth of the _Douro_, usually entered by the smaller steamers bound for (3½ M.) Oporto itself.

Passengers who wish to go ashore at Leixões are conveyed by motor-boat or rowing-boat (about 225 reis or 1_s._, and half as much more for luggage) to the custom-house. Visitors with heavy luggage require to take the train (Leça station, near the Alfándega or custom-house) to Oporto (Estacão da Boa Vista, in the N. of the town); others may take the electric tramway (120 rs.), running from Leixões through the villa-suburb of _Leça da Palmeira_ and the watering-places of _Mattosinhos_ and _São João da Foz_, and up the right bank of the Douro, to Oporto (about 5 M., in 1 hr.). It goes as far as the Praça de Dom Pedro; but those in haste will alight in the Rua do Infante Dom Henrique (comp. p. 4).

=Oporto.=—HOTELS. *_Hot. do Porto_, _Hôt. de Paris_, _Hôt. de Francfort_, etc.—_Café-Restaurant International_, Praça de Dom Pedro 14; _Café Suisse_, same square, No. 122; _Café Marques_, in the Crystal Palace.

CAB 500 rs., or about 2_s._ 3_d._, per hour.

CONSULS. British, _H. Grant_.—United States Consular Agent, _W. Stüve_.—ENGLISH CHURCH (_St. James’s_), in the Campo Pequeno, to the N. of the Crystal Palace.

_Oporto_, or briefly _Porto_ (‘harbour’) in Portuguese, is a busy commercial town of 172,400 inhab., the industrial capital of N. Portugal, and the place from which the famous wines of the upper valley of the Douro are chiefly exported. It lies 3½ M. from the sea, on the lofty right bank of the Douro, which has forced its passage here through the granite rock. The old town, with its quaint balconied houses, whose walls are often faced with coloured tiles, rises in terraces on the rocky slopes. The new town lies on a lofty plateau to the N., E., and W. of the old.