Sicily.-A Fortnight's Tour. Approaching Sicily, "The Soul of Italy," from Tunis or from Naples, our landing place should be Palermo. 1st day. Palermo (sixteen hours by steamer from Tunis, 2d twelve hours by steamer from Naples). 3d 4th 66 Few cities on the globe's surface are more beautifully situated than Palermo, but the city itself is a conglomeration of nearly all styles of architecture, Christian and Saracenic. The Cappella Palatina of Arabic-Norman is a perfect jewel-casket, so exquisite is it in decoration and richness of material. Monreale, a short distance from Palermo, enjoys the supreme glory of a Cathedral of Latin form, "with a Roman colonnade, Byzantine mosaics, Greek sculpture and Saracenic and Norman details." The mosaics are second only to those of Venice. 5th day. Girgenti (four hours and a half by rail from Pa6th lermo) is famous for its numerous ruins of Greek temples. The Temple of Concord is considered. by some the most complete Doric temple extant. Other ruins are Juno Lacinia, Temple of Hercules, Jupiter Olympus and Castor and Pollux. The little Christian church of St. Nicola occupies the site of a pagan altar, where human sacrifices were made to Moloch. 7th day. Catania (seven hours by rail from Girgenti). The second city in Sicily, with a superb view of Ætna, from the gardens. 8th day. Syracuse (two hours from Catania). Founded 9th 734 B.C., by a colony of Corinthians, it grew to 10th " be the most powerful of the Greek colonies of the West, with a population of half a million. Some of the sights are the Doric Cathedral, built partly on the site and in part actually composed of the ancient Temple of Minerva; the Roman Amphitheater; the Ear of Dionysius; Greek Temple of Diana, the Catacombs, the Latomia de' Cappuccini, the quarry wherein seven thousand Athenian prisoners are said to have been starved to death; the Fountain of Arethusa; and the River Anapo, the only river in Europe in which the papyrus now grows. 11th day. Taormina (three hours from Syracuse) is 12th famous for the extraordinary beauty of its scenery. Perched like an eagle's nest on a cliff, some four hundred feet above the shore, with Mola and Monte Venere towering behind it, and Mount Etna filling in, with graceful lines, the southern horizon. The view from the ruined Greek Theater has been compared with that of the Vale of Kashmir, but this comparison hardly does justice to Taormina. 13th day. Messina (one hour from Taormina) is a wellbuilt, busy town, prettily situated at the foot of an amphitheater of hills, surrounded with vineyards, olive groves, orchards and gardens. Its harbor is the best in Italy, and in commercial importance Messina ranks next to Palermo. 14th day. Naples by steamer, sixteen hours. A Month on the Peninsula. To make a complete tour of Spain, it is advisable to enter by the west of the Pyrenees and leave by the east; for although the railroad has pierced the Pyrenees and greatly increased the facilities for travel between France and the Spanish Peninsula, the long and forbidding range is still an inconvenient barrier. The route from Paris is via Orleans and Bordeaux to: 1st day. Biarritz. One of the most charming of fashionable French watering places, on the Spanish frontier. The coast is rugged, with a beautiful sandy beach. 2d day. Burgos (eight hours from Biarritz), the birthplace of the Cid, the national champion of Spain, and celebrated for its magnificent Gothic Cathedral. Pleasant excursion to the Monastery of Miraflores. 3d day. Valladolid (three hours from Burgos), favorite residence of the Castilian sovereigns, and the royal headquarters and capital of the once great Spanish empire. Here Gil Blas practised medicine, and here lived Cervantes, the inimitable creator of Don Quixote. 4th day. Salamanca (four hours from Valladolid). The seat of a venerable and celebrated University. The city has a number of interesting buildings built of a material to which time has imparted a wonderful golden-brown hue, and this has rendered the city picturesque, despite its dreary situation. 5th day. Segovia (five hours from Salamanca) is " an unmatched picture of the middle ages," with a Roman aqueduct. Segovia, built on a promontory between two rivers, has been compared to a ship in full sail towards the setting sun. In the prison here died the broken-hearted Marie Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarine, who loved King Louis XIV of France "not wisely, but too well." 6th day. Escorial (three hours from Segovia). This leviathan of architecture, in size and solidity second only to the pyramids, was erected by Philip II, and is at once palace, monastery, church and royal mausoleum. The Pantheon, where only monarchs of Spain are interred, is probably the most gorgeous and imposing temple of death ever erected. 9th 7th day. Madrid (hour and a half from Escorial). A 8th "handsome city, its boulevards and gardens, streets and shops, almost rivaling those of Paris in attractiveness. It is the most elevated of all the European capitals. The Royal Palace and the Museo del Prado contain pictures and other priceless work of the most celebrated artists of Europe. The Armory, with effigies of Spanish heroes and heroines, is the finest in the world. 10th day. Toledo (two hours from Madrid). The glory of the old Moorish town of Toledo is the Cathedral, equal in size to half a dozen ordinary ones, and in beauty surpassed by none. Toledo epitomizes the whole history of Spain, for here Romans, Visigoths, Saracens and Christians have each in turn held sway, and all have left their footprints. 11th day. Seville (fourteen hours from Madrid). The 12th city of Carmen and Don Juan. The Gothic 13th "Cathedral, grafted to the Moorish Giralda Tower, 14th is of such harmony as to rank as one of the 15th world's most graceful structures. The Alcazar, the residence of kings from Cæsar down, is a glorious building, a rival of the Alhambra; and 66 Casa de Pilatos is said to resemble the house of 16th day. Cadiz (four hours from Seville), the Biblical Tarshish, is one of the prettiest towns in Spain, and has been likened to an "ivory model set in a frame of emerald." The Botanical Gardens are very interesting. 17th day. Tangiers (six hours and a half by steamer from 18th Cadiz). The chief port of Morocco, where the climate, architecture and mode of life are thoroughly Eastern. A queer little town with steep streets, and mosques with beautifully decorated minarets, from which every now and then the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer. 19th day. Gibraltar (three hours by steamer from Tangiers). The most important of Britain's fortresses between the straits of Dover and the farthest East. The rock was captured by Sir George Rooke in 1704, and since held at all costs against prolonged investments and furious assaults by the armies and navies of the strongest European powers combined. 20th day. Ronda (five hours from Gibraltar), the most Spanish of Spanish towns, whose famous bridge, spanning the Tajo, is familiar to us since "geography days" at school. Over this bridge the Spanish diligence, with its accessories as pictured, still lumbers as of yore. Ronda pos sesses a Moorish castle and tower, a Dominican convent and a Nereid grotto. 21st day. Granada and the Alhambra (six hours from 22d Ronda). The last stronghold of the Moors in 23d Europe, from which they were expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. One of the most beautiful views in Spain is that looking 24th 25th 66 |