Fair Athens Book

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1881 Original Publisher: Remington and Co. Subjects: Athens (Greece) Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II. A. FEW WORDS ON THK AKROPOLIS. Akropolis is now far from occupying its . once central position. The new city has slid away from it, and has travelled in the direction of Lycabettus. There is only one part of the town which is left nestling around it as it were, and this is the shortest and most -direct way by which to reach the summit. This route is at once the greatest blot and blemish that exists in the whole city of Athens. It consists of two or three narrow lanes, which are crowded with the poorest tenements; unpleasant refuse meets you at every turn, and down the rough path which is cut out of the rock, descends a perpetual stream of dirty water, and the most objectionable kind of soapsuds. "Well is it for the passer-by if he can avoidsome sudden explosion upon his head of such unsavoury waters as find their exit from spouts- above, from which they are ejected with considerable force, and descend spluttering and splashing to stir with quicker action the sullen pools beneath. In all the suburbs, this great eye nuisance exists, and numerous are the public thoroughfares which are sullied with this continual outpouring of soapsuds. True it is that this inodorous presence is indicative that cleansing operations have been going on within, but it is nevertheless a most unpleasant feature, and one of the many proofs of a slovenliness in details which is often apparent in many ways, and serves to detract much from the charms of this really beautiful little city. Returning to the subject of the Akropolis, and comparing its pres...Read More