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20 October 1904 — Ragusa | |
Thursday. 20th [October 1904]. Breakfast in my room & joined the gentlemen at 9 to go out for a walk to see the town. It is a most charming picturesque old place with Fortifications walls bastions & forts all kept up by the Austrian Govt. There is a handsome sort of Piazza with a fine Palace for the Govt which is now being restored. There are many churches wh did not seem to possess any works of art. The main street is paved & there were few vehicles—the other streets are very narrow also paved like Venetian calle. On the side towards the hill the streets were steep & were flights of steps. We walked about to see as much as we could & then went down to the harbour & went by the little steamer that plies every hour to the Island of Lacroma where is a villa inhabited by the Franciscans. It was originally a Convent & then had belonged to the Crown P. Rudolf. After the tragedy of his death it was said to be unlucky to the R. family & they handed it back to the monks who have established a school for boys there. In the building there is nothing to see—the good furniture has been removed—& only the commonest has replaced it. The gardens are wild & little cultivated but very picturesque going down to the sea– There are fine olives now little cared for & neglected by the monks. The gardener who showed us round the place was full of sorrow at the waste & inveighed against the monks for not employing the peasants to look after things as in days gone by. The peeps of the sea thro’ the trees were lovely. We went round the island in the little steamer before returning to Ragusa—there are fine caves & broken rocks wh are covered with spray when there is the least sea on. After luncheon we took a drive to Ombla. The road runs by Gravosa following the shore of an arm of the sea as it appears to be wh runs a good way in shore. On reaching the end of it one finds that it is really a wide river which comes straight out a high hill. One cannot see that this river comes out of the rock so suddenly does it come & so deep it is. There is a mill near this source & the miller allowed us to go to the edge of the water & explained it to us. It was almost dark when we got back to the Hotel & rather chilly. | |
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