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[Illustration: The Mihrab of the Mosque of Roustem Pasha, Showing
Persian Tiles.]




  CONSTANTINOPLE.

  BY
  EDMONDO DE AMICIS,
  AUTHOR OF “HOLLAND,” “SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS,” ETC.


  TRANSLATED FROM THE FIFTEENTH ITALIAN EDITION BY
  MARIA HORNOR LANSDALE.


  ILLUSTRATED.


  IN TWO VOLUMES.

  VOL. I.


  PHILADELPHIA:
  HENRY T. COATES & CO.
  1896.




  COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY
  HENRY T. COATES & CO.




CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE

  THE ARRIVAL                                                          7

  FIVE HOURS LATER                                                    33

  THE BRIDGE                                                          43

  STAMBUL                                                             59

  ALONG THE GOLDEN HORN                                               85

  THE GREAT BAZÂR                                                    121

  LIFE IN CONSTANTINOPLE                                             159

  ST. SOPHIA                                                         247

  DOLMABÂGHCHEH                                                      279




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


VOLUME I.

Photogravures by W. H. GILBO.

                                                                    PAGE

  THE MIHRAB OF THE MOSQUE OF ROUSTEM PASHA, SHOWING PERSIAN TILES
                                                         _Frontispiece._

  MOSQUES OF SULTAN AHMED AND ST. SOPHIA                              21

  VIEW OF PERA AND GALATA                                             29

  ANCIENT FOUNTAIN                                                    39

  BRIDGE OF GALATA                                                    45

  FOUNTAIN OF COURT OF THE MOSQUE OF AHMED                            65

  BURNT COLUMN OF CONSTANTINE                                         70

  TOWER OF GALATA                                                     90

  PANORAMA OF THE ARSENAL AND GOLDEN HORN                            105

  DATE-SELLER                                                        131

  VIEW OF STAMBUL, MOSQUE OF VALIDÊH, AND BRIDGE                     161

  SERPENTINE COLUMN OF DELPHI                                        167

  GROUP OF DOGS                                                      179

  TYPES OF TURKISH SOLDIERS                                          189

  A TURKISH OFFICIAL                                                 200

  TÜRBEH OF SULTAN SELIM II. IN ST. SOPHIA                           216

  INTERIOR OF MOSQUE OF AHMED                                        227

  ENTRANCE AND TOWER OF SERASKER                                     243

  ENTRANCE TO ST. SOPHIA                                             249

  FOUNTAIN OF AHMED                                                  251

  MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA                                               255

  INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA                               260

  FIRST COLUMNS ERECTED IN ST. SOPHIA                                263

  PALACE OF DOLMABÂGHCHEH                                            281

  PALACE OF THE SULTAN ON THE BOSPHORUS                              296




THE ARRIVAL.


The arrival at Constantinople made such an overpowering impression
upon me as to almost efface what I had seen during the previous ten
days’ trip from the Straits of Messina to the mouth of the Bosphorus.
The Ionian Sea, blue and unruffled as a lake; the distant mountains
of Morea, tinged with rose color in the early morning light; the
archipelago, gilded with the rays of the setting sun; the ruins of
Athens; the Gulf of Salonika, Lemnos, Tenedos, the Dardanelles, and
a crowd of persons and events which had caused me infinite amusement
during the voyage,--faded into such indistinct and shadowy outlines
at the first sight of the Golden Horn