VOYAGE AND ARRIVAL 27 



bewraying its name, and the somnolent waters rippled 

 to the horizon in even, untroubled expanse. We steamed 

 out into the open, avoiding the coast-line, until we 

 should pick up the Crimean Peninsula, which we did 

 during the next day, passing the entrance to the har 

 bour of Balaclava in the late afternoon. 



Here the scenery was of the most enchanting 

 description. Great grey cliffs, whose rocky ramparts 

 cleft the sky line, stood sentinel to little vales where 

 on every point a beautiful villa gleamed white amid 

 the green. 



The palace, or castle, of Aloupka, constructed for 

 the great Prince Woronzoff by an Enghsh architect, is 

 one of the most arresting features of the coast. It is 

 built in a greenish limestone in a melange of styles. 

 Now it is a modem mansion, or a feudal stronghold, 

 sometimes an Italian palace, or a Gothic turreted 

 cathedral. White marble fountains gleam in forested 

 glades, where the trees shade from darkest ohve to the 

 palest emerald. Magnificent terraces are piled one 

 above the other, all vine-clad and crimson with the 

 glowing tints of sun-kissed leaves, backed by the 

 fierce drab pinnacled crags of Aie Petri. 



From this point onwards the peninsula is seen at 

 its very best. Everywhere the land falls and rises, 

 rises and falls, curving to its highest point, Tehader- 

 dagh, the Mountain of the Tent, a massive repHca of 

 an Arab's home, modelled by Nature's genius. 



Livadia, the home of the Dowager Empress of 

 Russia, a real country house, and Orianda, the palace 

 of the Emperor, lie on the mountain side, beautifully 



