198 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



are a good many gay villas, set in gardens full of 

 oranges and lemons and mulberries, from which 

 delicious whiffs of fragrance greet the passer-by. 

 Hanging above the town, at the height of some 

 500 feet, rises the rock of the citadel the old 

 Larissa crowned now with the ruins of a Turkish 

 fortress. Fragments of the old Greek walls are 

 said to be visible about the foundation of the 

 building. Other ruins, including a very fine piece 

 of polygonal masonry, which probably formed part 

 of the wall of the lower city, are to be seen at the 

 foot of the ridge. Near this spot, and cut out of 

 the living rock, is the theatre, one of the finest 

 in all Greece. Though much overgrown with grass 

 and flowers, the rows of seats are still quite dis- 

 tinct. From the top one gets a glorious view of 

 the rich Argolic plain, bounded on the east by the 

 blue waters of the Gulf, at whose head stands 

 Nauplia, its grand rocky citadel looking down with 

 paternal dignity upon the busy port beneath. In- 

 land, on every side, the plain is set about with 

 mountains. On the west, the ridge of Parthenium, 

 between which and Artemisium our road had lain 

 on the previous night ; to the south, the ridge on 

 which we were standing, sweeping away to our right 

 to join the mountain - masses of Laconia ; on the 

 north, range rose above range, till the farthest was 

 hid in the clouds. At the foot of the foremost 

 range of northern mountains a low height was 



