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| Salines Bay. Image Size 20.5 x 30.5 cms. Page 178. " ..... Lemisol, though not rich, is a very pleasant place, accommodated with an exceedingly good bay for ships; it has a wretched castle, and some small share of trade, yet this small share is greater than that of all the other sea ports, except Larnica, which being the residence of the Europeans, carries all before it. About six miles from Lemisol, flood the Amathus of the ancients, so celebrated for the amours of Venus and Adonis: it stretched down to the sea, from the face of an hill, where there has been a very strong castle, some of the walls of which are immensely thick, and, probably, were built by some Greek emperors: the port has been tolerable; and, from thence to within eight or ten miles of Larnica, the country is neither bad nor disagreeable; but all around this place is, certainly, the worst spot of the kingdom, on account of the salt air, the want of moisture, and the almost total neglect of cultivation....... ......... In the beginning of the month I accompanied ... to Mount Croce, which is a pretty high hill, at a distance of about four hours and a quarter, that is seventeen miles from Larnica, and so remarkable as to be an excellent land mark of the sea faring people....... Upon the summit stands a church dedicated to the Holy Cross, and sanctified by what they imagine part of the wood upon which our Saviour suffered, fixed on a large cross upon the left of the altar. This piece of wood was given to a papa of the Greek church, by St. Helena mother of Constantine the Great, with liberty to build a church where it now appears......" |