The Mediterranean: Seaports and Sea Routes Including Madeira, the Canary Islands, the Coast of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia Handbook for Travellers

Of all the Mediterranean regions Egypt alone offers a dry, settled, and genial climate in winter. The traveller on the Eastern Mediterranean who wishes to avoid extremes of cold and heat should make his first stay at Cairo in January or February, start for the Syrian coast at the end of February or early in March, proceed to Palestine and Damascus after March has commenced, and visit Asia Minor and Greece in April, and Constantinople and the Black Sea in May. In autumn, from the end of September onwards, the above order should be reversed.

Plan of Tour. The traveller is advised to draw up a careful programme of his tour before starting. All the places described in the Handbook may be reached by steamer, or partly overland, at any time of the year, but during the winter season (from about the end of October to the middle of May) much greater facilities are offered by excursion-steamers, circular tickets, and combined tickets. American travellers may sail direct from New York or Boston to some of the Mediterranean ports. Travellers from Great Britain may start from London, Liverpool, Southampton, or Dover, or if they dread a long sea-voyage may proceed overland to Marseilles, to Genoa, to Naples, to Brindisi, to Venice, or to Trieste, and begin their Mediterranean tour from one of these points. Some may prefer the overland route to Spain and Gibraltar, while others again may find it more convenient to travel all the way to Constantinople (Orient Express), to Constantza (Ostend-Vienna Express), or to Odessa (viâ Vienna and Cracow) by railway, and thence explore the Mediterranean from east to west. The railway routes will be found in ‘Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide’ or in the German ‘Reichskursbuch’. For the ‘trains de luxe’ services tickets must be obtained from the International Sleeping Car Co. (London, 20 Cockspur St., S.W.; Paris, 3 Place de l’Opéra; New York, 281 Fifth Ave.; Berlin, 69 Unter den Linden). For the sea-routes, see p. xvii; for particulars application should be made to the various companies or their handbooks consulted. Excursion, circular, and combined tickets are issued by Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, Ludgate Circus, and by other tourist-agents. It may be noted here that the ‘pleasure-cruises’ organized by many of the companies offer great attractions at moderate cost, but at the almost entire sacrifice of personal independence, while the fellow-passengers with whom one is associated for weeks may not always be congenial.

As a general rule it is pleasanter and less expensive to travel with one or more companions than alone. Apart from hotel charges and railway and steamboat fares, the cost for two or three persons is often no greater than for one. Moreover, when off the beaten track the traveller thus escapes from monotonous and monosyllabic conversation with native guides or drivers, and in case of illness or accident he is far more certain of obtaining assistance and relief.

The most useful language in most parts of the Mediterranean is French. In Portugal, Madeira, and the Canary Islands English is much spoken, in Egypt it is the leading language. Italian is very useful in Tunisia, on the coast of Tripolitania and Barca, in Malta, throughout the Levant, in Greece, and at Constantinople. On the other hand a slight knowledge of Arabic will be found most useful throughout the whole of N. Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, and in Palestine and Syria.

Some Hints on Health may be of advantage to the inexperienced traveller from the north. As a rule an overcoat or extra wraps should be put on at sundown, though they may often be dispensed with an hour or two later. When heated with walking the traveller should not rest in the shade. In hot climates like those of Egypt and the Sahara he should never remove his pith-helmet or other headgear in the sun. Grey spectacles or grey veils shield the eyes alike from the glare of the sun and from dust. Sunshades also are very desirable in hot weather. As a rule it is advisable to stay within doors during the heat of the day. On the other hand many places on the Mediterranean are cold in winter, Lower Egypt and Cairo being no exceptions. Steamboat passengers, too, will generally find warm clothing very desirable between October and the middle of May. An extra coat or shawl should be donned in museums, churches, mosques, and other buildings with stone pavement, as the air is often very chilly.

When engaging rooms visitors should insist on a southern aspect, which is almost essential for the delicate and highly desirable for the robust. In every case, especially if the rooms do not face due south, they should have a fireplace or else central heating. In the Mediterranean regions, where many of the plainer hotels have stone or brick floors, carpets are essential to comfort.