Steamboat Offices. Società Nazionale, Via Margherita 32; Austrian Lloyd, Thos. Cook & Son, Strada Marina.—The steamers are generally moored at the quay; otherwise, landing or embarkation 60 c.—Lloyd’s Agent, Sig. Nervegna.—English Church Service in winter.
Brindisi (pop. 22,000), a quiet town, the seat of an archbishop, has been ever since ancient times an important starting-point for the East. In the middle ages its harbour was often sought by the Crusaders, and hosts of travellers now pass through it on their way to or from Egypt, India, Australia, etc. The inner harbour, sheltered from every wind, consists of two natural creeks formed by erosion; in the southmost, the Seno di Ponte Piccolo, 492 yds. long, the large steamers are easily berthed. The channel connecting the inner harbour with the outer had become choked with sand in the later middle ages, but was reopened in 1755 and lined with masonry in 1866. On the island of Sant’ Andrea, outside the harbour, rises a castle of the 15th cent., now a quarantine station.
The town offers few sights. On a height close to the quay stands a Column, 62 ft. high, with a rich capital containing figures of gods. Adjacent is the base of a second column. The unfinished inscription on the first mentions Lupus Protospatha, a Byzantine governor, who restored the town in the 10th cent. after its destruction by the Saracens. These columns are said to have marked the end of the Via Appia which led from Rome to Tarentum and Brundisium, and they perhaps bore a beacon-fire. The Gothic Castle, with its huge round towers, on the N. creek, to the W. of the town, built by Emp. Frederik II. about 1235 and strengthened by Charles V., now contains a bagno for galley convicts. The baptistery of San Giovanni al Sepolcro (11th cent.), with its fine portals and frescoes, is now a museum of antiquities. The Cathedral, in its present form, is of the 18th cent.; at the corner of a street opposite is a mediæval house with an elaborate balcony. The Norman church of San Benedetto (early 13th cent.) has an interesting side-portal and fine cloisters. Santa Lucia has a crypt with relics of Byzantine frescoes.
Leaving Brindisi the Steamer next passes through the Straits of Otranto, the entrance to the Adriatic, about 47 M. in breadth, within sight at first of the flat and marshy coast of Apulia, with the lighthouse of San Cataldo. To the E., on the coast of Albania, rise the Acroceraunian Mts. (p. [496]).
Far away to the left appear the Othonian Islands (p. [496]), belonging to Greece, and the W. coast of Corfu (p. [495]).
Steering through the Ionian Sea we near the W. coast of Kephallenía (p. [500]) and Zante (p. [502]). Off the Strophades (p. [502]) we sight the Messenian Peninsula, with Mt. Ægaleon (p. [502]).
Beyond the Œnussae Islands (p. [493]) we proceed to the E.S.E. till at length we pass the W. coast of Crete (p. [415]) and the island of Gavdos (p. [418]). We then lose sight of land until near Alexandria or Port Said (comp. p. [418]).
69. Alexandra.[[6]]
Arrival. Most of the steamers are berthed at the quay in the inner harbour (otherwise the fare to or from the steamer is 2 pias., at night 3 pias., each trunk 1 pias.). After the formalities of the sanitary authorities are concluded, the care of heavier baggage is entrusted to one of the Arabian hotel porters, or to Cook’s agents (p. [432]), who wear an official cap or badge. The inclusive charge to the hotel or to the railway-station is 15–20 pias., which through-passengers to Cairo may sometimes pay in advance at one of the tourist agencies before starting on their journey. The custom-house examination is usually lenient.