The House Was Roomy, And
Like Most Of The Houses At That Date Had A Large Courtyard Paved With
Red Tiles And Planted With Small Lemon Trees And Flowering Shrubs Of
Various Kinds.
The streets were straight and narrow, paved with round
boulder stones the size of a football, the pavements with brick or
flagstones, and so narrow they would hardly admit of more than two
persons walking abreast.
Along the pavements on each side of the
street were rows of posts placed at a distance of ten yards apart.
These strange-looking rows of posts, which foreigners laughed to see,
were no doubt the remains of yet ruder times, when ropes of hide were
stretched along the side of the pavements to protect the foot-
passengers from runaway horses, wild cattle driven by wild men from
the plains, and other dangers of the narrow streets. As they were then
paved the streets must have been the noisiest in the world, on account
of the immense numbers of big springless carts in them. Imagine the
thunderous racket made by a long procession of these carts, when they
were returning empty, and the drivers, as was often the case, urged
their horses to a gallop, and they bumped and thundered over the big
round stones!
Just opposite the house we stayed at there was a large church, one of
the largest of the numerous churches of the city, and one of my most
vivid memories relates to a great annual festival at the church - that
of the patron saint's day.
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