At sunrise on the following morning our little Rosinantes were once more in readiness before the door. We took leave, with many thanks, of our kind entertainers, and began to climb the eastern heights enclosing the Baidar valley, trotting along narrow, crooked, rocky paths, only passable for the mountain horses of the Crimea. By the way, a little fat Russian servant whom we had with us, fell off, and remained sticking among the bushes while his horse ran away. A Greek, who had dismounted to assist the Russian, thoughtlessly left his steed at liberty, which also set ofp at full speed. W^e, the cavalry of the party, of course gave chase to the runaways, and succeeded in catching one horse, but the other scrambled up the rocks like a chamois, and disappeared in the clouds. After various ups and downs, we reached the eastern brow of the mountain, where the descent is abrupt to the sea-shore. It is so steep, so almost perpendicular, that it appears at first impossible to get either up or down ; but in one place, where two enormous rocks meet and form an angle, there is a narrow path like a winding staircase, by which, turning every four steps, and clinging to the shrubs growing at the sides, we reached at length the bottom of the rock. This path is called the Scala, and is considered one of the marvels of the Crimea.
Alupka is the name of a Tartar village, and of an estate of Count
W , who has built himself, here on the southernmost point of the
Crimea, a castle renowned far and wide for its architectural and Hesperian splendours. The mere designs for this building and the gardens, made by architects sent for expressly from London, are said to have cost 60,000 rubles. The whole is not expected to be completed under seven millions of rubles, and will probably amount to much more. The year before our visit the empress had been expected, and the castle had been hastily fitted up in a temporary manner for her reception, workpeople being sent for from Odessa, and all the country round, and maintained for four weeks at an expense of eight thousand rubles a-day for wages only.
After these stories of the enormous sums expended on it, we were rather disappointed in the castle and park of Alupka. It is built in the Gothic style, with marble found in the vicinity, of a greenish cast, so that it does not rise well out of the landscape. The large windows do not accord with its Gothic character any more than the immensely sj)acious and lofty apartments of the interior. The dining-room is, indeed, magnificent — a banquetting hall fit for kings and heroes ; but the books, pictures, &c., are by no means remarkable. The greatest fault, however, is undoubtedly the situation , with a mountain 4000 feet high immediately behind it, and no prospect in front but the gray desolate sea, for the four or five himdred feet of garden between are placed on a steep dechvity, of which nothing can be seen from the windows but the tops of the trees.
At the end of the park lies the Tartar village of Alupka, and there we again felt ourselves quite at home. The cottages are scattered up and down, in a most pictm'esque manner, among the rocks. On the top of one stands the handsome new mosque, built by Count W. for his Tartars. One of our party had the temerity to lift the corner of the veil of a Tartar woman who was passing, to get a peep at her face, but had nearly paid dearly for his ethnographic -psychological experiment, for the lady took up a great stone and hurled it at him, and he only escaped by a leap to the other side of the road. We reproached him for nis ill behaviour, and took thankfully the lesson we had learned at his expense.
From Alupka to Yalta there is a good road, six hundred feet above the level of the sea, and some thousands below the summit of the mountain. Some miles beyond Alupka it becomes very beautiful — sea, wood, rocks, and fine country houses, belonging to the Russian nobility, forming exquisite pictiues, varied by Tartar villages, seeming to hang in air. We could soon distinguish from afar the steam-boat lying in the roads of Yalta, and rejoiced at having so exactly hit the time, and spent so well our six days. In Yalta we again met with the acquaintance we had left, and drank a social glass of wine in happy ignorance of the vexation which the morrow was to bring forth.