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Then she was sleepy, and told us to go away. So we went, and took a drive to the pretty harbour of Gravosa, with Mr. Barrymore and Sir Ralph in the motor, unaccompanied by the Prince, whose car was said to be somehow disabled.
There is, however, much room for improvement in certain national traits; apropos of this, the "Mail" for September, 20th, 1880, lies before me, wherein the writer, in a leading article, after giving a description of the combined squadron at Gravosa, goes on to say, "It is amusing to find that the traditional impression of an Englishman prevails so largely at Gravosa, Ragrusa, &c., namely, that he is always drunk, or has just been drunk, or is on the point of being drunk."
"Don't take off your things," she said, "but come out again that's a dear for a drive to Gravosa." "We've just come back from Gravosa," I answered, surprised. "Yes, but we didn't see the most interesting thing there.
Ragusa itself now having no harbor worthy of the name, the traveler by sea must land at Gravosa about a mile north of the old city. Gravosa is merely a suburb of warehouses, shipping, and sailor-men, as unattractive as the London Docks, and the Hotel Petko swarmed with mosquitoes and an animal which seems to thrive and flourish throughout the Balkan States the rat.
At daybreak we are nearing Gravosa, Ragusa's modern port. As we leave again, and round the peninsula of Lapad, glorious in a mass of semi-tropical vegetation, Ragusa bursts upon our view. Seen on a sunny morning it is a sight for the gods.
On one of our visits to Ragusa we stayed at the Hotel Petka at Gravosa, and in front of the windows a flotilla of torpedo-boats lay at anchor with steam up. It was interesting to see the men doing everything to word of command.
Geologists hold that the deeply cut bays of Sabbioncello and Gravosa, as well as of the Bocche di Cattaro, and the step-shaped sinkings of the northern and eastern limestone mountains towards the Adriatic basin are signs of the tearing away of the islands from the mainland, perhaps through the destruction of the permeable strata.
It was Gravosa, the port of Ragusa, still hidden by an intervening tongue of land. It was a gay scene by the quay, where native coasting ships were unloading their queer cargoes.
I am afraid that we did the mile to Gravosa in a good deal less than the legal limit, but luckily no one was the worse for it, and there were no policemen about. At Gravosa we found some men on the quay who could talk Italian, and in five minutes I knew for certain what I had suspected.
The river is but three miles long before it merges in the estuary, and its banks are sprinkled with villas and villages, the railway station and the admiralty stores occupying the portion nearest to the harbour. From Gravosa the excursion to the plane-trees of Cannosa and to Stagno may be made.
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