26
THE APPROACH
us even out at sea. We pass Muggia, Capo d’ Istria and Pirano—the extreme point of the Gulf of Trieste—with its church on a bold headland, supported by huge buttresses that rise from the shore, and the Venetian walls of its castle cutting off the town on the mainland side. We round Cape Salvore and turn south, passing Parenzo with its beautiful Basilica of S. Eufrasio, said to occupy the site of a Greek temple to Poseidon, now boasting an atrium like S. Ambrogio at Milan, and very fine mosaics. The cathedral was built in the reign of Justinian, in the years 535-543. Parenzo also supplies some of the best wine in Istria; its harbour is sheltered by an island whose surface is covered with the dusty-looking stars of asphodel. Then Orsera, with its great square Bishop’s Palace, famous for its Istrian stone, so much of which has gone to build Venice; then the Brioni islands, with their hugh modem hotel and some remains of classical buildings, and finally Pola, where we stop. There will be just time enough to see the great amphitheatre, perhaps the most perfect amphitheatre in the world, not forgetting Rome or Verona. There is a legend among the people of Pola that it was built by the Devil in one night, and long ago, in the sixteenth century, the