For the first time in quite a while, all the passengers of the Quaker City gather together on board the ship. The ship sails along the strait of Messina, viewing the mythical site of Scylla and Charybdis and admiring the moonlit appearance of the Italian and Sicilian coasts. The ship then skirts the various islands of Greece.

The passengers receive the disappointing news that they must pass on to Constantinople rather than risk being quarantined at Athens. However, Twain and some other men steal into Athens at night, bribe some guards, and visit the Acropolis and Parthenon. On their way back, they steal grapes, and pirates patrolling the area chase them. 

Twain sees the desolate and ruin-strewn appearance of Greece as symbolic of her present-day decay. He contrasts the glories of ancient Greece with the political and economic troubles of modern Greece.

The ship sails in the channel of the Dardanelles and then drops anchor in the Golden Horn. From there, Twain and three or four others go to Constantinople, an extremely crowded “circus” full of extravagant and colorful costumes, shops of all kinds, dervishes, beggars, and cripples. He visits the mosque of Hagia Sophia, finding it dirty and gaudy.