By the Ionian Sea: Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy is a travelogue by George Gissing. Gissing was a late 19th century novelist, here writing about his culture trip to Calabria in Italy. Excerpt: "Last night the wind changed and the sky began to clear; this morning I awoke in sunshine, and with a feeling of eagerness for my journey. I shall look upon the Ionian Sea, not merely from a train or a steamboat as before, but at long leisure: I shall see the shores where once were Tarentum and Sybaris, Croton and Locri. Every man has his intellectual desire; mine is to escape life as I know it and dream myself into that old world which was the imaginative delight of my boyhood."