Lear travelled extensively around Greece, Albania, Turkey and Egypt between the summer of 1848 and spring of 1849. He visited Levadhia, a market town in the mountains to the north-west of Athens, during his tour of the Peloponnese in early April 1849. This small sketch seems to have been drawn at speed while approaching or leaving the town. The city walls and a single spire are silhouetted against the mountains beyond, while a rapid inscription notes that ‘Aloes light blue green’ are growing beside the road.