The South of France-East Half Part 34

The easiest way to go to +Turin+ from +Nice+ is to take the rail to Savona, whence rail to Turin, 91 m. N.W. by Carru, Bra, and Cavallermaggiore. On this rail, 4 m. W. from Savona, is the Santuario di Savona, a pilgrimage church with large hospice for poor devotees (p. 210). From Carru station, 50 m. N., a branch line extends 8 m. S.

to +Mondovi+, pop. 17,000, on the Ellero. _Inns:_ Croce di Malta; Tre Limoni d'Oro. From Mondovi is visited the Cave of Bossea, about 15 m.

S., in the valley of the Corsaglia. Each seat in the conveyance, 8 frs.; cave, 2 frs. each, shown from June to October. 12 m. S.W.

from Mondovi, and about the same S.E. by coach from Cuneo, is the +Certosa di Val Pesio+, formerly a monastery, founded in 1173, now a hydropathic establishment, open from 1st June to 30th September.

Pension, 8 to 10 frs. It is well managed, and well situated for botanists, fishers, and sketchers.

At the station S. Giuseppe di Cairo, 13 m. W. from Savona, is the junction with line to Alessandria, 52 m. N., by Acqui, 31 m. N., traversing a picturesque country, between S. Giuseppe and Acqui, where it pa.s.ses down the beautiful valley of the Bormida.

[Headnote: ACQUI.]

+Acqui+, pop. 8000, on the Bormida, and 21 m. S. by rail from Alessandria. _Hotels:_ Italia; Moro. The town is partly on and partly round the Castello. On the other side of the river is the bathing establishment, a large building with abundant accommodation. The pension price per day is from 9 to 12 frs., including the use of the water, which, besides being drank, is employed both in water and in mud baths. The waters are sulphurous and alkaline, temp. 120, and were known to the Romans under the name of the Aquae Statielae, yet of their times nothing exists but the ruins of an aqueduct. The mud-baths of Acqui are remedies of considerable power. The patient remains immersed for about half an hour in the humus or mineralised mud of a temperature as hot as he can bear. Immediately after he receives a warm mineral water bath. "The therapeutic influence of this application is most evident in chronic articular enlargements, rheumatic arthritis, some indolent tumours, intractable cases of secondary syphilis, and rheumatism." --Dr. Madden's _Health Resorts_.

[Headnote: VILLEFRANCHE.]

miles from Ma.r.s.eILLES miles to MENTON

{142}{12} +VILLEFRANCHE+, pop. 3500. Approached by omnibuses from the Pont Vieux at Nice, also by rail. Station at the head of the bay. _Hotel:_ Marine.

Pleasant boating excursions may be taken here to the peninsulas of St.

John and the Hospice. The climate of Villefranche resembles that of Cimies and Carabacel. 2 m. E. from Nice, at the head of a deep narrow bay, 2 m. long, are the a.r.s.enal, fortress, and port of +Villefranche+, founded in the 13th cent. by Charles II., King of Naples.

The bay is a favourite place of anchorage of the French squadron, as well as of other s.h.i.+ps of war and yachts. Boat from the mole to the little pier on the peninsula of St. Jean, 1 fr. each person. From Villefranche commences the splendid +Road to Monaco+, 8 m. long and 18 ft. wide, exclusive of the s.p.a.ce for foot-pa.s.sengers. This most enjoyable carriage-drive skirts with the railway the base of the precipitous cliffs which rise from the sea. 1 m. from Villefranche by rail, or 1 by road, is

[Map: The Corniche Road: Nice to Menton]

[Headnote: BEAULIEU. PORT OF ST. JEAN.]

{143}{11} +BEAULIEU+, famed for its large olive trees. A little above the station is one of the oldest trees, and near it the H. des Anglais among "countless terraces, where olives rise unchilled by autumn's blast or wintry skies." Down towards the village is another old olive tree, not far from a restaurant. Near the Church on the Monaco road is the Restaurant Beau-Rivage, where a Bouillabaisse lunch can be had. In the creek below are small boats for hire. Beaulieu is really a beautiful place. It is situated in one of the most sheltered nooks of the Riviera, at the foot of gigantic cliffs with patches of strata of reddish sandstone. The edges of this grand precipice are fringed with trees, which in the bright atmosphere look almost as if they were transparent; while below, groves of stately olive trees cover the base and struggle as far up as they can by the fissures in the rocks. Behind the olives, and intermixed with them, are orchards of orange and lemon trees, bending under the weight of their beautiful fruit. Trees and tall shrubs hang over the edges of the abrupt banks, which enclose the tiny creeks and bays bordered with diminutive sandy beaches, or with long ledges of marble rocks, dipping gradually down into the deep-blue water, carpeted in some places with the thin flat siliceous leaves of the Posidonia Caulini, a Naiad not an alga, which covers the sh.o.r.e of the Mediterranean, and of which great acc.u.mulations are seen thrown up at various parts. It makes a poor manure, but prevents in some degree evaporation.

A charming road, at some parts rather narrow for a carriage, leads from Beaulieu round by the edge of the bay and east side of the peninsula to the +Port of St. Jean+. The real carriage-road commences at the railway bridge, goes round by the west side of the peninsula, and descends to St. Jean, a little before reaching the chapel of St. Francis. The continuation past the chapel, of the road, extends to the lighthouse, pa.s.sing the signal-tower to the right.

The port of St. Jean, _Inn:_ H. Victoria, is used princ.i.p.ally by the tunny fis.h.i.+ng-boats from February to April. It makes a very pleasant residence for artists and naturalists. It is situated among creeks and bays, gardens, orchards, villas, and woods, in the most fertile part of the peninsula. Beyond, on the highest point of the peninsula of St.

Hospice, is a round tower, the remains of the fortifications razed by the Duke of Berwick in 1706. The more ancient crumbling masonry around belonged to a stronghold of the Saracens, whence they were driven in the 10th cent. "A fir-clad mound amid the savage wild bears on its brow a village, walled and isled in lone seclusion round its ancient tower. It was a post of Saracens, whose fate made them the masters for long years of lands remote and scattered o'er a hundred strands." --_Guido and Lita_, by the Marquis of Lorne. Below, towards the point, are a cemetery, a church, 11th cent., visited by Victor Emmanuel in 1821, and a battery.

[Headnote: LIGHTHOUSE.]

At the south extremity of the peninsula of St. Jean is the lighthouse (second-cla.s.s), built in the 17th cent., but repaired, and the top story added, in 1836. It is 98 ft. high, or 196 ft. above the sea, and is ascended by 120 steps. The light is white and revolving, and is seen at a distance of 20 m. The Antibes light is fixed, and is of the first-cla.s.s. By the east side of the lighthouse is the grave of Charles Best, who died at Tenda, on the 30th day of July 1817, aged 38. The tomb is hewn in the rock and arched over. His friends have laid him in a grand place to await the call of the resurrection trumpet. Large euphorbias and myrtles cover this stony part of the peninsula.

[Headnote: PEt.i.tE AFRIQUE. EZE.]

EZE.

The most picturesque part of the Monaco road is between Beaulieu and Eze, the next station, 2 m. distant by road, but only 1 by rail. The steep flanks of the mountains between Beaulieu and Cape Roux are so exposed to the sun, and so protected from the cold, that this region has been called the Pet.i.te Afrique. Cape Roux itself, the abrupt termination of a lofty ridge, looks as if it would topple over into the sea, to which it is so close that both the rail and the road have to pa.s.s through it by tunnels. On the eastern side of this cape is the equally picturesque and sheltered bay, the Mer d'Eze, backed by a phalanx of lofty stalwart cliffs and mountains. On the peak (1300 ft. high) of one of this confused a.s.semblage of lofty calcareous rocks is the nearly deserted village of +Eze+, pop. 770, with the ruins of its castle founded by the Saracens in 814, and its small church, recently restored, built on the foundations of a temple of Isis, whence the name Eza or Eze is said to be derived. From the floor of rock of the castle, under the remains of a vaulted roof, a charming marine landscape displays itself, while inland is seen the Pa.s.s or highest part (1750 ft.) of the Corniche road, which here crosses the ridge terminated by Mt. Roux. At the Pa.s.s are an inn and a few houses. The road up to Eze commences near the station. In some parts it is steep, and much exposed to the sun, and throughout very picturesque and stony, pa.s.sing through plantations of firs, olives, and carouba or locust trees. The ascent requires, doing it leisurely, 75 minutes. From Eze a road ascends to the Corniche road, and another descends to St. Laurent, on the road to Monaco. A little beyond Eze is the station for La Turbie.

[Headnote: MONACO.]

100 min. from Cannes, 35 from Nice, and 44 from Menton, is

{149}{6} +MONACO+ station, situated in La Condamine. At the station (6) an omnibus awaits pa.s.sengers for Monaco on the top of the S.W. promontory, 195 ft. above the sea. For Monte Carlo, on the top of the N.E.

promontory, alight at the next station, 1 m. N.E.

+Monaco proper+, pop. 1200. Hotel de la Paix, 7 frs., splendid view from the square. Pharmacies under the direction of MM. Cruzel and Muratore. Till the arrival of F. Blanc in 1860, Monaco was a poor place, where the Prince and his subjects had to maintain themselves from the produce of a few small vineyards and orchards scattered over patches of scanty soil on the slopes of the mountains. But now that the gambling-tables have brought a flood of gold into the princ.i.p.ality, wealth has taken the place of poverty, the palace has been furnished anew, the humble Grimaldi church, 13th cent., thrown down, and in its stead a majestic cathedral erected, the barns have been filled with plenty, costly roads have been cut through the cliffs, the formerly arid hills clothed with exuberant verdure, and beautiful villas have been built in the midst of enchanting gardens, in places where, only a few years ago, hardly enough of short wiry gra.s.s could grow to feed a goat.

The gambling establishment of Monaco was opened in 1856 by a company with the sanction of Prince Charles III. The first house was in the Place du Chateau; whence, after sundry changes, the company commenced to build a house in 1858 on Monte Carlo. Becoming short of funds, they sold their rights and property in 1860 to Francois Blanc.

[Headnote: THE PALACE.]

The Grimaldi family have been in possession of this small territory since 968, when the Emperor Otto I. gave it to Grimaldi I., Lord of Antibes and father of Giballin Grimaldi, who drove the Saracens from the Grand-Fraxinet of St. Tropez (p. 145). The greatest length of the princ.i.p.ality, from the cemetery wall at the western extremity to the brook St. Roman at the eastern, is (including curves) 3 m., and the greatest breadth, from Point St. Martin northwards, 1 m. Population 10,000, distributed among four different centres--the city, or Monaco proper; the port, or La Condamine; Monte Carlo; and Les Moulins. They are all united excepting the city, which, like an eagle's nest, occupies its own isolated rock, and is the one clean old town on the whole coast of the Mediterranean, and, although about 200 ft. above the sea, is most easily accessible by well-planned and gently-sloping roads. At the landward or north end of the promontory is the palace, of which the rooms in the upper floor on the west side are shown to the public on certain days. The earliest parts, including the crenellated towers, date from the commencement of the 13th cent., but the rest is much more modern and of different dates. It is in the form of an oblong rectangle, the south small side being occupied by the entrance and the north by the chapel, sumptuously decorated with marble, gilding, and mosaics. Within the entrance is the Cour d'Honneur, decorated on the east side with friezes and designs in fres...o...b.. Caravaggio, retouched in 1865, representing the triumphal procession of Bacchus. On the opposite side a horse-shoe marble staircase, of 30 steps in each branch, leads up to an arcaded corridor. Under the 12 inner arches are frescoes by Carloni, representing the feats of Hercules. The rooms shown are to the left and right of the entrance pa.s.sage, at the north end of the corridor. To left the first room is the usher's room. The second is in blue satin; hangings and furniture in style Louis XV.; some family portraits on the walls. 3. Reception-room in red; handsome chimney-piece of one stone.

Bust and full-length portrait of Charles III., Prince of Monaco. Ceiling painted in fres...o...b.. Horace Ferrari. 4. Room with brown hangings and green furniture. On the walls are some indifferently executed pictures representing the exploits of the Grimaldis. 5. Bedroom with red furniture; style Louis XIII.

Rooms on right hand of pa.s.sage. 1. Sitting-room of the Duke of York, brother of George III.; red furniture and hangings; family portraits, some very good, and frescoes by Annibale Carracci. 2. The bedroom in which he died, 1760; the walls hung with rich embroidered scarlet satin; ceiling painted in fres...o...b.. Ann. Carracci. Table in mosaic. Elegant bedstead, shut off by a richly-gilt banister or low screen. 3.

Sitting-room in pale yellow; style Louis XV. 4. Bedroom. Furniture and walls covered with white satin richly embroidered.

The door in the N.W. corner of the court gives access to a very pretty garden, 130 ft. above the sea, full of palms, orange trees, and flowers.

Below, near the beach, is the kitchen garden.

At the southern part of the town is the cathedral, built with money bequeathed by Blanc. It is placed from north to south, is 75 yards long, and at the transepts 32 yards. In front, handsome terrace and good view.

Northward, in the Rue de Lorraine, is the Church des Penitents Noirs, and a little way farther down the same street are the eglise de la Visitation, founded in 1663, its schools, and the Hotel Dieu. Down on the face of the southern cliffs is the domain of the washerwomen. They spread their clothes to dry on the hot rocks, or over the p.r.i.c.kly pear plants, here very abundant. At this end is also the Jardin St. Martin, a very pretty promenade, with charming views. 500 yards west from the foot of the Monaco rock, on the splendid road to Villefranche, is the cemetery, whose wall forms the western limit of the princ.i.p.ality. Among the many tombs there is a beautiful marble monument to Pierre and Modestine Neri, brother and sister.

[Headnote: LA CONDAMINE. ST. DEVOTA.]

On the little plain between the promontories of Monaco and Monte Carlo is +La Condamine+, whose handsome houses extend, where practicable, a considerable way up the surrounding mountains. In the picturesque gully, entered from beneath the railway viaduct, is the parish church, on the spot where the body of Santa Devota, a Roman martyr, the patroness of Monaco, was washed ash.o.r.e. In 1070 Hugues, Prince of Monaco, caused the nose and ears of Captain Antinopes to be cut off for having stolen the relics of St. Devota. La Condamine contains the harbour and the princ.i.p.al railway station, as well as the less expensive hotels, such as the G. H. des Bains between the sea and the gas-works, and the Bristol on the terrace. Within the town, the Condamine; etrangers; Angleterre; Beau-Sejour; Beau Site; France; Ma.r.s.eille; in all, board and lodging from 8 to 10 frs. At the station the H. Nice and Des Voyageurs. On the road up to Monte Carlo are the first-cla.s.s hotels: Princes; *Beau Rivage; *Monte Carlo, occupying the house the late Madame Blanc built for herself. On Monte Carlo are the first-cla.s.s houses: the Paris; the *Grand Hotel; *Des Anglais; Russie; Londres; Colonies; still higher up, the *Victoria in the princ.i.p.ality, but on the confines of France; in all, 15 to 20 frs. per day. Behind the Londres a narrow lane leads up to the Corniche road by the village of Le Carniet. Those hotels marked in this instance with an asterisk do not receive promiscuous company. Abundance of excellent restaurants, cafes, and furnished rooms.

English chapel in France, above the Hotel Victoria. Mean winter temperature, 49.3. _Cabs._--The course, within the princ.i.p.ality, 1 fr.; the hour, 3 frs. To Menton and back, 15 frs. The omnibus that runs between Monte Carlo and Nice by the new road starts from the Casino (see page 178).

[Headnote: MONTE CARLO.]

Monte Carlo is not an isolated rock like Monaco, but the abrupt termination of a ridge sloping upwards from Point Focinana to the Corniche road and the Chateau Mountains, both a considerable way beyond the territory of Monaco. On the face of Monte Carlo, or rather of Focinana Point, is the Casino, a large and showy building, erected in 1862 by F. Blanc (d. 1877), a native of Avignon, and formerly the proprietor of the Cursaal of Homburg. To the right of the entrance into the Casino are the cloak-rooms, the ladies' (dames) and gentlemen's (hommes) lavatories, and the reading-room. Fronting the entrance is the concert-room--a superb rectangular hall profusely decorated with gilt ornaments intermingled with paintings in fresco representing the Muses and mythological subjects. It is furnished with 600 cus.h.i.+oned arm-chairs covered with scarlet velvet. The stage, or the part occupied by the orchestra, is less ornamented, and the colours are more subdued.

Directly opposite is a sumptuous gallery for the use of the prince and his suite, entered from the large door at the west side of the Casino.

The orchestra consists of nearly 80 first-cla.s.s musicians, of whom about three-fourths play on stringed instruments. To the left of the entrance are the gambling-rooms and the office where visitors give their names and addresses before entering. In the first three rooms are the tables for roulette, which is played with one zero, and at which the smallest sum admitted is 5 frs., and the largest 6000 frs. or 240. The fourth room, ornamented with panel paintings by Clairin and Boulanger, representing young lady riders, croquet-players, fencers, fishers, archers, mountaineers, shooters, and sailors, is devoted to trente-et-quarante, at which the smallest sum admitted is 20 frs., and the largest 12,000 frs. or 480. Only French coin and notes taken at the tables.

Charming gardens and lawns with exquisite turf surround the Casino, and under it, at the foot of the cliff, is a large pigeon-shooting gallery.

Entrance, 5 frs. Well-constructed carriage-drives and footpaths ramify in all directions, up the hill to the Corniche road, and along the coast either to Menton or to Nice by the magnificent coast-road to Villefranche (see p. 184). The whole hill itself, or rather slope, is studded, even beyond the boundaries of Monaco, with beautiful villas, partially hidden among orange, lemon, and olive trees. On the eastern side of Monte Carlo is +Les Moulins+, now quite a town, with shops, hotels, restaurants, and furnished lodgings. Up on the main road is the Hotel de la Terra.s.se, 20 frs., dear. Down below on the coast-road, fronting the sea, is a small house, the Hotel du Parc.

[Headnote: GAMBLING-ROOMS. LES MOULINS. LEMONS.]

At the Casino it is not necessary to gamble, while those inclined to that horrid vice will find more dangerous traps laid to catch them in the clubs of the princ.i.p.al towns on the Riviera. In Monte Carlo no one can gamble on credit. About a quarter of an hour eastward from Moulins by the main road is the valley of St. Roman, with some very large olive and locust trees. In the princ.i.p.ality are also large groves of lemon trees. They flower and bear fruit throughout the whole year. The lemons, which ripen in spring, are called graneti, and those which ripen in summer verdami. They are the juiciest, and as they keep longest, are the most suitable for exportation. The best paper for wrapping them in is that made from old tarry ropes. The manure preferred for the lemon and olive trees is composed of the waste of horns, woollen rags, and refuse.

_Excursions._--1640 feet above Monaco is +La Turbie+, ascended by a road containing 860 terraced steps, of which the best are 14 feet long by 9 feet wide, but a great many are smaller, and the most are in bad condition. The ascent, walking leisurely, requires one hour. It commences from the Rue de Turbie, the second street left from the railway station. At Turbie, pop. 2400, there are three restaurants--the France, Paris, and Ancre; the first is the most frequented. Bedrooms, 2 frs. Delicious lemonade, most grateful after a hot climb. When up at La Turbie ascend by the tower of Augustus to the little knoll close by and take a seat under the rock at the top, whence "From ancient battlements the eye surveys a hundred lofty peaks and curving bays." But the one great view, which excels all the others, is from the

[Headnote: TeTE DE CHIEN.]

+Tete de Chien.+

The road to it ramifies from the Corniche road at the west end of +La Turbie+. Carriages drive all the way. As there is a Fort on the top, permission must be procured from the captain to approach the brow of the mighty projecting precipice, which by its position commands a splendid uninterrupted view east and west, but spoils that from the other places.

From the Tete de Chien eastward are seen every mountain, town, village, cape, creek, and bay the length of San Remo. On the western side the view is much more extensive, reaching to St. Tropez and the Maure mountains. The east side embraces Monaco, Monte Carlo, Les Moulins, Mt.

de la Justice, Mt. Gros, Roquebrune, Cape St. Martin, Menton, Ventimiglia, Braja and Bordighera on the Cape San Ampeglio, which conceals San Remo, but not the entrance into the bay. The western side embraces Eze, Cape Roux, Beaulieu, the whole of the peninsula of St.

Jean, a piece of Villefranche, the greater part of Nice, Antibes, the lighthouse and peninsula, the Lerins islands, the Esterel mountains, and the Maures above Saint Tropez, which close the view. A good opera-gla.s.s should be taken. A stony road leads down the west side of the Tete, through a plantation of firs, to the Monaco road, which it joins near the battery (see map, p. 185).

[Headnote: LA TURBIE.]