For
Certainly No Person Who Travels To Italy, From England, Holland,
France, Or Spain, Would Make A Troublesome Circuit To
Pass the
Alps by the way of Savoy and Piedmont, if he could have the
convenience of going post by
The way of Aix, Antibes, and Nice,
along the side of the Mediterranean, and through the Riviera of
Genoa, which from the sea affords the most agreeable and amazing
prospect I ever beheld. What pity it is, they cannot restore the
celebrated Via Aurelia, mentioned in the Itinerarium of
Antoninus, which extended from Rome by the way of Genoa, and
through this country as far as Arles upon the Rhone. It was said
to have been made by the emperor Marcus Aurelius; and some of the
vestiges of it are still to be seen in Provence. The truth is,
the nobility of Genoa, who are all merchants, from a low,
selfish, and absurd policy, take all methods to keep their
subjects of the Riviera in poverty and dependence. With this
view, they carefully avoid all steps towards rendering that
country accessible by land; and at the same time discourage their
trade by sea, lest it should interfere with the commerce of their
capital, in which they themselves are personally concerned.
Those who either will not or cannot bear the sea, and are equally
averse to riding, may be carried in a common chair, provided with
a foot-board, on men's shoulders: this is the way of travelling
practised by the ladies of Nice, in crossing the mountains to
Turin; but it is very tedious and expensive, as the men must be
often relieved.
The most agreeable carriage from here to Genoa, is a feluca, or
open boat, rowed by ten or twelve stout mariners. Though none of
these boats belong to Nice, they are to be found every day in our
harbour, waiting for a fare to Genoa; and they are seen passing
and repassing continually, with merchandize or passengers,
between Marseilles, Antibes, and the Genoese territories. A
feluca is large enough to take in a post-chaise; and there is a
tilt over the stern sheets, where the passengers sit, to protect
them from the rain: between the seats one person may lie
commodiously upon a mattress, which is commonly supplied by the
patron. A man in good health may put up with any thing; but I
would advise every valetudinarian who travels this way, to
provide his own chaise, mattrass, and bedlinnen, otherwise he
will pass his time very uncomfortably. If you go as a simple
passenger in a feluca, you pay about a loui'dore for your place,
and you must be intirely under the direction of the patron, who,
while he can bear the sea, will prosecute his voyage by night as
well as by day, and expose you to many other inconveniencies: but
for eight zequines, or four loui'dores, you can have a whole
feluca to yourself, from Nice to Genoa, and the master shall be
obliged to put a-shore every evening. If you would have it still
more at your command, you may hire it at so much per day, and in
that case, go on shore as often, and stay as long as you please.
This is the method I should take, were I to make the voyage
again; for I am persuaded I should find it very near as cheap,
and much more agreeable than any other.
The distance between this place and Genoa, when measured on the
carte, does not exceed ninety miles: but the people of the
felucas insist upon its being one hundred and twenty. If they
creep along shore round the bottoms of all the bays, this
computation may be true: but, except when the sea is rough, they
stretch directly from one head-land to another, and even when the
wind is contrary, provided the gale is not fresh, they perform
the voyage in two days and a half, by dint of rowing: when the
wind is favourable, they will sail it easily in fourteen hours.
A man who has nothing but expedition in view, may go with the
courier, who has always a light boat well manned, and will be
glad to accommodate a traveller for a reasonable gratification. I
know an English gentleman who always travels with the courier in
Italy, both by sea and land. In posting by land, he is always
sure of having part of a good calash, and the best horses that
can be found; and as the expence of both is defrayed by the
public, it costs him nothing but a present to his companion,
which does not amount to one fourth part of the expence he would
incur by travelling alone. These opportunities may be had every
week in all the towns of Italy.
For my own part, I hired a gondola from hence to Genoa. This is a
boat smaller than a feluca, rowed by four men, and steered by the
patron; but the price was nine zequines, rather more than I
should have payed for a feluca of ten oars. I was assured that
being very light, it would make great way; and the master was
particularly recommended to me, as an honest man and an able
mariner. I was accompanied in this voyage by my wife and Miss C - ,
together with one Mr. R - , a native of Nice, whom I treated
with the jaunt, in hopes that as he was acquainted with the
customs of the country, and the different ways of travelling in
it, he would save us much trouble, and some expence: but I was
much disappointed. Some persons at Nice offered to lay wagers
that he would return by himself from Italy; but they were also
disappointed.
We embarked in the beginning of September, attended by one
servant. The heats, which render travelling dangerous in Italy,
begin to abate at this season. The weather was extremely
agreeable; and if I had postponed my voyage a little longer, I
foresaw that I should not be able to return before winter:
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