Diary of a trip on the Nile River, 1874-1875.

Before coming to Roccabruna saw that deeply indented white leaf now so fashionable in N. Y. growing on the side of the rock, all the same color. Saw fig trees as large as large apple trees & very fine old olive trees. Reached [at] Murtona [Menton?] about 12 1/2 P.M. Lunched at Hotel Victoria seemed a good hotel & the town seemed quite flourishing. We left before two & soon came to the French frontier where our veterino’s papers we[re] examined & some formality (a pass or something given). Crossed Pont St. Louis which is the boundary between France & Italy and on top of the hill encountered the Italian customs house who took Josephine’s word & only examined her handbag! At Ventimiglia (the first Italian town) we passed right through a fort for some distance, indeed all about here had the appearance of being strongly fortified. The town itslef looked very romantic & curious as we looked back at it from the bridge. Going through it it was curious to look in the dark shops & narrow streets. At Bordighera the date palm is cultivated for the church, & we saw so many we felt quite satiated. Many of them were tied up to keep their centres white for Palm Sunday. Some seemed to leaf out directly from the ground & to grow quite wild. Some were only bare stalks the leaves

having all been cut from the top. Arrived at San Remo Hotel [Bellone?] soon after 5 P.M. Charming situation, excellent clean hotel. While taking our dinner we enquired about the table d’hote & found that the two gentlement dining at a neighboring round table, like our own, composed the whole table d’hote. One of them is a young English clergyman, perhaps the one settled here. Three days ago we & one gentleman composed the table d’hote at Nice. Today had shown us a succession of beautiful pictures & the weather has been perfect.

Oct. 27 Tuesday - Not being aware of our change from Paris to Roman time we kept our vetterino waiting a long half hour,did not start until 9 a.m. A gentleman in the breakfast room who with his wife had just come from Rome & Naples says he did not find it at all too warm. On our way out of San Remo passed a number of hotel evidently fitted up for the English. Our road lay along the coast, on our right lay a great expanse of sea with not enough land to make it picturesque & on our right the hills had been out away from the road so that they were no longer beautiful, crossed the railroad track repeatedly. At San Stefano saw a great many nets drying & a vessel being repaired. At

Porte Maurizio were many vessels drawn upon the sand. At Origlia crossed a fine suspension bridge & stopped 2 hours at the inn to rest the horses and lunch. Walked with Josephine, bought some grapes & peaches and a little saucer of polenta which we tasted in the street. There seemed to be no regular market place, but women everywhere selling fruit & veg[vegetables]. A great deal of Italian [pasti?] for sale. This morning saw a woman with a great square green cake on her head for sale. It was dried green peas made into this form, a lot of puree. Part of the time were shut in by olive trees. After Capo delle Mole the vegetation looks more home like - the birch and horsechestnut appear & the cypress and agave have almost disappeared. Crossed one clear stream of running water, where there was no bridge nor embankment, forded the shallow stream. Very pretty views now, many towns on surrounding hills, reached Alassio about 4. P.M. Hotel de Londres [Victoria] painted gayly outside, the back of it is upon the sandy beach where is quite a good surf & great noise. From our terrace saw a steamer passing. C. & I took a walk, saw orange tree large and great apple trees & full of fruit. Went up on a sort of paved donkey road on a terassed hill side, might have gone to the summit but it was too fatiguing. The man wanted to give us some white [arte?] This seems to have been a walled town. From our terrace

saw the moon rise beautifully over the hills & reflect on the water.

Oct. 28 Wednesday. The sun rose beautifully out of the water soon after 6 1/2 A.M. We [?] breakfast, made up for it by figs in the carriage. Started at 9. The whole road has been much more interesting than yesterday. Especially the last half, bold rocks rising to a very great height, some three times passed through tunnels, sometimes through deep cuttings in the rock, & sometimes was blasting out out its perpendicular side. A very fine piece of engineering it seemed. Saw many gray old towns among the hills, often as gray as the rocks themselves. In sight of our hotel was the bold island of Gallinaria with a ruined tower &c. Some time before 11 a.m. crossed a stream & on our right was the R.R. [railroad] bridge & just beyond that was a bridg of a single very wide arch; the upper surface of it going up to a point- it might have been of Roman origin. Passed through the narrow streets of several towns & stopped to rest at Finale Marina, Hotel National, formerly Palazzo Ruffini - a fine stone staircase, & large high rooms. The dining room was hung with pictures belonging to the family of our host - one portrait of a girl he said was by Van Dyk[e]. An American had bought some of his old saints. Walked about the place, [quite?] a handsome Duomo. They are very busy enriching it now. A man opened a curtain

to show us a picture crucifixion of St Andrew by Carlo Muratto. We rested about 1 1/2 hours, reached Savona at 4 P.M. Albergo Sevizzero close to the theatre with illuminated dials, one showing days of the month. Not open this evening. After lunch passed Noli, still surrounded by walls & towers, or at least a long bit of wall is seen. Not far off is Isola dei Bergeggi, only the second island we have seen. Cliffs are wonderfully fine, water very clear & of a beautiful color. Entering Savona passed among perhaps a mile of brick yards, where most of the employees were women (yesterday saw a woman making mortar, & today women and girls carrying large stones on their heads, men & boys were doing the same, near where large quantities of stone were being quarried and shipped to Genoa. Think I may have seen in the distance the fortifications & light house belonging to Genoa. Took a walk in Savona, a large flourishing place. Cathedral seemed very handsome, large square columns supported the vaulted roof, were annoyed by a priest who wanted to show us the antiquities, which had been given by Julius 2nd to an older cathedral here, he having been naative of the place. Walked through the market place, & up some marble steps into the court of a large building occupied by government offices courts &c. One church was hung in black because they were saying prayers for the repose of some ones soul. It seemed to me as if the railroad must have been half the time in tunnels today.