CHAPTER V.

NICE-CLIMATE AND REMEDIAL ADVANTAGES-CORNICE ROAD-GENOA ROAD TO LUCCA-LUCCA BATHS.

PASSING Antibes, the frontier town of France, the traveller arrives at the bed of the river Var, which divides France from Piedmont, and is crossed by a long wooden bridge, portions of which are occasionally carried away by the force of the torrent, after heavy rains; and having undergone the ordeal of the custom-house, reaches Nice, which is seen to great advantage on approaching from the west. Its white houses and clear blue sky form a beautiful contrast with the olivecovered hills and dusky mountains by which it is surrounded on the land side, while on the south nothing is seen but the blue waters of the Mediterranean, dotted here and there with small coasting vessels, which, with their broad lateen sails glittering in the sun, add to the picturesqueness of the scene. The greater part of the town is separated from the port by a rocky hill, rising precipitously from the sea, and surmounted by the ruins of a fort. A parapetted road forms the principal means of communication between the two parts. The Place Victoire, a spacious square,

and a range of new houses, lie to the north of the port-the old town and the new streets to the west. The streets of the old town are dirty, crowded with shops, and, with one or two exceptions, are scarcely wide enough to admit the passage of a carriage. The Corso, a promenade shaded by trees, and the streets in its neighbourhood, contain some good houses, which have a sea view, and are let to strangers in the winter. A long range of dirty-looking buildings, consisting of low shops and caffés-the flat roof of which forms an agreeable evening promenade— stands between the Corso and the sea. A river, or rather the dry bed of a river, which is sometimes filled by the waters from the mountains after heavy rains, termed the Paglione, forms the limits of the town on the west, and this part also contains some good houses. Many new buildings for the accommodation of visitors have arisen within the last few years. The most eligible quarter, however, which is mostly resorted to by the English and higher class of visitors, is the suburb of the Croix de Marbre (so called from the large marble cross placed upon the spot to commemorate the meeting of Charles V., Francis I., and Pope Alexander), which extends along the shore for a considerable distance west of the town, and contains several handsome houses, to most of which a large orange garden is attached. A walk extends along the beach close to the garden wall.