_SPEZIA, PISA, SIENNA._
WE had to hurry away from the Campo Santo to get money changed, prepare
for travelling, and be in time for the train at half–past one. When
we reached the hotel, we found there were about forty leaving by the
same train. We were therefore advised to take the first omnibus, but
it involved waiting an hour in the cold _salle–d’attente_ at the
station. I had taken at Nice, Cook’s tickets from Genoa to Rome, with a
potentiality of stopping at three places by the way; so that all I had
to do was to get the tickets marked for Spezia, our first stoppage, and
stamped for the commencement of the journey, and to get luggage weighed
and paid for. The trouble saved by taking these tickets was, I found,
so insignificant that I never afterwards procured them.
* * * * *
The railway journey (57 miles) from Genoa to Spezia is very
tantalizing. It takes three hours, including stoppages, and in that
time we passed through thirty–eight tunnels. The line is close to the
sea, and the views or peeps throughout of ocean, rock, and village are
lovely and picturesque, the many small coast towns by the way being
brightly Italian in their character. We had scarcely time, however,
to enjoy any scene when the view was suddenly cut off by a long
tunnel, the same thing to happen time after time provokingly. It is
said that the tunnels, which must have rendered the railway a very
costly undertaking, are giving way, and that the line may require to
be abandoned. Be this as it may, to those who would enjoy the scenery,
nothing could be more charming than to drive, in warm enough weather,
by carriage along the Riviera di Levante, the scenes by road being
considered to equal those of the Riviera di Ponente. Some towns, such
as Nervi, in sheltered situations on the route, are used to some extent
as winter resorts, although comfortable accommodation is difficult to
procure. Even with all the disadvantages attendant upon travelling by
railway, we were greatly delighted with our journey, the pleasure being
much aided, no doubt, by the brilliant sunshine of the day. And here
I may just observe, that, notwithstanding the drawback of travelling
by rail and passing through so many tunnels, travellers of the present
day are greatly better off than those of only a few years back, when,
in consequence of the expense and insecurity of proceeding by road,
most people went by sea from Marseilles to Naples, touching at Genoa
and Civita Vecchia by the way. Splendid general views, doubtless,
they sometimes in day–time had; but not only did the vessels keep too
far out of sight of land to permit of close observation of the lovely
coast, but the voyages appear generally to have been made in great part
by night.