Wednesday 26th June saw me up and out of the house early to catch the 8.30am flight to Nice. This was the first leg of the journey to the Italian Riviera town of Alassio for the launch of 'A Darker Breath'. Copies of the book had already been sent on ahead to the Hotel Regina where I was being hosted for the duration of my stay. Departure day was grey and chilly, but I knew it was going to be around 33/34ºC (91/93F) once I was on the Cote d'Azur.
The journey from Nice Airport to Nice Ville station was slow due to roadworks, but the upside was that I got time to see Nice from the bus, without the scenes flying by in a blur, particularly along the Promenade des Anglais overlooking the sea.
Once at Nice Ville station I have the choice of the quick easy route to Alassio or the slower and potentially more tricky version. The quick route would be to book myself on the Intercity train which races along with a smaller number of stops and no need to change trains. However I always find this a bit characterless and impersonal. The slightly trickier, slower route is to do the journey by local trains; the SNCF from Nice Ville to Ventimille (Ventimiglia in Italian) and then get the Trenitalia from Ventimiglia to Alassio. Slower because there are a fair few stops along the way, each leg of the journey is about an hour with a half hour wait at Ventimiglia, and trickier because there's a greater chance you might encounter hold ups - SNCF and Trenitalia can be prone to delays and go slows. So why do I choose to do the journey the slow way? Well that's very easy to answer; I'm not in a hurry and the views from the train as it hugs the coast are amazing. To look back on Monte Carlo bay as the train route curves around the coast is quite spectacular and that's just one of the fabulous views from the train. If you look to the other side the views aren't so great, but in many places you do get to look up into the mountains, which often have snow covered peaks.
On arrival in Alassio I made my way to the Hotel Regina to check in and was given a fabulous room on the first floor with a large balcony that over looked the sea. The hotel is towards the east end of the town and you can walk straight down one road (Viale Hanbury) from the station, or do what I did, and wiggle your way down to the sea and walk along the seafront. That's easy too, come out of the station and just keep heading down the way you're facing until you meet the sea, then turn left and keep going.
Above you can see the views from the room's balcony. To the left you can see the little chapel (Cappelletta Porto Alassio) at the end of the point, just around the corner from it is the port. To the right you can see the slope of the Capo Mele down to the sea, on the other side of that is the small town of Andora.
I had a couple of days to enjoy all Alassio has to offer before the book's launch. I will post a separate blog about what I got up to after writing this one. Now, back to the launch. As the book was written for teenagers and half the book is set in Alassio, what better venue to launch it at, but the end of the academic year schools' celebrations and prize giving event. They had a school's orchestra playing, singing, dancing, spoof news reports and the giving of certificates to several of the highest achieving pupils from that academic year. The students performing ranged from 5 or 6 years old through to teenagers, and I have to say there was some real talent there! The Piazza Partigiani, Alassio's main square, was packed with all the seats taken and many people standing filling the sides and the back of the square. People were also gathered along the pathway by the sea too. I'm not sure how many were in the audience but it was a very good turn out for everybody taking part.
I had a table to arrange the books on and was invited up on the stage to give a speech and showcase the book. I had a prepared speech in Italian which I read out, hopefully without too many gaffs in pronunciation. The book was very well received and I sold half of the stock I had sent out, which considering it is in English and I was selling it to Italian speaking people, I didn't think was too bad at all.
Signed copies of the book are to be deposited in a school library, the town hall, the English library and the Hotel Regina. I have been invited back in October once the academic year is up and running to speak about 'A Darker Breath' in one of the schools and also have an invitation to visit Isola Gallinara. I can't tell you how many times I have looked over to that island hoping one day to be able to visit and explore. Until then I need to get on with drafting the second adventure in Ben's career as an MI9 agent.
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