Villefranche-sur-mer

Finding that special vacation spot is not as easy as one supposes. Even though the Internet now gives us the opportunity to view thousands of properties, it is still very difficult to envision what your experience will be like from those tiny, grainy, poorly lit and framed photos offered. 

Each spring,  Peter, Lucy, Noemi and I travel to Europe. I had finally persuaded them to try the south of France rather than going to Italy as we had for the past 4 years. We discussed how great it would be if we could find a property with a view of the sea where we could all sit in deck chairs, sip our cocktails and do nothing.  We had spent the previous spring in Manarola in the Cinque Terre, with this fabulous view, so I was challenged to find something equally outstanding but without the 70 steps to get to the apartment.

 

I began my search over the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday. With a glass of red wine at hand, I recall sitting for hours, getting bleary-eyed looking at one property after another. Having only stayed in Nice before, I really didn't have any feel for the other towns along the Cote d'Azur.

I remember my reaction upon seeing this photograph of an apartment in Villefranche-sur-mer. It was love at first sight. I quickly looked for availability and crest-fallen, I was disappointed that the property was not available.

 

http://www.rivieraexperience.com

I continued my Internet search for several weeks thereafter. I looked at more properties, but mentally I compared each new prospect to the dream image I had found that November. By late January, sure that I wouldn't find what I was looking for in France, I prepared to change my search to Italy. Before doing so, I looked one more time at Villefranche-sur-mer.

I'll spare you the details, but ultimately I was able to secure the apartment for one week in April 2010.

Villefranche-sur-mer is delightful and the apartment was superb. The apartment living room opened onto a terrace over-looking the town and St. Jean-Cap Ferrat. My photographic essay begins with views from that terrace and continues down to the town. The town is so photogenic, that I have included more pictures than normal. I hope you will enjoy these images as much as I do.



Slightly after dawn.

Mid-day



The neighborhood cat adds to the view.

Sail boats...

Cruise ships...

and assorted smaller vessels.

A full moon over St. Jean-Cap Ferrat.

 

Please take a look at the web-site for Riviera Experience http://www.rivieraexperience.com for accommodations and great information on Villefranche-sur-mer and the surrounding Cote d'Azur area.

veni, vidi, eram victus VENICE

If Google translate is to be believed, my heading translates as I came, I saw, I was overcome by Venice.

I am only one month home from my last european journey, but my travel partners have pushed me to schedule our next journey for this fall. When I told my friend Romain where we were planning to go, he exclaimed...AGAIN! Where are we off to? Venice, of course! (We will also visit Malcesine, Lake Garda, but that's another story.)

I first visited Venice for two nights in 1970 with my brother where we stayed in a closet-like windowless room near the train station. In the years since I have been lucky to revisit the city for increasingly longer stays and to discover and experience the different sestiere; Cannaregio, Castello, Santa Croce, and the Lido. I've yet to stay in San Polo, but this year we will get to stay in San Marco, in an apartment in a small palazzo directly on the Grand Canal. It took 40 years to go from a windowless room to rooms with a view!

Despite what you have heard about the throngs of tourists in Venice (which is true) it is very easy to avoid them and find the beauty and serenity of the city. This blog was actually inspired by a trip to Venice. The photos above in the Focused heading graphic were taken in Venice.
 

The Gondolas



This was a luck shot taken near Piazza San Marco.

As you can see though, there are gondola photo-ops practically on every corner.



 

 The Grand Canal



The windows of the Ca'Rezzonico saporetto stop clearly reflect Palazzi on the other side of the Grand Canal.

  

The Rialto Bridge also on the Grand Canal, even on an over-cast day is mezmerising.



And when it rains, what better way is there to dry your umbrella?



This is why I go back!

To see old views in a new way.



For the art; whether it be in the churches, on the water, and in shop windows.

 

Ah Venice!

Addio Como; Ciao Milano

Whenever I think of Como, I think of Perry Como.

Mr. C was born in western Pennsylvania to Italian parents from southern Italy.

I was raised in eastern Pennsylvania and in my pre-teen years, I would watch The Perry Como Show every Saturday with my parents, who were not Italian.

Aside from our being from Pennsylvania, Mr. C. and I have nothing more in common other than our propensity for wearing sweaters.

And Mr. C. has nothing to do with Como, the southernmost town on Lago di Como. But I remember him, just the same. 

So back to the town of Como.

The town was founded by the Romans in 196 BC and has many structures dating back to the 12th century. It also has many modern concrete structures and hotels which gave the town, for my visit, a very gray feeling. Even with the medieval structures and a Duomo that was begun in 1396, the town, seemed lacking of any particular beauty. It took several trips into town to get a better feeling for it. 

The grayness might have been due to the late October weather. At least that is how I felt when we visited between boat transfers, for lunch, and when catching trains to Lugano and Milano. 

But there is beauty here, one just has to look for it, as evidenced by finding hidden gardens in equally hidden courtyards.

These hands mark the entrance to the Como train station.

I can tell you nothing further about them.

From Como we took a day-trip to Lugano, Switzerland on an equally gray day. I am told that the city is very beautiful, but again the weather may have dampened my photographic inspiration.

So addio Como, addio Lugano. 

We leave the lakes and head to the cosmopolitan city Milano.

Many of my friends think I have a knack for selecting beautiful hotels. Well not always. The 4**** Hotel Vittoria Milano is very pretty, just like their website shows. But it is so piccolo. 

I spend so much of my time trying to find the perfect place because as most travelers know, the hotels in Europe are small. They are not built for full-figured guys like Peter and myself. 

I chose this hotel even though small because it was a convenient walk to the Duomo. Yet aside from triping over each other in our room, the hotel, the weekend and the city were fine.

We asked the hotel to suggest a restaurant for lunch on our arrival. Without consulting us, the concierge picked up the phone, called a restaurant up the street and advised that Signore Williams was on his way. No sooner did we arrive at the door of the restaurant, it was thrown open and we were greeted by name. We were then whisked into a completely empty, but up-scale seafood restaurant and served a meal that completely blew the budget for the rest of the weekend. For those of you who know me, after the first glass of Proseco, I got right into it and had a fabulous meal. And then, some more Proseco!

So the weekend was spent exploring Milano.

Here are some of my photographic view points.

Our last meal in Milano was fantastic in a fantastic setting. I had read of a district of Milano that had canals. It is called the Navigli. The Navigli are artificial canals constructed between the 12th and 16th centuries to make the city more accessible to other towns. 

The restaurant was either the Asso di Fiori - L'osteria dei formaggi or the Acquasola. Sorry, this was in 2005. We had four appetizers for lunch. The pitcher was full of red wine! I'm lucky that the food was good because I made Peter walk all the way from the hotel through the many other districts of Milano.



But the trip was worth this one picture. One of my favorites to this day.

Perry Como would open each of his weekly shows with this little song called...

"We Get Letters".

"Letters, we get letters,

    We get stacks an' stacks of letters..."

I haven't received letters, but I have received several emails and posted messages of encouragement about Focused.

Thank you and keep them coming...they keep me motivated.

However, this will be my last blog until May. I'm off to Europe again for more photographic exploring.

Destinations: Nice, Genoa, Roma, Napoli, Salerno, Bologna and back to Nice.

Ciao!