If you drive 20 minutes inland from Ventimiglia (Italy) you will suddenly arrive at the French border in the mountains. Only a few French signs tell you this. No passport control, no buildings apart from an old hut. Just around this bend in the road is another country, another language, another culture - amazing!
The Italian Riviera became well known in the 19th century when the British and Russians came to the area during the winter months due to its mild climate. Tourism developed and to this day it's still a popular destination particularly for Italian holidaymakers. It's not quite as affluent as the Cote D'Azur but almost as beautiful, a painter's paradise, even Monet came to paint here in Bordighera. This is a view looking through pine trees with a glimpse of the blue sea.
The village of Airole like many thousands of villages throughout Italy is built on a hillside. What is incredible first of all is how they built them with no modern building equipment and secondly the planning - did the villagers have some kind of master plan or was it all haphazard. Anyway, some have survived due to investment from people from a variety of European countries. Airole for example, from the 1960s onwards saw the arrival of Dutch, German and Swedish (and a few British) tourists who bought holiday homes, making Airole a very international village and everyone seems to get on very well with each other.
Like many of the resorts on the Cote D'Azur, Villefranche started as a small fishing village years ago and over time became a tourist resort, although it is one of the resorts that has kept its character. Whilst wandering around it became obvious that a cruise ship was moored nearby and the village soon filled up with passengers, mostly British looking for a few souvenirs to remind them of their time on the French Riviera. As I walked around I came across little glimpses of the blue sea so I wanted to capture that moment in today's Daily Sketch.
Just above Menton is the very pretty hilltop village of Gorbio. In fact one of the adverts for the yoghurt Petit Filou was filmed here several years ago (with the two blonde children). Apart from a few restaurants and a couple of shops there are no commercial outlets for tourists like on the coast - I like that!
Now up on the French Riviera for several days so hopefully sketches with blue skies after poor weather in Tuscany. Arrived late this evening in Menton after a 5 hour journey from Barga. Menton has a spectacular church that is even more impressive at night.
Across the valley from Tiglio is the village of Coreglia. As the crow flies, it is about one kilometre but there is no road across the valley. So to get to Coreglia from Tiglio by car you have to drive back down to the main valley bottom, drive a kilometre along the valley and back up the hill adding several kilometres to your journey. Very frustrating!
