The hills are Alive

Day 13 – Dolceacqua/Bordighera

Rain was predicted today so it seemed like a good time to do some sightseeing.

First on the agenda was a visit to the medieval village of Dolceacqua, an hour’s drive from Imperia. It appeared that everyone else had the same idea so parking was not easy to find. However, Steve had employed his Italian persona and not only did he ignore the no entry sign to the car park and nab the last space, he did it just as a poliziotto turned his back. Ben fatto!

After all this excitement S needed a wee so off we went to the public loos where I interrupted a man peeing in the ladies . Alhora!

After a quick coffee and a civilised comfort break for me, it was off to the medieval village.

We crossed the medieval bridge and entered a time warp. The village was a warren of steps and pathways winding their way up,down, sideways or to dead ends. There was no separation where you walked outside to get to another dwelling, it was like one big, crazy apartment block with tiny little apartments. Even more amazing, people still lived there! We saw one dwelling being cleared out, sadly it looked like someone very elderly had died. How on earth had they managed to walk down the cobbled steps to get outside and to the modern town?

Next, the old castle. The Castello dei Doria was built in the 12 century. It saw battles, squabbles and expansions up to 1887 when there was a huge earthquake and it was abandoned. There was a small exhibition showing photographs from the 1890’s of how the village looked then and the people that lived there. Utterly fascinating.

Also brilliant was information about Monet and how he loved Bordighera (a town on the Italian Rivera) and how he was tormented by his perfectionism. He loved the light and beauty of the place and constantly tried to capture it in his paintings but never thought they were good enough. His artist friends invited him to Dolceacqua and the scenery calmed him. His painting of the medieval bridge now hangs in the Clarke Art Institute , Massachusetts.

With a fitting introduction to the town of Bordighera, it was time to go and see what the fuss was about. I had wanted to visit it when I heard it was famous for its palm trees and how popular it had been with Brits in the late 1800’s. Apparently they built villas with beautiful gardens.

Parking was much easier to come by in Bordighera although some skilled squeezing into a Fiat 500 sized space was required.

Next on the requirement list was food. We were beginning to think we might be out of luck as Bordighera was surprisingly quiet but we struck gold when we decided to enter the Zenzero Coffee Bar.

The interior was lovely , very tasteful and comfortable. We sat next to a meat slicer that had a huge haunch of cured pork in it. The guy who owned it immediately came over and told us about the history of the slicer then sliced us some bits to try. He then told us about how he’d lived in London for many years in the 80’s and 90’s. He took a real shine to Steve and it was very interesting to hear about his life and family. His daughter and son in law were running the outfit and he came and helped out on a regular basis.

We had a complimentary amuse bouche which was absolutely divine. For mains, Steve had pear and Gorgonzola ravioli and I had anchovy pasta dish with pasta that looked like thick worms. Sounds awful but it was delicious. If you are ever in Bordighera I highly recommend a visit to Zenzero.

Bellies more than full, we had a look at the sea, walked around the old town and (my favourite bit) gawped at villas. It was difficult to take photos as naturally the owners wanted privacy but some of them were so beautiful with big gardens. There were also a few that were neglected but not many.

We walked past an extremely grand new hotel called The Angst. Not sure it’s going to be very relaxing there.

Time to head home. We were too full and tired to go out again so S bought some sausages and I ate some jam tart.

Tomorrow we head for Lorgues.

It never did rain.