After Imperia

Imperia

Once upon a time there were two towns Oneglia and Porto Maurizio, in the region of Liguria, Italy. Then in 1923 Mussolini came and joined them in to one city, Imperia. The two towns never separated to what they were before, even though the people still refer to themselves as being either form Oneglia or Porto Maurizio. Anyway, the aim of this post isn't to delve into Imperia's history but to compose a few sentences about a week we spent there. We stayed with signor Lucio at Locanda del Mar, some 50 m from the sea. It's located in Borgo Prino, about ten minutes walk from Porto Maurizio if you cut across the hill or twenty along the lungomare. Since M and I are "walking types" we loved it. 

A friend asked what the beaches were like. Well, since we don't spend much time lying in the sun, beaches aren't really our top priority. However, there are sand beaches for people who like that, or the ones covered in black and white striped pebbles I haven't seen on a beach before.

Nekoč sta bili na obali Ligurije v Italiji dve mesti: Oneglia in Porto Maurizio. Potem je leta 1923 prišel Mussolini in ju združil v Imperio. Čeprav se je od takrat marsikaj spremenilo, se mesti nikoli nista razdružili, čeprav prebivalci ob vprašanju od kod prihajajo, nikoli ne odgovorijo, da iz Imperije, temveč iz Oneglie ali Porta Maurizia. Kakor koli, namen tega zapisa ni poglabljanje v zgodovinske dogodke, temveč napisati nekaj stavkov o letošnjem dopustu, česar v resnici nikoli ne počnem pa tudi slike bolj redko kažem prijateljem. Nastanila sva se v Locandi del Mar, pri gospodu Luciu, kakih 50 m od morja. Do Porta Maurizia je 10 minut čez hrib ali 20 ob obali. Glede na to, da z M-jem rada hodiva, je bilo idealno.

Potem, ko sva se vrnila, naju je prijatelj vprašal kakšne so plaže. Glede na to, da ne preživiva prav veliko časa na soncu, plaža ni ravno na vrhu najine liste prioritet. Plaže so mivkaste ali pa prekrite s črno belimi črtastimi kamni, ki jih na plaži še nisem videla. Tisti, ki imajo radi skale, ležijo na valobranih. Za vsakogar nekaj.

Villa Grock

Villa Grock was a home of "a king of clowns" as he was called. His name was Charles Adrien Wettach, but he said that the name he was born with didn't count anymore. "My name is Grock," he said. "The other name belongs to the bygone years." He learned acrobatic skills as well as various instruments, and he worked with clowns Brick and Antonet. Soon he transferred from the circus to the stage of music halls, becoming the greatest of Europe's clowns. It must have not been easy, or as the inscription found on one of the villa's garden walls says: per aspera ad astra, through hardships to the stars.

The villa is now Museum of a Clown. It's a beautiful house with 50 rooms and a wonderful garden. The villa as well as the garden were designed by Grock himself. The rooms are full of colour, music, magic mirrors and other wonders associated with clowns and the circus. However, I missed more about Grock as a person behind his makeup, how he lived, what he was like.  

Vila Grock je bila dom kralja klovnov, kot so ga klicali. Rodil se je kot Charles Adrien Wettach, vendar je kasneje, ko si je izbral ime Grock povedal, da njegovo rojstno ime ne šteje več. "Ime mi je Grock", je rekel. "Prejšnje ime je del prejšnjega življenja." Že zgodaj se je naučil akrobatskih veščin in vrste glasbenih inštrumentov. Delal je s klovni kot sta bila Brick in Antonet. Kmalu se je iz cirkusa preselil na odre gledališč in postal največji evropski klovn. Njegova pot ni bila lahka ali kot lahko preberemo v vrtu: per aspera ad astra, skozi trnje do zvezd.

Sedaj je v vili s petdesetimi sobami in čudovitim vrtom Muzej klovna. Tako hišo kot vrt je Grock načrtoval sam. Sobe so polne barv, glasbe, čarobnih zrcal in drugih čudes, ki jih povezujemo s cirkusom in klovni. Kljub vsemu pa sem pogrešala več o Grocku kot človeku pod šminko. Kako je živel in kakšen je bil.

Eze Village

I love French Riviera. Whenever we are near, we go there even just to take a look, drive through the chaotic streets of Monte Carlo or enjoy the flowers in the park in front of The Casino. This time we just drove. And it was chaotic. Our destination was Eze Village, near Nice. Eze is a medieval village, perched on a hilltop with a wonderful view of the Mediterranean. It's a museum village with very few local people still living there. Eze is a combination of solid rock, see air, greenery and a scent of jasmine. It was nicewvalking through the lanes, but I would rather do it alone, without so many tourists. However since we were tourists ourselves, there not much to complain, is there.

I can be softened with two things: books and perfume (in this order). There was no reason for softening but anyway. Galimard's Brindille is similar to Kenzo's Parfum d'Ete. Brindille opens with hyacinth, lily of the valley and rose. The heart notes are jasmine, night-scented stock and lilac, while the base contains ylang ylang and white musk. 

Rada imam Azurno obalo. Kadar koli sva v bližini, se vsaj zapeljeva po kaotičnih ulicah Monte Carla ali uživava v cvetju parka pred Casinom. Tokrat sva se samo peljala skozi. Res je bilo kaotično. Najin cilj je bil Eze, vas v zaledju, blizu Nice. Eze je srednjeveška muzejska vasica, v kateri menda živi zelo malo lokalnega prebivalstva. Vas čepi na hribu, od koder je čudovit pogled na sredozemsko morje. Eze je kombinacija kamna, morskega zraka, zelenja in vonja po jasminu. Lepo se je bilo sprehoditi skozi ozke uličice, čeprav bi se raje sprehajala brez gneče turistov. Glede na to, da sva bila tudi midva turista, se nimam kaj pritoževati.

Tisti  ki me malo bolje poznajo vedo, da se me lahko zmehča s knjigami ali parfumom (v tem vrstnem redu). Tokrat je bil parfum, čeprav me pravzaprav niti ni bilo treba mehčati. ;-) Brindille iz parfumerije Galimard je podoben Kenzovemu Parfum d'Ete. Vrhnje note so hijacinta, šmarnica in vrtnica, srednje jasmin, matiola in španski bezeg, spodnje pa ylang ylang in beli mošus.