We travel around Italy. Emptiness of the streets Bordighera

in #photography6 years ago

Walking through the streets of the provincial Italian resort town of Bordighera, located near the French border in northern Italy, I always caught myself thinking: "I wonder where all the locals went?"

At the end of September, it is very quiet here. Although the sea is very warm and the beaches are no longer filled with tourists. We came here in 2013 to our friend Franco, who rented a small house for us? and lived here for more than two weeks, inhaling the aroma of fresh sea air and still flowering oleander.

koa5zcbmki.png

There is not a very large number of residents. Approximately 30-40 000. and the boundaries of the city are sufficiently blurred. Here you go along the street along the road, and the pointer suddenly in the middle of the next house tells you that Bordighera ends and another "poetry" begins. Poetry is in Italian a small town. There are many here in the district, Bordighera is not very different from them in terms of geographical location.

7wqwk29gt8.png

Here, the boundaries are blurred not only between cities, but also between countries. The people here are quite peaceful, no one divides anything with each other. Here is the territory of Italy, and at the next stop of the train you are already in France and only a polite conductor will warn and ask the passenger for a ticket.

5wmmlqxzm1.png

For some reason there is absolutely no youth here. Mostly old people and people aged. Bordighera is an ideal place to meet a calm old age and live here your second half of life. And the Italians live for a long time. Many are already under a hundred years old, but they all run around and with friends playing dominoes or cards. All the young people went to large cities, where they have large salaries, and many of the people leave to work in France.

Franco says that emigrants from the countries of the Middle East are often here today. Previously, this was not, and now they periodically organize tent camps in the station area. However, for a long time migrants do not stay here, because the city authorities do not have much to offer refugees. So they migrate from here to Milan, Rome, and further abroad to Germany.

tx0yskiejc.png

In Bordighera there are very beautiful streets and houses. Here time goes slowly, not much hurrying to change the face of the city. Many villas here are a hundred or even two hundred years old, but there are also houses guarded at all, who probably remember the era of medieval Italian kings.

Despite the end of September, it is quite warm and dry here. Only one time during our entire stay here, there was a little warm rain. From the city the city became even more beautiful. Walking along the streets, you involuntarily begin to understand the impressionist painters, who in former times liked to come to this place for inspiration.

206uph2fyn.png

I walked here a lot. When Franco was in a good mood, he was called to be a guide for me, showing those streets and places that I myself would never have found. He is a happy man, because he was born and lived here all his life. This is his homeland, which he loves and praises every visitor.

Although there are very few pedestrians on the streets of the city, the stores are working properly. True, not as we have. Usually from nine in the morning until dinner, and then a long break and they close early, about seven o'clock in the evening. The whole working day in the amount of here the sellers about 4-5 hours. We would have such a life!

a3kzcdiggi.png

Transport here also regularly goes. From the center of Bordighera there are buses to San Remo, Nice and Menton. As well as traveling by train, it is possible to cross borders without problems. The most interesting thing is that the people on the buses are always full. We have met several times here Russian-speaking people who, as it turned out, come here from the countries of the former union and even from Russia to work.

According to the classical scheme of the device of the streets of Italy, there are many cafes and restaurants. It remains to be surprised how they exist, when there are almost no passers-by. However, for some reason, there are always enough people in these institutions. Sometimes there is a feeling that the local Italians only do that they drink coffee outside the house. And spend the night there.

There are many children's playgrounds, but little children. Usually nannies take the little one out to play a couple of hours on their own or in the company of a few children. As explained by Franco, it is dangerous for children to be alone in the streets, because they can be stolen. The birth rate here is very low, the main population here, it's still old people, not children.

By the way, there are a lot of cars and motorcycles. Especially where there are roads in the city center. For some reason, everyone is in a hurry, in a hurry. And so at any time of the day. I even got the impression that local youth for days on a trip rides on their vehicles back and forth, and nowhere does it work. However, of course, I'm wrong.

0e6qaujp8v.png

I liked here such small private shops in which different hand-made goods are sold. Italians are masters of something to cook or bake. Showcases in such stores are very beautifully set with all sorts of candy boxes and cakes. I still do not understand whether they are real or artfully made of sham material. But the impression is great. Also, it's not clear who buys this, and how the store manages not to go broke at this low purchasing power.

Right in the middle of the city there is a railway branch. Trains here run along the entire coastline. While we were traveling from Milan to Bordighera, we admired the beauty of the sea and the coastal rocks. Stunning views! The road is also laid along several tunnels, and sometimes passes along narrow bridges directly above the sea waves. With the unaccustomed on the move a very eerie feeling is created, as if the train suddenly moved off the reels and you are now crashing to the very bottom of the rocks.

rda4u5qxu4.png

Two weeks passed very quickly. Almost nobody bothered us during this time. We found a spring with water near our house, and went with plastic bottles there. The water here drains directly from the mountains and is very clean and tasty. There are many similar fountains in the city, all of them are beautifully decorated in stone, it seems, even in the immemorial times of Julius Caesar himself.

For groceries, we went to the department store, like a smaller copy of the "Ribbon." There and the products are cheaper and the choice is excellent. There was even a shop for artists in the city. It was there that I bought pencils and paper, and then I drew a few graphic works. Ibid then Franco bought a few frames for my paintings.

Bordighera is a place where you do not want to leave at all. It is very warm and sweet. We promised Franco that one day we will come here again. Perhaps it will happen on one of the upcoming vacations, but already in another season, and then the streets of the city will not be as deserted as last time.

!steemitworldmap 43.896323 lat 8.024997 long d3scr

Sort:  

The experience is always ana wesome one as the natural aroma and frangrance gotten from the environment courtesy of the trees makes it worthwhile. The quality of your pictures are beautiful. thanks for sharing

Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=elena1987
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=we-travel-around-italy-emptiness-of-the-streets-bordighera-0034bf3577fddest


Want to have your post on the map too?

  • Go to Steemitworldmap
  • Click the code slider at the bottom
  • Click on the map where your post should be (zoom in if needed)
  • Copy and paste the generated code in your post
  • Congrats, your post is now on the map!

As a follower of @followforupvotes this post has been randomly selected and upvoted! Enjoy your upvote and have a great day!

Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by lenkor from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.

If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.

Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable Mentions list in our daily Travel Digest. Please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting the Travel Digest if you like what we're doing.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70541.68
ETH 3582.21
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.74