During this previous post I told you about my Italian Christmas in Paolo’s family, but I have not yet had the opportunity to talk about the places we discovered during these few days of break, far from the Parisian tumult.
We enjoyed our last day to visit at four (Paolo, his brother, his girlfriend and I), the pretty village of Camogli, near Genoa.
Once the car parked in one of the parking of the city (the center is pedestrian), we discover a magnificent panorama. Like all the surrounding villages of the Ligurian coast, Camogli is backed by beautiful hills overlooking the sea. The pretty colored houses facing the sea, the rocks, the cliff from which one we would like to willingly plunge into the clear turquoise water (even in winter!), that already gives us a beautiful glimpse of what awaits us (because none of us knows this village).
Come with us on this journey 🙂
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We rush into the first alley downtown. This tiny street is in fact be a long staircase (there are lots of stairs in these villages built against the hills) where we are surprised by the beauty of the facade of the first house (pictured above with Paolo). Real bricks and shutters? No, not at all! This is a decorative painting called “Trompe l’oeil”. In this region of Italy almost all the facades are painted in trompe-l’oeil (such as column bases, cornices, shutters, balconies, flowers …) and it’s fun to flush out; -)
The first time when Paolo told me “Hey look at the façade” I did not understand. I was convinced that it was true! And even seen up close, I struggled to discern right from wrong, so these facades are realized. We see that the locals love beautiful things and have a certain aesthetic taste.
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We go down the stairs and I stop to take this picture (above). I like this set of yellow facades, yellow and terracotta. The balcony with red geraniums and extensive laundry on the clothesline, it is not a typical image of Italy?
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A few steps down … Surprise! We are directly on the square of the charming little port of Camogli (first photo). Mario, as if he already knew the scene moves to the right where there’s a hotel restaurant with a sunny terrace. A table is released at the same time. Perfect, we sit by shedding our jackets, coat and scarves. It is the happy hour, we order a spritz, an Italian aperitif made from sparkling white wine, Aperol or Campari.
Facing the sun, sleeves rolled up, we sipped our drinks while admiring the beautiful view and saying we are really lucky to have such a nice weather. The boys are T-shirt in the month of December!
Personally, I’ll stay right there a little bit longuer like a starfish (the perfect position for professionals sunbathing and people like me in lack of vitamin D) near the colorful fishing nets (which I didn’t take in photo … well, I may have missed a nice shot?) but the sun quickly declines and yet we saw nothing of the village.
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Past the port, we arrive at the beach (made of pebbles) where we taste the focaccia the boys bought. But eating a piece of “bread” for lunch, is not my thing (although I admit that the focaccia is very good!). And personally, I’m still hungry. We are in a seaside village or not? A good plate of “Calamari Fritti”, you’ll like? … Me too! The first restaurant on the promenade offer fresh one’s, that’s good. We sit sipping our plate which was good (and with pleasant servers) despite criticism from TripAvisor.
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A stroll along the promenade, Italian ice cream tasting as dessert and a picture of the church and it’s already time to retrace our steps, the night falls.
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Still a pretty trompe l’oeil facade.
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Back to the port, I still take some photos of the colorful houses and the sunset.
It’s time to go (expect good thirty minutes to return to Genoa and an hour to return to Arenzano) to enjoy a great meal that Paolo’s mom prepared for us 🙂
Promised my beautiful Camogli, we’ll see you in summer;-)
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Photos: by me!
wow this looks absoulutely amazing! I love it!
BamBam Blog
xoxo