French-Italian riviera

The 30th of September the sea is another sea.

The last hopeful bathers hope to make up for lost time
getting tanned a bit more.

Because September is not a month for tourists,
it's not convenient,
not even in the weekend.

 

The sun is always hot,
the sea a little colder.

The last lifeguards get busy
with their end-of-season business,
burnt skin, straw-like hair,
they've grown a bark for the whole summer.

They tidy up beach squares,
but nobody will enjoy their tidiness.
It looks it's 7 o'clock, but it's 10.

Clouds overlay
in a play of bright greys.
That's how I like the sea:
slightly gilded.

A girl tries to catch some waves,
alone among the surges.

As I go further away
I take a glance back every now and then
to see what she does,
but she stays there, still.

Groups of Germans go for bike hikes,
their summer has just begun.

The fig trees,
which every now and then
sprout here and there
from the walls facing the sea,
have got their leaves still burnt
since the time it was hot.

climbing Cap-Martin

This one of the top footpaths of my life. I'm talking about Promenade Le Corbusier, a 12 km long walking path (that one can do even running!) along the French Riviera around Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, close to the Italian boundary. If you are smart you can reach Montecarlo at the end. This promenade by the way is useful to reach Le Corbusier's secret retreat where the Swiss architect used to go to think. You'd better check the opening hours before, though, because it's very likely to find it close (like this time!).

Its proximity to Montecarlo makes this promenade a popular set for fashion shootings. This time we came across some people dressed like Indios making weird poses around these rocks.

little house in Garavan

Once you pass that tunnel you know it's time to relax again and enjoy your always brief holiday. The colours make you very laid-back over here, the scratched-off paint on the blue windows, the pale cake on every wall facing the sea, remind you of a place born on these rocks.

Buildings are facing each other, growing high and almost crumbling, but some arches were built in between to leave a gap for tourists to walk through.