Gotta Getta Villa

As we went for a stroll yesterday (which is something that we do several times a day), we observed the plight of the poor old sea front villa.

Here in Garavan Bay, the price of real-estate (and therefore most probably the taxes) is VERY high, which means that the sea-front villas have eventually been sold off to property developers who build multi-story, multi-unit condominiums (like the one we’re renting, I suppose). Our question being: if you were lucky enough to actually own one – wouldn’t you at the very least USE it/keep it in good repair? (The villa above our apartment is currently for sale for 8.2 MILLION Euros – and it’s not even on the shore (but admittedly has a great view)).

My photos today are of various villas in different places all along the sea-front. One, the villa Bianca St. Anne is renovated and for sale, the others are in varying states of decay. The fourth is completely abandoned and practically over-grown. This last one has not been lived in for the 6 years that we have been coming here. It is a beautiful place, obviously built by someone with wealth, as it even has a carved-stone coat-of-arms over the windows on the east side of the façade. It sits amid a walled and fenced garden (I had to stick my camera over the top of the wall to snap the photo!) that I would guess are easily the best part of an acre. There is sits, each year looking a little worse for wear. Someone is obviously paying the taxes on it… so at the very least why don’t they USE it? I know there are extenuating circumstances sometimes (will probates can go for decades here), but to someone like me who admires such and will NEVER even have the opportunity to own it, it seems like a shame and to be honest, a bit of a blight on the town.

As for the Villa Bianca St. Anne (which should be painted white (is white Bianca or Bianco) not pink!), the only reason it hasn’t sold is because they built a 5 story condominium in the once private gardens behind the house – and even attached the apartment building to the rear of the villa, which means that it has absolutely NO privacy. And there is sits, renovated, but the little bit of grounds it has left are completely over-grown and ramshackle. What a tragedy!

On a healthier note, the elevator for the building is closed for repairs today and tomorrow, so it’s 5 stories of stairs up and down each time we want to come and go!

Weather is fair, but cool and unusually cloudy for the past couple of days, which has been a disappointment – but at least we’re on holidays and making the most of our time.

Video of the day shows the redemption of the flaccid Canadian flag at the casino. My Aunt Elaine wants a better photo of the casino… you can see a good portion of it in this video, but I’ll try to snap some more in the next day or 2. Special at the brasserie at the casino today is a roast-beef dinner including desert for 10E!