«Varazze, Via Helvetia»
A friend recently sent me a postcard from Varazze, Italy. Old memories came back and I wanted to know if I could locate «Casa Henri Dunant» on Google maps. It must have been about twenty years ago as I stayed at this remarkable villa. To my surprise I was able to locate this building instantly by following the beach walk from the town center and passing by landmarks that triggered buried memories of a past summer vacation. It seems like spatial relationships can be recalled easier than temporal relationships. At least that’s how I function. Suddenly I was in Varazze again! While visually exploring the the area with the «satellite view», I discovered photographs of this familiar coastline someone uploaded via panoramia.com. My next task was to find the photograph that best matches a water color painting I acquired a few years ago. This aquarelle by Adolf Flückiger pictures the coastline of Varazze. As I filled a sketchbook drawing these rock formations, I was quick to tell that this must be Varazze. Knowing that the painter has stayed at «Casa Henri Dunant» clearly helped as well. I was stunned to have found a photo that matches both the viewpoint and the exact lighting condition. Needless to say that I soon found myself comparing hotels and rates. Perhaps it is time to plan the next holiday.
Services used for this visit:
- Italian and Swiss postal service, for delivering the analog post card
- http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7959545
A Google service that lets users upload tagged photos, routes and link them to Google map.
- http://www.varazzevirtuale.com
Portal with links to web sites of hotels in Varazze and other local tourism sites. This may not be a particularly interesting site but a but it features additional photos of the area.