On Sunday I learnt two important lessons. One: always say yes to opportunities (I know everyone tells you this but I learnt it) and two: I must ALWAYS take my handbag when I leave the house. The latter will explain itself shortly!
Sunday started off as a usual Sunday. Relaxing and slow. At 12.30pm we (the family I live with and myself) squeezed into their new mini-cooper and headed off to their grandparents for a family lunch. In Italy it being Sunday qualifies as a good enough reason for a full family reunion over ravioli and red wine. Just one of the many reasons I love it here! After an incredibly loud, delicious and Italian lunch where 10 adults and 2 kids all squeezed around a too small table in the tiny kitchen I was given an offer to spend the afternoon with the kids Aunt and Uncle in Vada, about an hours drive away. Having not had a very good sleep the night before I had kind of been looking forward to an afternoon nap but for some reason (not because I thought particularly about saying yes to opportunities, but just because) I decided, why not.
As promised, after an hour of mostly motorways we arrived in Vada stopping only briefly at their small holiday home before heading off for the beach. After a maze of streets and a small pine forest we emerged onto the beach. And in that moment I learnt my two lessons. One: I was glad I had said yes and would make an effort to do so in the future, two: I did not have my handbag which contains everything from my wallet to a Swiss army knife. Everything including my camera and blogging notebook. So here I will pause from my descriptive writing and apologise for the lack of photos. The only one of mine was taken on someone else phone and sent to me on Facebook. All others were borrowed from my dear friend Mr. Google (but I promise all these were places I actually saw!)
The beach, as I said, was beautiful. When I think of the word 'beach', white sand large wave beaches come to mind, the beaches I had grown up around at home in New Zealand. This beach was not like that at all. Instead of sand there were tiny little stones, blues, grey, browns and blacks created a dappled look along the shore. Every few hundred metres there was an outcrop of large rocks into the water were the small waves lapped up against them. I emphasise small waves. They were barely existent. It was the kind of beach that would be a paddle boarders dream and a surfers nightmare. The water itself was beautiful shades of navy, sky blue and turquoise which reflected the perfectly blue sky above. And I loved it. The lack of waves and "typical" beachyness made it incredibly peaceful and brought on a deep warm feeling of happiness for being alive and able to see places like this. It was the kind of place I could stay all day provided I had a sunny day, picnic and a good book to read.
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| Me on the Beach |
Instead of going home the way we had come, we took the scenic route along the coastal road. At first there was not much to see as the coast itself was hidden behind a wall of tall pine trees and I was starting to wonder if I would even see the sea again that day. But then after a small incline and turn to the right the trees disappeared leaving the most spectacular view I had seen all day. The sea stretched out lazily for miles, fading from the deepest blue at the horizon to a clear turquoise that lapped over the rocks. Each breaking wave helped create a beautiful, thin white border along the shore. The coast was not made up of beaches as I had expected, but from odd small stony beaches and predominantly, steep, jagged cliffs that fell straight down to meet the vast blue.
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| The Amazing Tuscan Coast (http://www.tescoutazas.hu/szallas/hoso/hotel-baia-del-sorriso) |
Scattered on top and down the cliff face were beautiful, bright buildings; houses, hotels, churches and castles. It was so beautiful that I could hardly believe I was seeing it. It was more like staring at a postcard that had somehow magnified itself to take up my full range of vision. Later when I googled images to use (due to my idiocy of leaving my handbag and camera behind!) I had to remind myself that, yes I had actually seen this in real life!
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| An Unreal Beauty by the Sea (http://rete.comuni-italiani.it/foto/2008/25952) |
Fifteen or so minutes into my constant staring-in-amazement we began to slow, pulling up at a sign that read "Il Romito - Hotel, Ristorante, Pizzeria, Bar". The building was large and semi-circular with a balcony bordering it's curved edge. With a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in hand we headed out onto the balcony. I could have stayed there all day. Being able to just stand and stare at the sea, the waves and rocks far below, the tall cliffs tinted green by the bushes that covered it's surface and the castle standing old yet proud at it's higher point was an experience I will never forget. I was reminded again how I had wanted my afternoon nap, and how insanely glad I was I had decided instead to say yes. Let the tiredness come, this was worth it!
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| View from Il Romito (http://www.cucineconvista.it/il-romito-livorno/) |
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