Chilling in Cesenatico

In my first year of high school I took up rowing, a commitment that followed me through the entire 5 years. As much as I loved the sport it did rob me of one thing – my summers. As a summer sport I had to continue training through the holidays so was never able to take particularly long trips and was often too tired to do so anyway! When I finally finished school, and rowing, I thought I would finally get a summer, however with my greater desire to travel the world I ended up working as much as possible and before I knew it the New Zealand summer was over. Basically what I am saying is I had not had a summer* in five years and was naturally very excited to finally get one in Italy of all places!

Now I better quickly say, as I am not sure if I have mentioned, but I am currently living long-ish term in Italy working as an au pair for an absolutely fantastic family. With the children's long summer holiday, we spend about 10 day periods at the children’s grandparents on the east coast of Italy, in Cesenatico. It is an absolutely amazing beach and holiday location, the exact type of place people go to have the real summer experience, and I couldn’t wait to go myself – a proper beach summer holiday at long last!

Because we are lucky enough to live relatively close to the beach, every morning after breakfast we all head down to the garage, grab our bikes and cycle to the beach. And let me tell you, since doing this, I have fallen in love with biking. I never hated it, and I definitely loved it as a kid, but up until now I had not truly appreciated the simple beauty, freedom and joy of the humble bike. I would hardly ride in New Zealand except for training purposes, and definitely not as a method of transport. Firstly I had my car, and secondly I hated getting ‘helmet hair’. However, a blessing of European law is that here I do not have to wear a helmet and thus my hair is saved that monstrosity, and as I don’t have a car here biking did become a particularly useful means of transport. Cesenatico also happens to be an absolutely stunning area of Italian with not only the beautiful beach, but also gorgeous country side. The countryside here is not all crazy wild bush like New Zealand, but well maintained fields of all colours and shapes growing all manner of different plants.  On the left and right are fields of corn, sunflowers of freshly ploughed earth that looks as though a giant baby decided to sprinkle crumbs of his giant cake in tidy rows. Dotted sporadically about are old abandoned brick/stone farm houses or barns. The windows are little more than holes in the wall, and the roofs  dip comically in the centre just waiting for the day that it will finally fall in. And just to put the cherry on top, the whole area is incredibly flat (naturally.. being a coastal area and all). The only ‘hill’ you will come across is on the way up a bridge or flyover.

Though, as I said, it is not far to the beach, with the children it does take some time as little Beatrice can only pedal so fast. However, it is incredibly cute to watch. She sits up tall on her little bike, her mini pink helmet sitting slightly off centre and her tiny little legs going full boar, her speed only that of a good power walk. Giacomo has taken to riding behind her. He sits more relaxed and pedals lazily, taking in the surroundings, experimenting with holding the handles with only one hand (which often leads to a rather dangerous wobble!) and only speeding up if he feels the need to prove that he can actually beat his little sister if he wants to. The ride is always peaceful for the first half with a safe bike path and very few other bikers/pedestrians. But then we arrive in Cesenatico Centre. Though the path we take is still not open for cars, it is open for pedestrians who seem ever abundant. Mothers with pushchairs and fathers on bikes with kids on the back or the front or sometimes both! There are grandparents with grandchildren, young blissfully in love couples and teenagers making their way lazily down the cobbled street, gelato in hand. And then you have Beatrice and Giacomo, not quite at expert level at biking in a straight line. They zigzag back and forwards, just missing some poor ladies foot here or a pram there. Every time I think there will be crash, with my heart beating rapidly from fear rather than any exertion from biking. But somehow, every time we make it through without a crash or fall.

As previously stated, my summers since the age of 13 have been full to say the least, and now at 18 I finally have the opportunity to do naught but lie on a sun bed, tan and relax. However, it turns out I am not very good at this summer activity (or lack of?) and usually only last for about 5 minutes before I get fidgety. Sometimes I read (I have read more books this summer than I read all last year!) but even that has its limits. And that was when I began people watching which has turned into my greatest source of entertainment on this perfect summer holiday. It is amazing how many strange habits people seem to have…

However I will not get into that, but rather explain that the beaches here rather different to the ones I was used to in New Zealand. While the actual beaches are pretty similar, there is sea and then white sand (except for the fact that there are absolutely NO waves here – but not something I want to get into right!) In New Zealand you can just rock up to the beach, find a prime spot with a good distance from other people and if you’re lucky a large drift wood log to sit on before setting out your towel and maybe even a sun umbrella. However, here that only applies to public beaches and those are so crammed you can’t even do the ‘spot with a good distance from other people’ bit. All the rest of the beaches are privately owned by different bars/cafes which line the beaches edge. Walking past the bar toward the sea you may pass a few kids playground or beach volleyball courts before you hit the part that makes it so very different. Rows of umbrella’s and beach chairs run all the way down to the water’s edge, leaving only about 2 metres between this last chair and the small, lapping waves. Each bar has its own colour and shape umbrella which creates large blocks of colour along the shore. I always think the bird’s eye view would look amazing!

So there you have it, after 5 years of waiting I am finally having the typical summer experience which for me consists mainly of beautiful bike rides, plentiful reading, impatient tanning and of course, people watching!

 

*by summer I mean an entire few months with few or no commitments in the summer season

Viva la Venice

Throughout my childhood I somehow, unintentionally, created numerous connections to the beautiful city of Venice. Before I was even born and no more than a dependent bump in my mother’s stomach, Mum, Dad and my big sister Charlotte went on holiday to Italy, and in St. Mark’s Square Mum had a pregnant moment and ordered a large ice cream, an act I replicated when Laura and I found the amazing square. When I was

 

finally born I happened to share the date of the opening of that very same square, September 11^th. As I grew up and began to play violin, Vivaldi soon became my favourite composer who, as it turns out, lived and wrote his music along those narrow streets and twisting canals. So it is no surprise that when I finally had the chance to visit the floating city with Laura last week, I had very high expectations, which were of course exceeded.

 

One of my first views of Venice

After arriving late on a rather gloomy Tuesday with a suitcase in tow (which turned out to be a real pain due to the fact that all Venetian bridges have stairs instead of ramps!) Laura and I decided to wait for the next day and start our exploration with fresh eyes.. and no suitcases! So after rising bright and early on the Wednesday we headed off. Deciding to walk rather than pay of a water bus (we are really rather poor travellers!) and after figuring out the general direction of St. Mark’s Square we headed off hoping to get there for a mid-morning gelato. Once an hour had passed with not so much a sign post to be found we accepted that it would be far more likely to turn into a lunch-time gelato. While having the promise of a gelato put on hold would usually dampen my mood, in the streets of Venice it did not bother me in the least. Venice is truly an incredibly unique city, with the narrow Italian style streets taken to a whole new level of narrow. These are lined with numerous shops and stores from branded clothes to old-fashioned dress and mask shops to small stores filled with sweets. Despite wanting to reach the famous square, Laura and I couldn’t help but stop and marvel at these small shops and all the treasures they held. We were equally tempted by small side streets which often brought us to an abrupt halt in a dead end created by one of the many canals!

One of many Venetian canals

Now I am sure it is common knowledge that Venice is a city made with canals rather than streets, but seeing it in real life is truly incredible. The canals are the veins of the city, connecting and delivering to the rest of the body. There are goods-delivery boats, water buses, taxis and emergency boats, private boats and beautifully shaped gondolas driven by equally beautiful, serenading men. I was just starting to think that we would have to get a water taxi if we ever actually wanted to find St. Mark’s Square when we finally spotted a sign, and after another few bridges, turns and no more than 10 minutes we finally walked out into the largest square in the Italy. I apologise for stating the obvious, but it is truly huge, and filled with equally amazed and gawking tourists! Lined with arched, white columns, all of which lead your eye straight to the glorious Basilica di San Marco. At least I can imagine it is glorious if it wasn’t covered in scaffolding! As much as I loved Venice, this was the one disappointing moment. I had so been looking forward to seeing Basilica di San Marco in all its beauty, but it would appear for that I will have to wait until next time! After the first photos were taken, and wows expressed, our grumbling stomachs led us to the gelateria were I proceeded to order by mixed berry and nut flavours. After a must take snap to send home to my mother (and of course to post on here) we took our first licks of the delicious Italian dessert.



Tower in St. Mark's Square



 
Gelato in St. Mark's Square

St. Mark's Square

St. Mark's Basilica

St. Mark's Basilica

Though it was lunch time, the gelato had given Laura and me the perfect sugar boost to get us along the Grand Canal to find a perfect picnic lunch spot. During this twenty-or-so minute walk we marvelled at the beauty of the buildings and the history encased in their walls, and passed numerous street stores filled with ceramic Venetian masks, ‘ITALY!’ tourist t-shirts, hats and colourful scarfs.  Looking over the water gave us an amazing view of past and present living together in harmony, with views of impressive futuristic looking super yachts alongside views of the ancient buildings that lined both sides of the canal. It was with this view that we tucked into our ciabatta buns filled with lettuce, prosciutto and cheese. Munching away in silence I felt incredibly happy and twice as fortunate that I am able to travel and experience such beauty and most of all that this time I was able to do it with my best friend.

View over the Grand Canal

Gondolas on the Grand Canal

 

Pretty as a.. Picnic!

Despite living in a beautiful Tuscan villa, surrounded by gently sloping hills dotted with olive trees, I was still yet to explore the area until yesterday. After the windy, rainy and at times stormy weather of the past week, the sun was a welcome relief and there was no question that Filomena, the kids and I wanted to do something out doors. With the kids having slept in until 10am and Filo being needed at work in the afternoon, we decided to pack up a picnic and go for a short walk down through the olive groves and find our own little picnic spot.

While Filomena helped Giacomo with his Italian homework, Beatrice and I got to packing up the lunch. First we cleaned out the big picnic bag before I began washing the plates, knives, forks and spoons in hot soupy water. Beatrice did her best to dry them and place them back in the bag. Then came the exciting part, the food! We packed pizza, pasta with pesto, bread and cheese, fruit, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber, boiled eggs and biscuits. We even packed some doggie treats for Ciccia, their boisterous golden lab who would be accompanying us to scare off any grass snakes that may slither our way.

 

Ready to go!

Little shed on the side of the road

Once we were finally ready to leave we headed off down the road a few metres before cutting into the olive groves. Though the walk itself was very short as the kids were hungry and it was relatively easily to find a beautiful, shaded area under the silver-green leaves, it was still filled with beauty. Despite the aforementioned rain, the summer so far has been relatively hot and dry resulting in a path of golden, crunch-under-your-feet grass in-between the trees. The slight breeze that passed through the leaves added a nice accompaniment to the chirping of the birds and the pulsing humming of the bees, busy at work on the nearby Jasmin bush. After zig-zagging our way down the hill, through a small, bright green bamboo forest we found our picnic spot under a particularly wide branched tree giving plenty of shade from the midday sun. Within 5 minutes all the food from the picnic bag had been laid out on the slightly slopped ground covered by a very picnicy looking red and white cloth. Following the obligatory photos, we finally dug in to the meal, with only the sounds of nature and the occasional clank of a fork-to-plate to be heard. When the eating was out of the way we all lay down, enjoying the slight breeze and watching the butterflies moving from flower to flower and the lazy lizard stretched out over a log soaking in the sun.

Mini Bamboo Forest

Crunch-under-your-feet-grass



Our Picnic Feast



Picnic Time!