As the summer rolls in, the reality that our time in Italy is dwindling is really starting to hit. Nostalgia, nerves, excitement, anticipation, overwhelmedness are all mixing constantly in the increasingly hot Roman days.
To help combat this melange, we’ve done our best to do what the Romans do, and forget about all of life’s bumpiness with a spritz and splash at the nearest beach.
After two full summer seasons of exploring, we’ve mostly narrowed down our preferred day trip beach spot to Santa Marinella. Conveniently about 45 minutes by train from Termini, with classic crystalline turquoise water, a relatively shallow coastline and wave breakers to keep the waters calm, we barely see a need to go anywhere else anymore.
With my mom in town for a record fourth visit, we saw no better place to take her than the beach. The fact that these world class beaches are a short ride away is quite mind melting for Canadians who are used to having to fly to at least Miami, if not the Caribbean for similar quality beaches. Grandma and Aleksander took some long walks, kicked the ball and even snoozed on a lovely summer Saturday.
After two visits in a row, we tried to go again with Dalia’s older brother in town (our second most frequent guest) but the summer trains were sold out so we reached a bit further south to Sperlonga. The travel was more complicated but the day no less pleasing. The slightly rougher waters made for more vigorous wave jumping and the scenery was probably even more beautiful than Santa Marinella.
With Dalia’s pregnancy approaching full term and the peak of daily heat approaching the high 30’s, we realize that our summer beach days may be approaching a bit of an early end this season. On our Canada Day holiday, we made one more trip to Santa Marinella and enjoyed far fewer crowds than usual. Trying to get Aleksander to sleep was a real challenge so I took him on a walk around the blooming streets nearby and even peaked into some real estate offices to see what a local pied-a-terre goes for.
The bougainvillea breezes eventually knocked our toddler out cold and I picked up some strawberries and ice cream cones on the way back to Dalia and her nine-month belly. Again, grateful to the core for a life that regularly feels like a movie.
Dad In The World 