Tag: Sperlonga

One Final Italian Beach Season

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.

Italian Labour Day Weekend in Sperlonga

Even though we had almost laughably bad luck after buying a car in Italy and then having it die 10 days later on our first weekend drive out of town, we’ve made the most of Italy’s underrated train system and visited pretty much everything within an hour or so of Rome, over the last two years.

With our final Italian beach season approaching, we set our sights on nearby Sperlonga, one of the few major beach towns that we hadn’t yet visited. Sperlonga features on many lists of Italy’s best summer destinations and as the May Day holiday created a three day weekend, we ventured off for a two night visit with a work pal, his wife and their daughter, almost exactly Aleksander’s age.

The train to Sperlonga is an easy hour away from Rome and we hopped into a taxi from the train station to get to our early season hotel.

The hotel was clean, comfortable, had seaside views and a swimming pool, mostly reserved for foreigners (including Canadians) at this pre-summer heatwave juncture. We enjoyed a seafood lunch at the hotel restaurant before taking the 40 minute or so walk up to the scenic Sperlonga town itself.

The views were typically fabulous, if overcast. The town’s piazzas, patios and alleyways were buzzing with European tourists and lounging locals alike. Aleksander, of course, was entranced with some kids kicking a soccer ball against the wall as we watched for the better part of half an hour. Eventually, Tom and family joined us for an apertivo as the kids chased bubbles spiritedly.

We scored some pizza al taglio as the evening closed in and were glad to share the experience with some adult and toddler friends, our first joint family weekend since arriving in Italy.

The next day, we hoped for a few hours of clear skies in order to enjoy some of Sperlonga’s famous sandy beaches. The stabilimemti were all within an easy ten minute walk and Aleksander frolicked in the sand for a good few hours. The sun peered out from behind the clouds and it looked like the gloomy weather forecast might be proven wrong altogether. Alas, after sitting down for lunch, the clouds and winds darkened and picked up and we had to call it a day on our first beach attempt of the year.

We returned to the hotel, the kids watched some tv as the adults indulged in some vino and convo. We discussed the amazingness of Italy, how every little town seemed worth a visit and how lucky our kids were to get such memorable experiences on the regular.

The next day was even rainier than the others and it felt fully acceptable to return to the beauty of Rome after the long weekend escape.

Again, the Springtime weather is proving to be a bit more unstable than in our previous years but we’re not letting that slow down our exploration. Next stop, our final weeklong Italian trip, to the southern heel of the boot, in Puglia and Salento.

Thank you Sperlonga for a great soft launch of our final Italian beach season!