i took my first weekend trip to the beaches of Torre Vado in southern Italy. Torre Vado is on the west coast of the "heel of the boot" and apparently a completely different kind of coast than the rocky east coast bordering the Adriatic Sea. The beaches are mostly sandy, but unfortunately there was a sea current that everyone was annoyed about that had washed some of debris up on the usually clean beaches. But the water was still blue and clear, so I was just happy to be on a sunny beach again.
We got there on Friday and spent the day lounging on the beach. I parked it on a front row lounger and read my book in the sun all afternoon. It was the perfect spot to watch the sunset too. I've already mentioned the contentment that being by water brings me, but I'm a sucker for a good sunset too. Put them both together and I was a happy girl!
We got there on Friday and spent the day lounging on the beach. I parked it on a front row lounger and read my book in the sun all afternoon. It was the perfect spot to watch the sunset too. I've already mentioned the contentment that being by water brings me, but I'm a sucker for a good sunset too. Put them both together and I was a happy girl!
I am currently reading Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love and I can't get over how perfect it is for me to be reading right now. For those that have never read it, it's a nonfiction book about a woman who takes off traveling abroad for a year after her divorce. She lives in Italy, India and Indonesia, each for four months. She focuses on eating, praying and loving at each of those places respectively. Actually I just assume that she is praying and loving in India and Indonesia because I haven't gotten past the Italy section yet. I keep reading and rereading sections and chapters because of how much I relate to the author. The way that she talks about her ex (not even her ex-husband, her ex-boyfriend), the way she has fallen in love with Italy, and the spiritual journey that she shares are all things that I find myself nodding my head along with. Sometime I read her words and realize that I have felt the same way, but she has been able to identify her situations and articulate her emotions much better than I could ever hope to. So now I'm dragging this paperback book all through Italy with me, and reading short pieces whenever I have a moment...it's already starting to get tattered and I think it might be my favorite souvenir by the time I get home. It was brand new when I left Texas, a gift from my dad...along with an Italian-English dictionary, a computer program for learning Italian, and a copy of Bob Goff's Love Does. I love that this was the bundle he gave me before I left because it represents my dad very well. The dictionary and language program are practical but the two books are nonfiction memoirs about dreaming, discovering and DOING things. He is a very rational man, a very smart man and he has a very adventurous side to him that he doesn't often let take the reins ahead of the sensibility. He has always been very supportive of whatever adventures his kids (sometimes blindly) decide to take on, but he is the first to remind us of our responsibilities too. I mean this in a good way...everyone who lives with their head in the clouds needs someone to occasionally make sure their feet are still touching the ground. When I was a freshman in college and living five hours away from home, he sent me a care package with a few boring things that I had forgotten (probably tools or something) but it had a note on a sticky pad. The note said that he loved me, he was proud of me and had a Mark Twain quote written at the bottom. The quote said "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." That is my dad in a nutshell...practical tools paired with inspirational Mark Twain quotes and a Barnes and Noble bag containing an Italian dictionary and Eat Pray Love. He is the practical adventurer. Oh, and ten years later...I still have his hand written note with the Mark Twain quote.
We had the most amazing dinner at Lido Venere, the beach club we stayed at. Muscles, scorpion fish, pasta that was made specifically to soak up more sauce, bread with olive oil and local wines. I have officially become that annoying person that takes pictures of food but I don't care. It's art and I want to remember it.
I had been told that it would get cool, but I have found that my standards of temperature have been very different than everyone else's around me. I'm usually a cold natured person but I haven't been cold here yet, even though everyone keeps telling me to bring a jacket to different places. I wish they knew how funny that is to me, because I'm usually the girl that brings a sweater to the mall even in August because I can't handle the AC. So this time, I brought one light cover up and no jacket...it's the beach in June so I'll be hot, right? Wrong. The sun was comfortably hot but the breeze coming off the sea was cool, especially after the sun set. I think one night at dinner it was in the low 60s. I wasn't miserable or anything...but I definitely wished I had brought a jacket. (Luckily I was able to borrow one.) Another lesson learned...even though I've learned that one before.
The next morning I went on a long run (because apparently I'm on the same diet that Elizabeth Gilbert describes...no carb left behind) and was absolutely astounded by the views. I made terrible time because I kept stopping to take pictures and soak it all in, but it was definitely worth it. Again, the pictures don't do it justice but I'm glad to have the reminders.
The next morning I went on a long run (because apparently I'm on the same diet that Elizabeth Gilbert describes...no carb left behind) and was absolutely astounded by the views. I made terrible time because I kept stopping to take pictures and soak it all in, but it was definitely worth it. Again, the pictures don't do it justice but I'm glad to have the reminders.
I ended my run at the beach and spent the rest of the day napping and earning tanlines. I was perfectly comfortable to sit there without getting in the water, but Melissa talked me into it. I had told her that it probably won't be very hard to talk me into anything (within reason) while I'm in Europe and she has definitely remembered that. It was cold, but now I can officially say that I have swam in the Ionian Sea!
We ended the night with dinner at La Cozza and walking along the coast to get gelato at Martinucci. I recommend both places if you ever find yourself in the area. All in all, I loved Torre Vado. It was a cute little beach town with impressive views and a slow-paced feel. I didn't see any public beaches, I think reserving beach time through one of the private beach clubs was the only option besides climbing the few rocks along the coast. The native Italians made several comments about how nice the sand was, but honestly I thought the clear blue water was the more impressive part. Either way...it was a great weekend.