Italy in August - Part 2: The Beach (la Spiaggia)
As any Italian will tell you, nobody works in August. Well, almost nobody. The people who work in the restaurants and bars at the beach are kept very busy taking care of all of the beach-goers... and believe me, there are a lot of beach-goers. We visited three different beaches during our week in Salerno, and although each beach was slightly different in terms of the surrounding area, the routine was the same:1) Rent a couple of chairs and a big umbrella.
2) Set all of our stuff down.
3) Go for a swim.
4) Lay on the chair either in the sun (Serena and her parents) or under the umbrella (me) until dry.
5a) If hungry/thirsty, go for a snack at the bar.
5b) If not hungry/thirsty, repeat 3) and 4)
In spite of the similar routine, each beach had various strengths and weaknesses:
Beach #1 - Paestum
A friend of Serena's father recommended a visit to the beach in Paestum, a city known for its Greek temples that date back to between 220 BCE and 550 BCE. So the day after we arrived in Salerno we made our first beach outing with Serena's parents. The beach in Paestum was amazing. The sand was soft and fine, and the sea was so clear that you could see the bottom even after swimming quite a ways out. The little bar by the beach had a pretty big selection of panini, ice cream, and drinks. There wasn't much of a backdrop, just clear blue skies.
Sand: 9/10
Sea: 8/10
Bar: 8/10
Backdrop: 6/10
Beach #2 - Amalfi
Serena and I visited Amalfi during our driving tour of the Amalfi Coast with her brother during the Christmas holiday last year. It's a truly beautiful town with a main street packed full of shops just off of a little square. We took a boat from Salerno to Amalfi, together with Serena's parents, and walked about 2 minutes (just next to the port) to get to the beach. After dropping off our towels at our beach chairs, we went for a little swim. When we looked back from the Sea, we could see the road we took with Antonio, followed by an amazing view of Amalfi looming over the beach. Absolutely stunning. The fact that the sand, sea, and bar weren't as nice as Paestum didn't matter. It's hard to imagine a nicer backdrop to a beach.
Sand: 6/10
Sea: 6/10
Bar: 6/10
Backdrop: 10/10
Beach #3 - Salerno
Although it's hard to imagine a nicer backdrop to a beach than the one in Amalfi, the beach at the Lloyd's Baia Hotel in Salerno, which we went to with Serena's parents on our last day in Italy, is close enough to give it the same score. When you look back at the beach from the water, you see a huge bluff with an elevator on the side going up to the hotel, which overlooks the coast.
The ride in the elevator is probably not something my father (or grandpa) would enjoy, but before we left we took it to the top to take some pictures of the amazing view.
The sand and sea were better than Amalfi, and although the food selection at the bar wasn't that good, I was intrigued by the dancing lessons they were giving on the patio, which is why I scored it slightly higher than the bar in Amalfi. If Serena had joined the dancing lessons, it would have scored even higher.
Sand: 7/10
Sea: 7/10
Bar: 7/10
Backdrop: 10/10
Labels: beach, Italy, travel, vacation
posted by Aron @ 3:08 PM
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