It's hot. It's humid. No air in the apartment.
It is easy to understand why the whole of Italy is practically closed in August.
For the past couple of weeks day temperatures have reached well over +30C every day in Genoa and some days even up to +40 C in the afternoon. We have tried to keep one room cool with the air-conditioning unit and windows open everywhere else. Keeping the window shutters down helps too, but who wants to sit in a dark apartment with lights on when there is bright sunshine and glittering waters nearby?
There is only one remedy. Must find a beach.
This is not a difficult mission as there are beaches everywhere. One of the best things about Genoa is that it is so close to all the pretty little villages/small towns along the Ligurian coast, all easily accessible. Yesterday we went to explore Camogli - pretty little seaside resort town only 20 minutes from Nervi by train and simply followed the crowd. Bingo! They were all going to the same place as us - the beach.
Once you have found a beach that looks promising, there are usually two options - paying for sunchairs and an umbrella or trying to find a free spot in the sun. The Genovese are famous for being careful with money. Basically, nobody wants to pay and therefore the search for a free piece of beach is a popular sport.
The paying option becomes pricey very quickly, if one wants to meet the waves more than once a week. There is normally an entrance fee (say €10 euro per person). A sunchair is another €7 per person and an umbrella €5 optional extra for half a day (from 9 am to 2 PM or from 2PM to 7PM). Yesterday it cost us €30 for the family for a half-day in this particular il bagno but on the plus side there was a restaurant/bar/cabins/toilets/beach shower and a life-guard on duty. The chairs were not particularly comfortable and they were in a row of ten other chairs, but the umbrella was a good size giving well needed shade.
A beach is not always full of white sand or any sand for that matter. In Camogli the beach was made out of small pebbles which meant that the small distance from the towel to the sea became a humiliating acrobatic exercise, especially attempted with bare feet. The pebbles were like hot coals in the heat of the day. We made a mental note to buy cheap plastic shoes for the next time...
It is easy to understand why the whole of Italy is practically closed in August.
For the past couple of weeks day temperatures have reached well over +30C every day in Genoa and some days even up to +40 C in the afternoon. We have tried to keep one room cool with the air-conditioning unit and windows open everywhere else. Keeping the window shutters down helps too, but who wants to sit in a dark apartment with lights on when there is bright sunshine and glittering waters nearby?
There is only one remedy. Must find a beach.
This is not a difficult mission as there are beaches everywhere. One of the best things about Genoa is that it is so close to all the pretty little villages/small towns along the Ligurian coast, all easily accessible. Yesterday we went to explore Camogli - pretty little seaside resort town only 20 minutes from Nervi by train and simply followed the crowd. Bingo! They were all going to the same place as us - the beach.
Once you have found a beach that looks promising, there are usually two options - paying for sunchairs and an umbrella or trying to find a free spot in the sun. The Genovese are famous for being careful with money. Basically, nobody wants to pay and therefore the search for a free piece of beach is a popular sport.
The paying option becomes pricey very quickly, if one wants to meet the waves more than once a week. There is normally an entrance fee (say €10 euro per person). A sunchair is another €7 per person and an umbrella €5 optional extra for half a day (from 9 am to 2 PM or from 2PM to 7PM). Yesterday it cost us €30 for the family for a half-day in this particular il bagno but on the plus side there was a restaurant/bar/cabins/toilets/beach shower and a life-guard on duty. The chairs were not particularly comfortable and they were in a row of ten other chairs, but the umbrella was a good size giving well needed shade.
A beach is not always full of white sand or any sand for that matter. In Camogli the beach was made out of small pebbles which meant that the small distance from the towel to the sea became a humiliating acrobatic exercise, especially attempted with bare feet. The pebbles were like hot coals in the heat of the day. We made a mental note to buy cheap plastic shoes for the next time...
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