Lignano Beach

Hi All!

I'm so happy you're all going to the drive in tonight. That sounds like a fun time, I hope the movie is good.

I told you in yesterday's post that Dad had the idea to go to a beach. Abbie really liked that idea. Peter and I, not so much. You know I love the beach, but both Pete and I were a bit nervous about going to a new beach without chairs, umbrellas, towels etc. and just baking in the sun. Because Das and Abbie really wanted to, we both talked when they were out of the room and just agreed to make the best of it.

Wow. We were both so happy we did! We drove about an hour to Lignano Beach on the Adriatic Sea. It was 83 degrees with a warm breeze coming off the water. It smelled exactly like the beach at home except not as strong or salty. Dad said he thinks its because theres no crashing waves from the sea, like there is from the ocean. The sand is darker and much hotter on the feet, but finer too. We pulled up and parked with no trouble at all. In front of us were literally thousands of beach umbrellas and beautiful lounge chairs already set up. The beach was not at all crowded. The people we spoke to said July and August was the busiest time so we just happened on a really perfect sunny day to enjoy it.

Super nice umbrellas and chairs lined the whole beach

Pete and Abbie grabbed hot dogs at the stand

We weren't sure how the whole umbrella/lounge chairs thing worked, so we all just walked down to a spot we liked, set up and then went for a swim! The water was like a warm bath and really shallow (about knee deep) for the length of a football field. It was just a gorgeous day with lots of families and little ones swimming and sunbathing. We stayed in the water or in the beach chairs for a few hours.  Then Peter  asked if we wanted to go check out the town just as an Italian gentleman came to tell us we could buy tickets to use the lounge chairs and umbrellas. Of course we all started laughing because he is the first guy in all of Italy to ask us for a ticket. We've rode trains, buses, and water taxis all week and though we've bought tickets for everything, no one has checked anything at all. Dad and I keep scratching our heads wondering how they manage to do business this way. We didn't have a ticket and we were leaving, so he just said "no problem".

 We left and headed for the boardwalk. It is really similar to home and Ocean City. Arcades, shops, gelato, lemonade stands, line the streets. Of course, this made us miss you guys so much even as we were loving every minute. We stayed all day and had a late lunch/early dinner plus sundaes (these are the first sundaes we've seen in Italy. Gelato is everywhere but just cups or cones).

Sundaes!

The whole beach is set up this way

Coffee and gelato

Mary, dad thought you laugh at the mannequin. She has pants on her head (all of them did!)

Pete wondered if they knew what they actually naked this store?

Fresh lemonade!

We went to the pier at the end of the day and Dad watched some local men fishing. He probably could've stayed there a few more hours just watching them.

at the pier, watching the fishermen