Scalea! beach day!

Sunday, June 25,

A day in Scalea!

The plan for Sunday morning was to board a boat at 9am and see the coast by sea, and end with lunch at Olgarino Lido Bar and Ristorante, however the water was too choppy so no boats were going out…so, it turned into a relaxing beach morning! Christian is part fish, and spent almost all of the 3 hours in the water! Cecilia played, and sat with Pop Pop by the waves, as she does so well.

We decided to walk down to lunch (about a half mile) to see more of Scalea. Lunch was al fresco on the beach with several courses consisting of octopus ceviche, meat/cheeses, , and a fish pasta the city is town for!

The resilience Christian learned the other day at the playground payed off for him at lunch, as a few of the cousins kids joined us. He befriend Samwele, a 9 year old son of Sandro) and they started playing soccer on the beach, the rain came and after they were soaked they played pinball to win about 30 bouncy balls! I so appreciate the slow pace, no rush meals full  of fun conversation. Wine and food keep flowing but it doesn't get rowdy. We ended with gelato, espresso and a Jefferson (digestive drink) we chatted with Gabriel, son of Claudio, and he is 18 and works at a beach club! We met his sister Georgia at dinner 

As we were walking back a few of the guys (Justin, Nathan, Garrett, James, Daniel) and Cecilia veered off to tour the fort. Cecilia tripped and scraped both her knees and impressed the guys with her toughness, no tears and desire to keep climbing! 

While they were detouring, my aunts, me & Christian went to the pool - where we all had to wear swim caps! It is a great idea to keep the pool clean and free of hair debris. Christian kept asking when we would have to shower with our shower caps! 😁 The guys met us and it looked like they were training for the Italian swim team! 

Dinner was not until 9pm (ish), and we were done swimming around 6, so we retreated to our rooms for a siesta until about 845pm! I'm so glad we all napped to stay awake and enjoy dinner! 

We had dinner near old Scalea city center at La Rondinella (swallow). Scalea "means" steps as the town (old palace) has many many steps. While the adults were eating and conversing, the younger boys, Ricardo and Samwele especially, went to a flat area past the parking lot to play soccer! Christian beamed to be hanging out with them again! He kept inviting them to come to our house and told them that we could drive them in our car from the airport.

 Then! Francesca, Enzo's 17 year old daughter, took the kids including Christian (!!) to a pub down the street to eat! I absolutely loved Christian getting this experience to make his own memories and bond with just the kids! and I'm sure he enjoyed getting a cheeseburger and french fries). I ended up walking over there to order a burger for Cecilia, and saw a 13 year old working the bar! Scalea is a busy beach destination, and there is work to be had! It's a town of 20k normally, and balloons to 200k in the summer! 

After dinner, the cousins walked us around historic Scalea. Pictures cannot capture the beauty of these old spaces. Garrett said it was like we were walking on a Disney set.