Summer on the beach

Published on 6th of October 2023

When I thought about the title for this blog post, summer on the beach was a firm winner. This is where we spent a large chunk of our summer, so it fits well. There was a lot of bathing, splashing, swimming, jumping from the rocks. There was barely any snorkelling this year, and not many waves, Matteo was disappointed. We found the canoe of my husband, that was believed to be gone, and it was a great addition to our sea activities. Although paddling with Mara is tricky, as she wants to hold the paddle too with her little hands. We spent a lot of evenings swimming till the sunset, or watering the rocks and the sand in case of Mara, and even made a night swim once. Apart of our usual beach, we tried several new spots like cala Bianca near Scopello, Monte Cofano (I loved that one, and the nature reserve too, hope we'll visit again in winter to climb the mountain) and Guidaloca. The last one we knew and visited several times before, but it was a nice change as it's not our regular swimming spot.

We spent a week in Ispica, digging in the sand and checking the beaches in the south-east of Sicily. There are so many beautiful places there, and it's also easy with young kids because the sea starts out shallow. Isola delle Correnti was a bit hit, to have two seas meeting in one spot and to actually see and feel the difference between the Mediterranean and the Ionian, one warmer, the other cooler and calmer. Mara loved the sand dunes there, she was happy going up and down and feeling the warm sand go between her hands. Gorgeous sunset and picnic topped up the evening. Another hit was area around Vendicari reserve, we could not visit the beaches there as the reserve was closed due to fire hazard. It's all sandy bays surrounded by rocks, very clean with crystal clear blue water, fairly quiet and not very crowded because there's some walk from the parking. Something to consider when we ourselves had to carry all the beach gear and a 2 year old, but worth it.

Next on our sea agenda of this summer was the area around Agrigento, we went camping there. More sandy beaches and sandcastles, the unexpected surprise was Spiaggia dei sogni, or the beach of dreams. There's a cliff you need to walk down to reach the beach, part of it is just sand, and there's a rocky area too. This is where we went, and discovered to sheer joy of Matteo that the cliff has clay on its surface. Kids made clay balls, painted each other with clay, and Matteo tried to fashion a bowl or a cup (it turned out to be a cup at the end). Little fishes come to tickle (nibble?) your feet when you stay still in the water, another delight.

Here are my favourites from this summer, and some more are included in the photo a day posts. Ok, enough words, time for photos!