The ingredients for a successful beach day: first, you need a bathing suit, obvious but critical. Second, maybe it should be first, you must have sunscreen in plentiful quantities, as only amateurs sunburn at the beach. Third, a beach towel, and you might be surprised to know that a quick-dry large towel from MEC beats fluffy cotton hands down, since the MEC towel won’t carry sand. Fourth and fifth are a phone and headphones to go with a good audiobook; reading on a screen is a bitch in the sun, and anyway, you want your body relaxed, not holding a phone. Sixth, have some cash for entry and snacks. Finally, make sure you have a piece of clothing that goes with a bathing suit but still makes you presentable, usually a dress for the ladies and a t-shirt for the gentlemen, as they are required get snacks. The secret ingredients to make it even more successful are arriving late (noonish), having had a large breakfast so you don’t really go hungry until later in your stay, and avoiding any complicated bar food.
We went to Lido Tre Conchiglie for all our beach day needs. It was right next to our apartment and has been renting beach chairs and umbrellas since 1954; we figured they knew how to do it right. The setup was comfortable but standard—two chairs, one umbrella right next to two beaches. Far enough so high tides don’t mess things up, but no further. We chose a perfect day: sunny, not too warm (27°C), with low wind and swells. We made it easy for ourselves and for our hosts for the day. Also, being a Thursday in September in an unremarkable town made it uncrowded. Probably choosing the spot should have made the list of ingredients above.
We spent a good five hours essentially listening to an audiobook while lounging in the sun, with a break every hour or so to go for a 15-minute swim. It’s hard to make it more relaxed than that. The 15 minutes of actual swimming does get our bodies working, so they are ready for another hour of lounging about.
It’s surprising to see that the vast majority of people going to the beach don’t actually swim. They go into the water, stand there for a couple of minutes, and walk back. A part of me is wondering if they didn’t go in the water to pee (a very disgusted part of me, I must admit). Being on a beach by the sea is a great time to practice those swimming skills your parents invested so much in teaching you. Wouldn’t you want them getting up in the morning to drive to the pool, going to be a waste? Especially since it was probably despite your protests or over excitement (depending on how the kid version of you saw the swimming lesson).
Around 17:00, after spending some time on the beach and getting sand on most of our body parts despite only walking on it, we went home and showered. Karine went for Apéro ingredients (fruits, additional wine, sparkling water, a pizza slice, bocconcini and a sweet fried dough for dessert). We spent the evening on the terrace eating, drinking and keeping it relaxed. Tomorrow we’re heading out to Matera.