Al Dente Diary 🇮🇹

July 10th – 12th

I finally made it to a beach!

Sophia and I buddied up again and spent most of Friday making our way over to Sestri Levante and Lavagna, which are located in the Ligurian Riviera about halfway between Genoa and Cinque Terre. You know Miami, Florida versus Fort Lauderdale, Florida? We went to the Fort Lauderdale of Cinque Terre—and it was great!

Getting anywhere in Italy during the summer season has its setbacks… but getting to a beach in Italy in mid July is absolutely not for the weak. Our travel time to and from Verona took a solid 5 – 6 hours, and while some trains have air conditioning… two out of our three trains on the way there did not. We had to scramble a bit because the train tickets we were hoping to buy ended up selling out before we could purchase them so we got stuck on one of the 6:30 am trains in order to make it there for our bed and breakfast check in time. Before anyone says anything… I was in charge of buying the train tickets home and was not the one to mess up that booking! And it ended up working out pretty well because we were able to spend even more time there which was an overall win for me (we even took turns napping and keeping watch of our stuff on the trains to maximize our time as much time as possible).

When we got there it also ended up taking us at least an hour or so to just find our bed & breakfast spot from the train station (so thank god we left as early as we did because we would have literally died if we had to try to find the place at night after sunset). First… we took a bus, then got off that bus because we didn’t know how to work their bus voucher system, then we figured out the bus voucher system and got back on another bus, and then we got off that bus and had to hang out at a beach bar to figure out the google maps directions, then we got lost and went to the wrong place three different times and had to ask some mailmen/delivery driver peeps (who were so excited to talk to American tourists omg) for help until finally making our way into our bed & breakfast where we had to personally call the owner to let us in because she was taking a nap.

It was SO worth it though!! Once we finally checked in and talked to Bonnie, the owner, we discovered we weren’t even a two minute walk away from the water—and our room had a gorgeous terrace and beautiful view of the beach!

After we spent some time near the ocean we went to a piazza close by and did some shopping, because of course I forgot my sunglasses, and grabbed dinner.

After we got back to our bed & breakfast place, we immediately went to bed so we could be up and ready for a full day at the beach! The owner of our B&B gave us some helpful directions and told us to find a guy named José and to tell him she sent us so we could get the Hotel Valentino deal on renting beach chairs and a discount at their beach bar. Believe it or not, we found José almost immediately and he set us up with great chairs, a great view, and an awesome aperitivo spread.

The water was so blue, warm, and beautiful! We watched the sunset and stayed as long as we possibly could—we were the literal last people to leave.

Before hopping on our trains back to Verona on Sunday we enjoyed another delicious breakfast made by Bonnie and her husband. I’m not super into sweets and the only breakfast they really have here in Italy are super sweet pastries so my go to in the mornings has been espresso but Bonnie set out so many fresh kiwis and some really yummy croissants so I was ready to move and groove by my third kiwi and coffee around the time we had to head out.

It was such an awesome trip! Swimming in that ocean was so therapeutic and peaceful, and since we went to a more local area it was so much quieter and way less crowded which was fantastic, especially compared to the crazy crowds in the Cinque Terre and more dense touristy locations.

Seriously, it was so pretty!!

More updates coming shortly 🙂

💚🤍❤️