Vacation in ItalyPatti - August 31, 2018
This August, our family had the opportunity to take a long vacation: 10 days in Savona, Italy! We rented a vacation apartment just a five minute walk from the beach. Vacation with a 2 year old and an infant is not quite relaxing, but it was enjoyable. Miriam loved the beach, whether she was playing in the water, in the sand, or collecting stones. We also took a couple of hikes and did some shopping in the city. The region of Liguria is known for focaccia bread, and bakers on every street corner sell it in many different flavors. We ate focaccia nearly every day, though of course we filled up on pizza, as well!
As this was our first family vacation, we found there were several things we would do differently next time. First, we would rent an apartment with more than one room. Trying to put a toddler to bed while Mami and Papi stayed up proved very difficult – Miri took at least an hour to fall asleep every night. Second, we would probably cut the time to a week. About six days in, we all started to get bored and resorted to buying some games at a toy store (because we forgot to bring any with us). Finally, we would choose a different location. Italy caters more to adult tourists than to children, and we struggled to find stroller-friendly activities. It is also a very dirty place – trash lining the streets is normal, and everything is covered in graffiti. When you live in super-clean Switzerland, things like that stand out and make the experience less enjoyable. Overall, though, we enjoyed our time together, and I believe it helped solidify our relationship as a family of four.
First beach day!
We explored the Fortezza del Priamar one day. It is a huge fortress that served as Italy’s primary military prison until 1901.
Diva Miri (for real though…)
We made it to the top with two strollers! Unfortunately, I got sick while we were there, and had to lie on a bench while Elias and Miri went to get us some lunch. That cut our exploring short, but it was one of our favorite excursions!
Fortezza del Priamar
The building housing our apartment. It was a beautiful building!
It had some Italian quirks though ;)
We found a playground where Miri could slide to her heart’s content. And the mosquitoes feasted on Mami and Papi to their hearts’ content.
Cappuccino and hot chocolate from a vending machine for only 60 cents!
The schedule in Italy seems to be shifted an hour or two. This is a restaurant at noon – apparently everybody waits until 1:00 pm or 2:00 pm to eat lunch, and restaurants don’t open for supper until 6:30 pm.
A lot of my beach time was spent trying to keep Becca happy
A lot of Elias’s beach time was spent trying to keep Miri happy
We mostly succeeded J
Elias had to order the “American Pizza” to see if it really did come with French fries on top. It did. And it tasted about how you would imagine.
Evening hike to a spot overlooking Savona
Six days into the trip, we discovered that the beaches completely empty by 7:00 pm because there is no more direct sun. The water is still warm, though, so we spent a few evenings wandering up and down the shore, collecting rocks and sea glass.
Our attempt at a family selfie
My love <3 <3
Italy has public and private beaches. A private beach costs at least 5 euros per adult, and comes with a life guard. The public beaches are free, but often a bit crowded. This is Miri standing by a fence separating a private from public beach.
Miri had no fear of the water!
Some of our pretty beach glass
Beautiful stones that Elias collected
Some towers in the city of Savona.
Miri playing amongst the olive trees
Another tower in the city
An evening picnic on the beach
Elias captured this gorgeous picture – he’ll have to tell you what kind of bird it is though
Our fearless adventurer (who insists on being carried down the stairs and riding in the stroller everywhere we go)
Our second hike was up to an abandoned military fortress above Savona. Google maps estimated it would take an hour – with two kids, it ended up taking almost two hours to reach the top of the mountain.
Despite the graffiti, the overgrown fortress was beautiful and almost enchanting in its abandoned state
It would have been a beautiful place when it was in use
It was a hot day...
We decided to break up the five hour drive home with a stop at Swissminiatur – a park with models of 127 landmarks around Switzerland. The models were beautifully detailed, and we had fun marking off which of them we had already seen, and which we would like to go visit!
Miri liked the working model trains
One of the landmarks was Bremgarten, the town outside of which my husband grew up and his parents still live!
We needed to make one more stop on the way home, and decided to take it at Heididorf, a little village that has been turned into a tourist attraction based on the novel Heidi. The girl who inspired the character of Heidi lived in this house. It felt so nice to go from 88° and sunny to 62° and cloudy!