Sunday 13 September, Karen's 50th - San Remo & Bassano

A lovely day. Got up gently to a clear blue sky as normal. I gave Karen breakfast in bed as every good birthday should begin. A little light on the presents this year, and the children pretty hopeless about texts, though we did pick up some emails later. However the location makes up for a lot.

Headed down to San Remo for a look about, maybe a little shopping, and then a trip to the recommended beach at Bussano Mare. Parked at the stazione, free for once which is a nice change, and also makes it more pleasant wandering as it means no time limit to have to be back for. Drifted down to the waterfront, looking in shops along the way. Bought a couple of pastries which were filled with chocolate hazelnut cream i.e. Nutella, before stopping to see if we could get some free internet. Cunningly we managed to hook into a network, and spent some time reading birthday emails, and sending some replies. The baby laptop continues to work out well.

Next stop a café for a birthday cappuccino. Not a lot open with today being a Sunday, but San Remo is enough of a tourist destination that there were quite a lot of fashion shops open. Karen found a lovely two-tone cream & brown autumn scarf (the shops are all displaying their new autumn ranges) and was well pleased. Found our way to the waterfront, which here consists of many little breakwater-protected bays with small private beaches inside. Not particularly inviting.

Got a bit bushed going back, but retraced our steps, buying an Italian hotdog, a slice of vegetarian something and some pizza for a late lunch, before retrieving the car and heading to Bussano Mare. What a lovely beach. White sand, mostly free, parking free again and not even crowded. The day was warm without being unpleasant, there was a gentle breeze, and the water was warm. A perfect day for the beach. Parked ourselves on the beach and just soaked up the sun and the atmosphere for about three hours. Always plenty to watch – lots of families, couples and sun-bronzed bodies. The water was just right – warm enough to get into, and cool enough to take the edge off the day. There were even fresh water showers (probably belonging to the paying beach next door, but everybody was using them). Karen felt that being on a lovely beach on the Italian Rivera couldn’t be bettered for a birthday treat. Of course the company she was keeping helped enormously.

Stayed until 5:30 when we thought we could afford to head home again. Tried to find a supermarket as we are getting a little low on essentials such as wine, but the one we spotted with cars outside turned out to be closed anyway. Up the hill via the road to Poggio, which was a bit more narrow than the normal road we have used, but again met cars at the right places. Time for a shower and a read before heading out to dinner. Were going to try the main street Ristorante della Posta, but he seemed quite a bit more pricey than Dario’s, so went back to Dario’s to find him closed, so back to the main street again! Had a very nice meal at Ristorante della Posta, just had primo piatti of ravioli and linguine al pesto, accompanied by a delicious pinot gris. Took quite some time working out the nose of the wine, before realising it was wet woolly socks, though suspect that was the oak coming through.

Altogether a well-enjoyed birthday.