Marina Cala de Medici, Rosignano, Tuscany
Today it was hot and sunny again so we decided to explore our local coastline in the dinghy. All along the pebbled shore there are areas with different colored beach umbrellas, each color signifying a beach "club" area. At some beach clubs the pebbles (small rocks) are scraped into the sea so that the people can pretend they are at a sandy beach. This needs to be done each day of course and actually provides more pebbles (rocks) to walk on when people want have a swim.
It's naughty of me to make fun of the beaches in the Med because we just take it for granted in Australia that we can have beautiful sandy beaches whenever we want them. We are very fortunate, but Greg and I are very impressed with the ingenuity of people on this Tuscan coast south of Livorno. They have built breakwaters to establish swimming lagoons/clubs with many facilities such as areas for small craft to tie up, bars, ice cream parlours, cafes, pontoons in the water, and trillions of banana lounges, each with its own umbrella. The interesting facility along this part of the coast is ladders into the water off the rocky ledge that lines the coast. The water becomes so deep straight off the shore that people can dive into the water from the water's edge. There are areas marked for swimming and channels for motorized craft so we were able to investigate everything easily in the dinghy. We also dropped anchor from the dinghy and had some glorious swims to cool off in the very clear water. Investigating the shoreline also helped us to appreciate that the entire area has a superb promenade for several kilometres. This is a part of Tuscany that only the locals know about and how lucky they are to know about it.
Gourmet news: dinner tonight was baby roast lamb (with mint sauce), bought in Mallorca. Greg separated the leg into its natural parts and it only took 15 minutes to cook on the barbecue. The roast veges were more difficult to cook on the barbecue but it's far too hot to be cooking in the galley. We are desperate for some veges though so it's worth the trouble. Followed by outstanding creamy and light Gorgonzola with fresh pears. Accompanied by a Chianti Classico Badia A Passignano (DOCG) 2001.