Chioggia and Sottomarina

This week we went to visit the small island town of Chioggia and Sottomarina, quarter of the commune both being part of the province of Venice. The two are connected by a bridge and when you visit you would hardly realise they are apart. 

Chioggia is a very miniature version of Venice with canals and narrow streets. It's a two hour drive from Verona and we arrived shortly before lunch. We went for a short walk through the town along the Corso del Popolo before stopping for lunch at a local Osteria. Fishing is the main livelihood of the town and this is evidenced by not only the strong smell of fish but the copious amount of fishing boats that line the main canal. So it is no surprise that we thouroughly enjoyed some fish for lunch of which Chioggia is renowned. 

Sottomarina is technically an island and is connected to the historic town of Chioggia by a series of bridges, and is sometimes referred to as Sottomarina di Chioggia. It has been built up into a seaside resort town and one can only imagine how busy it must be in the height of the summer months. It is a beautiful long sandy beach along the Adriatic shore and thankfully we had it mostly to ourselves. You might have to excuse us here as we started to feel like it was actually summer! Shoes and jackets promplty came off! There was lots of fun building sandcastles, drawing in the sand and getting rather wet playing with the water. 

The greatest reward at the end of the day of course is ice cream....Chocolate ice cream!

 

A day at the beach

I've tried to bottle up the excitement that my wee man had yesterday when I said we were going to the beach so he could play with the sand. You never know when I can use that feeling again. He said we are going on holiday to play in the sand. His simple definition of what it means to go on "holiday" is something to treasure.

We drove to Troon beach as we decided it would be a great opportunity to take advantage of trying the recommended fish and chips at MacCallums Oyster Bar and Restaurant.  We took our bucket and spade and well did the regular beachy things. We build sand castles and splashed about in the water the low tide had left behind.

After an awesome fish and chips lunch we walked back along the sea front searching for stones and watching our shadows from the beautiful sunshine. It was somewhat of a trauma to drag ourselves away from a rather amazing day at the beach.