Vacation at Giannella

We are back. We came back Saturday around noon after a 2,5 hours drive under the heat.


Vacation was nice, it is always nice. But I cannot say that I could rest much. I had my mother with me, yet she was not much help since she has some problem with one of her knees. She had to sit, put her leg up and put ice on her knee everyday. She couldn't walk much either. Unfortunately this year our apartment was in one of the rear corners of the housing complex, so we had to walk a bit to get to the beach, which, for me, was great. Everyday I had to cook, wash the dishes (by hand), wash some clothes/bed-sheets/towels (by hand), take care of the kids, play with them in the sea, wash them when we returned from the beach, clean the house, tidy the house, shortly do everything that I usually do at home and more (like cleaning the house, or washing the dishes and clothes by hand, that I don't do at home). I was so exhausted at the end of the day that every evening I went to bed around 21.30!!! This means that I didn't manage to keep a diary as I planned to do before traveling. I used my computer only to listen to music, play some DVDs for the kids or transfer the photos from my camera, that's all.



Anyway, let me make a summary of our two weeks down in Giannella (Orbetello). This year we wanted an apartment with garden. They have given us a two bedroom apartment, one room with a double bed, the other one with two single beds and in the living-room a sofa-bed for two. So we had more than enough place to sleep. The living-room was spacious with a kitchen-corner and a big dining-table. The garden was quite big, with huge pine trees, and a big charcoal grill. There were porches both on the front and back part of the apartment and we used the table out in the back porch for dining instead of eating inside.



The housing complex is only a few meters away from the sea, separated from the sea by a road. The beach is quite large and sandy, a dream for all the mothers of little kids :-) My children were making sand castles, opening wells, lying down and rolling around on the beach non-stop, when I managed to take them out of the water, that is ;-)


The second week also my in-laws rented an apartment there and we were at the beach all together everyday. I don't know if this was good or bad for me.. I had a bit more time for myself, for lying down under the sun and reading my magazines since they helped me take care of the kids, but the kids became more spoiled and unmanageable as a result of their presence, as is the case most of time when the grandparents are around.

All in all it was a nice change for us, we all got a nice tan and had fun for two weeks.

Now about Giannella and surroundings. Giannella is a fraction of Orbetello, a town in the province of Grosseto in Tuscany. Orbetello is situated on a tongue of land projecting westward into a lagoon which is enclosed on the west and south by two long narrow sandy spits, and on the seaward (southwest) side by the peninsula of Monte Argentario. One of these long and narrow sandy spits is Giannella. On one side of the land you find the salty lagoon, on the other side the sea and in the middle of the two there is the road that connects mainland to the peninsula of Mount Argentario. The sea has a fine sandy base, always crystal clear (you see the little fish and crabs practically on the shore) and quite shallow, so it is a paradise for families with little children (that is one of the main reasons I chose this place for our vacation). Giannella is situated at the mid-point of Orbetello and Porto Santo Stefano, an old little fishing center now an important vacation point and the port from which you can take ferries to the Giglio and Giannutri islands. Another little port in the peninsula of Mt. Argentario is Porto Ercole, a charming fishing and holiday site. All of these beautiful places are located in the southern coastal part of Tuscany called Maremma.


I would recommend the coast of Tuscany for your summer vacations. We prefer this coast to the Adriatic coast of Italy mainly because it is less crowded, the coastline is beautiful with rocky and sandy beaches addressing different tastes, there are pine tree forests combining the freshness of the blue with the relaxing effect of green.... Quite a poetic scenery indeed...

PS. I began writing this post yesterday morning and can finish only now. It is really difficult to find time for myself with two monsters around me the whole day. You bet I am looking forward to September when both of them will be at school the whole day ;-)