Birthday

Mr FF quite often likes to spend his birthday at the seaside, for his 60th we spent two nights at a beautiful hotel in Sabaudia, this year his 72nd was a little more subdued but very enjoyable.  We went to San Filice Circeo, a new to us little town in the province of Lattina, an hour and a half away by car much less as the crow flies, blame those mountains.

We needn’t have been concerned about social distancing, there were stewards taking our names and phone number before directing us to marked out spaces on the beach.  We usually hire beds and umbrella at one of the stabilimenti where there are toilets, showers, changing and a restaurant or snack bar but this year decided to use the free unserviced public beach, taking our own shade and folding chairs.  We took our drinks and lunch too, no mingling for us as the public beach was much quieter than the other spots.

The beach experience was much as it always is, plenty of beautiful bronze bodies, large families talking non stop,  kids with a vast assortment of inflatables and lots of fun and sun. 

We were right at the end of town and it was very pretty, lovely white houses rising up above us, craggy rocks and when I did my obligatory long passeggiata along the wet sand the views round the corner to the next large bay were stunning.  Mr FF had his usual long swim, he’s gone so long that I always think he’s perished in the water, he reported he’d tried to get round into the harbour but failed. 

Late in the afternoon we packed our belongings and took a walk round the town, admiring the boats in the harbour and some smart hotels, it really is a nice little resort, this photo is from the town Facebook page we didn’t get to the still active lighthouse.

We stopped on the way home for ice cream, the best we’ve ever had with new flavours to try.   Delizia al limone for me, which was fantastic and included little squares of lemon sponge plus bacio, the Perugina chocolates with fondant and nuts.  Mr FF had paradiso which was full of all sorts, orange, lemon, nuts, yoghurt, and was pronounced delicious plus amarena crocante, sour cherry with crunch bits.  Last stop was our favourite farm shop for bufala mozzarella.

We also brought home quite a lot of sand, on our clothes and on our bodies.   I like that and the gritty feeling of being coated in salt with hair stiff from seawater.  We always feel we’ve had a good bashing after a day at the sea, the water was warm and pleasingly choppy, I’m sure it does us good.   And that is what birthdays are about.