Piano, piano….slowly, slowly, as the Italians would say, the world is starting to yawn and stretch it’s limbs that have been unused for the past year. COVID was something we have not seen in our lifetime, and it showed me how accustomed I am to the world seeming very small. In no more than 48 hours, I have always been able to be anywhere on the globe I might want to be. Then, it stopped. The globe got bigger, and the beautiful places became unattainable.
So far, I am the only one of the household to be vaccinated, though I am sure that will change over the next year. Mask mandates were just recently dropped for vaccinated persons, and it was very strange the first time I went onto a store without a mask, for the first time in more than a year. Friends are starting to have international travel plans again, though the majority aren’t until fall of this year or even summer of 2022.
We have our own plans in 2022. Hello Genoa, Italy! I read a quick little memoir recently, by an American that had fallen in love with the Italian Riviera. It followed her initial visits, and the purchase and renovation of two different homes over the years. Well of course I got nosy and went searching on vacation rental sites to see what might be available next summer. It was a pleasant surprise to see monthly rental rates were very reasonable in most places, and I stumbled upon the most perfect seaside apartment in Genoa. Now Genoa isn’t necessarily a city I would point to and say I wanted to visit, but there are interesting things everywhere, and it will be the perfect base from which to explore the coast. Nice, France, is only an hour and a half by car, Cinque Terre is a 90 minute train excursion, and there is also ferry service to all of the nearby port cities, so much exploring will be done!
The chosen apartment is fairly generic, but the private terrace overlooking the sea, and the stunning cove at the bottom of the stairs, for swimming, are magical. We will spend the very end of May, through most of the month of June there, and I’m thinking this will become a yearly habit, to book 4 weeks in summer, in different areas, to really get a feel for Italian life in different regions. Friends will likely cycle in and out, and la dolce vita will be lived by all!
Vagabond.Belle 