Lunch at Marina di Pietrasanta

Last Wednesday we drove out to the beach for lunch. Our usual spot (Oscar's in Marina di Massa) is closed Wednesdays so we drove south along the coast until we got to Marina di Pietrasanta. There is a nice area there for a pre-prandial passagiata so we strolled along and checked out the restaurants. I really like dining with a view of the water but the majority of places actually face the street. We found one that looked good--Bagno Venezia.

The food was very good. I had a scrumptious plate of smoked salmon, tuna and swordfish. It came with lettuce and tomatoes. If I had know it had all that I would not have order the large salad I also ate. Dom raved about his spaghetti all'amatriciana. We also had a nice fizzy white wine. 

The above picture is a view of Bagno Venezia looking at it from the beach. On the left you can see a row of white posts. They are just setting up the umbrellas and chairs for the season. We watched them work hard to create a perfectly straight line with the posts evenly spaced. Umbrellas will go on top of the posts.

Behind the flags you can see the upper deck where we ate lunch. It was a marvelous view of the water with just enough breeze to keep it from getting too hot.

 We walked out towards the shore to take a look at things. There were actually people in the water but they were teenagers (!). I was tempted to go stick my toe in the water but I didn't have anything to wipe off my feet afterwards.

 This is looking north up the coast. During the height of the season this will be chock a block full of beach umbrellas and chairs, all of them for rent by the day, week, or season.

And, this is looking south along the beach. It is still awfully quiet. Things start to pick up in May with the Northern Europeans coming for vacation. Most Italians don't go near the beach or pool until at least June 1 regardless of the weather.

We finished up our beach excursion with a stop in Viareggio. After indulging in gelato we walked over the the marine supply stores and found some cleats. Our latest pigeon prevention scheme involves rigging screens that can be raised and lowered like sails. Progress should be made on this project in the next few days.

Next post: A visit to a Pisa musuem