Far Side Of The Jetty

It’s Robin, taking another turn as contributor to the Galvin blog. If you’re a natural born, full blown depressive, as I am, you probably don’t want to visit a summer resort town when the season’s over. But here we are, in sunny Cattolica on the Adriatic, and the season is most definitely over. The folks who remain seem to be retirees or pre-school children. The demographic between those extremes is largely absent. The beach chairs and umbrellas are being packed up and stored away for another season, tasks that are carried out by really tan and weathered old men. Some hotels are already closed, but most hang on hoping for a few more hot weekends.

Except... it’s not hot. Not that I’m complaining after the scorching we got in Rome, but when that little nip in the air appears in a town such as this, a town that has mostly emptied out, there’s a fleeting feeling of having stayed at the party too long. Except... we just got here.

Our hotel is mostly empty, although we did see a busload of Germans come into the lobby late this afternoon. Until they arrived, I was thinking of the movie “The Shining” more than is healthy. The pool water is still warm despite the cool air and we all enjoyed a day of pure relaxation. The beach here is endless but the swimming areas are protected by jetties so the wave action is non-existent. You can see waves splashing against the jetty on the far side but no swimming is permitted there. It’s exactly where I want to be, on the far side of the jetty.

It’s strange, after days of such ardent and exhausting sight-seeing, to find ourselves talking and reading and laughing and snoozing. There is a mellow sweetness to these days in Cattolica that I’m sure we’ll remember with as much affection as the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore.

PHOTO NOTE: Taken by Robin