Loano, AKA, the best beach that I've never even heard of

Well, this weekend we decided to go to Loano, which is a little gem in the Italian riviera. We had never heard of it before, never even knew it was there, but we did a little looking and found a GREAT hotel at a great price, and we booked!

I went with Jenna, Allison, and Sara. We left SO EARLY friday (around 5 am!!) and finally were able to hit the pool around 2 in the afternoon (after we got to our hotel, checked in, and I broke a door...more on that later!). This is one of FOUR pools:


It was FABOOSH. The pools were so nice and chilly after a long day of laying out (so tough are our lives, I know). We spent Friday in the pools and then had a family dinner (our hotel room had a kitchen, it was more of an apartment than a room). We all enjoyed a glass of wine and just had a good time enjoying each other's company. We went to a market where we got incredibly inexpensive food, but because we didn't feel like cooking, we went to the hotel's restaurant for take-away, and paid around 5 euro a piece for huge pizzas, which we completely polished off, so substantial was our hunger.

On Saturday, we laid out until around 4 and then hit the beach for a little while. I have officially been in the Mediterranean! It was pretty rough, and rocky, and salty, so we didn't stay long. Oh, we also got kicked off of the chairs because they are 30 euro per pair!
We didn't realize, and as soon as the owner informed us, we made haste to leave. All's well that ends well, because we just went back to our hotel where we laid by the pool until closing time!

Here is our hotel:

Isn't is beautiful? I love the pastel colors and the palm trees and the flowers and the entire feel of the place. It was more of a village or a community than it was a hotel. I loved it sooo much. The hotel is called the Loano 2 Village, and if you ever go to the beach in Italy, you should go to Loano, and you should stay there!!!

This is pool #2 of 4. We basically had sun the entire time!!!
It was so gorgeous and relaxing that I didn't want to leave!!!

My poor calves haven't seen sunlight in about 9 months, and they haven't had any sun a-tall since I was in about middle school, so adamant was I about wearing long pants in the summer. Those days? Are over. Here is my delightful sunburn, which, about 4 days later, has already faded to almost complete white again.
Mom, yes, I know, I should have worn more sunscreen. But this picture makes it look way worse than it was. Or so I think. My friends made massive fun of me, and I had my fair share of pain. However, my hope is that now that my legs have been exposed to some sun, they will be more able to have a nice tan by summer's end. On the plus side, it doesn't hurt anymore at all!! phew.

These loungechairs are where we spent most of our time this past weekend. It's in the shoulder season (thanks for the vocab, Heather!), and so prices were super low and it was practically deserted. But we could tell that this place is poppin in the summer!!

OK, I know that you are dying to know about how I broke a door. I held off for dramatic effect. Basically, we walk into the apartment, I pee, and then I promptly break a door. In Italy, they aren't big on screens. Instead, they use garage-door like apparatus (apparati?) that go up with a pulley system. Well, our pulley system wasn't working, so I assume that we are supposed to push the door up. Boy, was I wrong. I push it up, it stays, and then the whole thing comes crashing down. I am absolutely horrified, absolutely scared to death, and figuring that I am now absolutely broke because they are going to slap a huge fine on me. We go outside to assess the damage, and it looks as though one panel of the door has ripped from the panel above it. I am, in a word or two, FREAKING. OUT.

Fortunately, we called the front desk, and they sounded more sorry than angry, and agreed to send a repairman up shortly. About 2 minutes later (I was SO impressed with this hotel, they were so fast with everything, every single time we had a question. Can't say enough about the hospitality I experienced here!), this guy comes up, and he basically fixes the door in 5 minutes. And then he laughs and says it happens often- but they are basically built-in to be fixed when this happens. Thank goodness. I felt terrible, but all's well that ends well.

Well, that's basically my weekend! I'm back in Riva until Friday, when Ian and I start our Italian adventure!!

Talk soon!!!

Love,
Kat