Porto San Giorgio/Beach soccer

What do you do during the last weekend in Italy? We decided that it would be a good idea to stay local rather than having another travel weekend. We'd spent every weekend thus far traveling and we needed a bit of a break, especially since we were all leaving next weekend. This turned out to be one of the best ideas we could have made. It was so nice relaxing and enjoying our town without the fatigue of camp and obligations.

We chose the perfect weekend to do this because from Thursday to Sunday, our town was hosting the world Beach Soccer 2017 finals! Beach soccer is mostly similar to regular soccer but there are a few differences. First of all, the game is played on a sand field the size of a basketball court. Players may score from anywhere on the field. I can’t imagine how hard it is to play this game in the sand. Everyone has to be barefoot and there’s sand flying at all times—plus the athleticism required to do anything in the sand is remarkable. Games are 36 minutes long with two break periods in between. It’s actually an amazing sport to watch. It has everything we love about soccer combined with the intensity that comes from playing on a smaller court. Thursday and Friday were the semifinals and then finals were on Saturday. I only went to the first two days of games and I have to say it was one of the coolest sports to watch.

On Saturday, we decided that we wanted to head to Porto San Giorgio for the day. This is a beach town about twenty minutes from our town. The reason we traveled so far for a beach is because our beach has rocks and we went to San Giorgio to enjoy a sand beach. Now I hate sand. It’s hot to walk on, it sticks to everything and it’s more of a nuisance than anything. It was nice to give my feet a break from walking on painful rocks but I still prefer rock beaches hands down. Anyway, we found a nice Chalet and rented chairs and an umbrella. Usually I don’t spring for an umbrella but since we were out for about six hours, I deemed it a necessity. And sure enough it was; I was the only one who managed to avoid sunburn. We went for lunch around three. If you know anything about Italian culture then you know that this is the biggest mistake we could have made. This is about the time when everything closes for the afternoon. To be exact, we had six minutes before the kitchen closed so everyone ordered spaghetti since it’s the fastest food to prepare. It wasn’t our smartest decision and we felt a bit foolish but it turned out fine for everyone. We then got gelato, of course, where I found Mint chocolate chip, which is my favorite ice cream flavor. Usually it’s not a gelato flavor but here it was and it was delicious. Easily my favorite gelato so far. Unfortunately I couldn't stop eating long enough to take a photo of this perfect treat but just know that it blew my mind.

The beach was also really cool because it remained shallow for about 50 meters. I carried my phone out into the ocean because it was so shallow and it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I was afraid of dropping my phone the entire time but I got a few cute pictures so I guess it was worth it. Another 50 meters out were rock walls (I don’t know what else to call them) that people climbed out to and sat on. Last year a girl who did this camp climbed up, jumped off and cut her leg so badly that she had to go to the hospital for extensive medical attention. I would have climbed the rocks (and not idiotically jumped off) but my group was extremely against it so I decided not to.

We meant to attend the soccer finals when we got back from the beach but when it came time to leave (nine in the evening) we unanimously decided that we were too tired. I took a whole pizza back to my apartment instead. I ordered a Crostino, which has become one of my favorites. It's a white pizza (no tomato sauce) with mushrooms and bruschetta. It’s amazing and I enjoyed every bit with a nice glass of wine and watching a movie.

It was a super relaxing weekend full of food and gelato, which is exactly what I was looking for.