Drive on the auto strada to Viareggio....

Today we took the auto strada to Viareggio, a town on the beach west of Lucca. We had no problem getting onto the strada and it only took about half an hour to get there once we were on it. Viareggio is a very popular tourist spot for the locals.....but it really wasn't my cup of tea at all!!! I was expecting to see a sea of umbrellas and deck chairs BUT nothing like it was! For me it completely ruined the beach, which was actually quite lovely, with fine sand and the mountains as a backdrop. There were literally millions of chairs and umbrellas and hundreds of different companies (bagnos), lined up one after another with their different logos and colours. To go to the beach you pay for a spot which has your chairs, umbrella and table. You can pay for the day, week or even for the whole season. The street follows the beach with the bagnos on the beach side and hotels lining the other side. But because of all the bagnos, you cannot see the beach from the street at all, even though it is so close. So you have to pay for your spot or you see nothing! This sea of umbrellas went on for 25 km!!!! I am not joking! We had thought we would have a picnic by the beach and had brought the rug, and some lunch and a bottle of wine. We thought that we would find a nice spot up the road where the chairs and umbrellas stopped!! But no, it went on and on for ever. I suppose we could have hired the spot for ourselves but we were only going to be there for an hour or so and we thought there would be some nice sandy spot or lawn to stop. Eventually they came to an end at a marina which was quite stony and not pretty at all. So we got out our rug and still had a wonderful picnic!

Then back on the auto strada for our trip home....very tricky to get onto at that end, and after a few minutes we both said to each other... I think we are going the wrong way!!! Which we were! So after a bit of hiccup we got off and back on again! Wasn't a big problem and we laughed all the way home!!

Came home and found a much happier Bengy waiting for us. No mischief today...we had given him a bone from last night's dinner and his Kong toy which we had stuffed some of the bone into and he could not get to easily. Kept him so entertained he was still fascinated by it all night! Should have thought of it before!!