Lido Azzuro

Wednesday was our field trip to a beach.  Instead of the nice cushy bus we took into Catania, we got to ride on what essentially was a school bus.  The kids were so excited

In Catania, there is an area of beaches known as La Playa.  Here there are several Lidos, which are beaches with an entrance fee.  There are also some beaches where you don't have to pay.  The Lido we went to was Lido Azzuro

In the lidos, you can pay just for entry, which allows you to take part in the services provided once inside.

Here are some signs you see when you enter the lido which indicate some of the services they provide.

They had foosball tables, soccer areas, volley ball areas, a kiddie pool, and more.

If you want to pay more than the entry fee, you can get chairs with an umbrella or a beach hut with chairs and your own changing room

We got the chairs and umbrellas for the afternoon.  There are vendors that are constantly walking around like you find at a baseball game.  They sell jewelry, blow up beach toys, sunglasses, sun screen, water, and massages.  Yes, you can pay a woman to give you a massage right there in your beach chair.  It was nice that a drink guy walks around so you don't have to get up and wait in line to get some water or soda.  I think one guy was selling beer, as well.

This was the view from my seat.

Tommy and I walked down to the water.  However, the kids were afraid to walk around because someone might talk to them in Italian and they didn't know what they would do.  So mostly they sat in their seats.  It was a relaxing afternoon.

The water was really calm and felt cool at first but you got used to it quickly.  Of course it was probably 100 degrees outside, so even if the water was in the 80s it would have felt cool.

In addition, they had a DJ playing and a stage where they sometimes invited little kids to dance and sometimes they had dance leaders and played disco music...

You can kind of see the stage from here.  The yellow shirts are the dance leaders. It seems as though every song has a specific group dance that goes with it, and everyone wants to be there in front of the stage dancing.

At 1:00 we met up at the restaurant in the lido for lunch.  It was cafeteria style.  Thankfully we could just point and ask for what we wanted.  The food was good, and the portions were huge.  I decided to try this Sicilian soda that Andrea had told us about.

Andrea said that people either really love it or really hate it.  Sam, Tommy and I all tried it, and we did not like it.  There is a strong after taste and it kind of tastes like medicine.

Across from the Lido was a big outdoor pool with stadium seating.  Tommy decided he would like to swim there.  There was also a familiar site

A YMCA. 

It was a nice day, and the lido is a great way to go to the beach!  Fortunately, the bus right outside housing stops right in front of the lido, so it will be very easy to go back if we want.