On Monday we woke up in Trieste - the sun was shining, the sea was a glorious blue and there was an amazing breakfast buffet in the hotel (while the 'private home' accommodation option is usually better...sometimes it is nice to stay in a hotel....with crisp white sheets and a breakfast buffet!!)
We drove into the centre of Trieste to have an explore before we needed to be at the airport to catch our flight to Sardinia. Shane (and I) were very excited at actually find a parking spot in a large Italian city without much hassle....and it even had very cheap parking rates.
Shane looking very pleased with himself after parking the car...
Trieste is a lovely city. I had forgotten how Italian cities have a love affair for the large (and beautiful) statues and fountains....we found quite a few.
As usual, the girls very excited about the airplane flight (number 7 for this trip) - but it was our quickest yet, only being in the air a little over an hour (landing 25 minutes ahead of schedule...even Italian pilots drive fast!).
Eloise loving the window seat!!
Here is where some of our 'dramas' started.....
I had arranged for a 3 bedroom flat, right on the beach (walk out the back door onto the beach - literally) and had spoken to the Italian owner, Lucio on numerous occasions. Anyway - it was getting dark by the time we arrived at his house....and started to get suspicious when, instead of showing us directly inside, he started wandering all over the place, showing us the (now nearly black) beach and the play equipment. Our girls were exhausted (it was an hour drive from the airport and was very hot) and hungry and we just wanted to get into our accommodation and then get some dinner and go to bed.
So he eventually led us inside the house and showed us the kitchen (very nice) and the back porch (again lovely), the lounge room (bit dated but will be OK) and the main bedroom......it was then I noticed that there were no other rooms in his apartment.
"Where are the other bedrooms?", I asked. "This is it", he said (in now increasingly bad English)....we went on to learn that one of the lounges was another bed and he had one of those folding 'camp style' beds as another bed......
Then I also noticed - where was the bathroom? Well - this was outside and around the corner....
When we complained about the lack of bedding (there were 5 of us after all) - he suggested that my mother sleep upstairs in what could only be called a 'roof cavity', accessed outside via a rusty, twisty staircase that threatened to fall down at any minute!!!
What I discovered was the apartment we were supposed to have was above the one he was showing us and that a Russian family was staying there.
Right - so the conversations I had been having with Lucio for the last 6 months organising this were obviously forgotten when this other family turned up!!!
I was angry to say the least. We told him that this was not OK and he suggested that we stay there that night and he would call around and find us somewhere else to stay the next day....by this time it was nearly 9pm and the kids hadn't even had dinner so we just said 'yes' and took off to get the kids something to eat.
Of course the local pizzeria was the slowest place I had ever seen and our 3 pizzas took 45minutes to arrive - meaning we were eating dinner at nearly 10pm and then going back to a horrible apartment....
I will admit I cried just a little bit.
The kids were great through all this. Kept their sense of humour and even put a smile back on my face with their 'napkin hat' game while waiting for dinner...
Dutch napkin-head Eloise
Pirate napkin-head Neve
Oh...and I forgot to mention. Lucio brought his mother with him to show us the apartment. I thought this a bit strange until she went into the apartment and started taking her clothes out of the cupboard in the bedroom.....HE WAS KICKING HIS OWN MOTHER OUT OF HER FLAT!!!
Unbelieveable doesn't fully describe it.
I wish I had taken photos now (particularly of the 'belfry' that he tried to say my mum could sleep in) - and we are laughing about it now....but it was horrible at the time.
Anyway - we got back there after dinner and set up Eloise on the sofa bed and Neve in the camp bed and I got online (through our own mobile phone - there was no way this place would have internet access!) and found a villa in a 4 star resort just down the road for an even cheaper price than we would have paid for Lucio's place (had we got the right apartment). I booked it then and there and, under the cover of darkness, we packed the car, took the kids out of bed, and headed out of there and to the resort!
Needless to day the girls were a bit disorientated when they woke up this morning.
The resort we are in is fabulous. We have a 3 bedroom villa and the resort is on it's own private beach with REAL SAND (which Eloise was SO excited to see...."Look Mummy.....real sand!!") and we get our own beach chairs and umbrellas dedicated for us on the beach....and (more importantly) there is a FREE KIDS CLUB!!!! It has more than made up for the terrible time last night when I thought all was lost!!
Why did I not find this before you ask?? Well...Shane has always had a 'thing' about staying in resorts....but today he decided he is over it and LOVES resorts...!
Crystal clear water....AND SAND!!!!!
Eloise making friends with the kids club staff.....
We also took a quick drive into the main town of Villasimius which looks like a great place....but time for all of that later...today was about relaxing.
Eloise found the world's biggest ice cream....with Neve eyeing off another giant one a few steps away!!
So today turned out to be a fabulous day. The kids played with other kids most of the day....Shane and I swam and slept on the beach and just had a day where we didn't have to bribe/threaten/coax the children.....and we can do it all again tomorrow...and then next day.....and the next day.....
