Firstly, apologies to the hardcore Anxious Travel Guy fans (must be pushing double figures now), for the lack of posts. In theory, it should be a perfect time to be adding posts galore, but it's never that simple. I've been back in Wales since December, in the family home, awaiting my vaccine so I can get back out into the world. I've been relatively busy with work which is great, but have found getting motivated for the blog quite difficult. Maybe it's being in the same place day in and day out, but instead of doing something productive like adding to this, I find myself scrolling through social media, reading sports news, or sleeping. I'm sure many of you can relate.
Hopefully this marks the start of a productive phase of blogging, but we'll see what happens. It feels like travelling might be a possibility sooner rather than later, and that's a nice thing to hold on to.
Let's get back to the post at hand, my evening trip to the stunning Numana. I had a few nights in Ancona (read my post on the city here), as I have a close friend who lives near by, and after exploring Ancona in the day, she picked me up in the evening, so we could visit the small town of Numana.
What an absolute gem of a place it is. If you had an idea of a stereotypical picture perfect Italian town on the coast, then Numana would tick a lot of the boxes. We started with a walk down the beach, and then along a jetty that leads out into the Adriatic Sea.
My home town of Cardiff is on the coast, but I rarely visit that part of the city, and Cardiff Bay, a popular spot, is part of a barrage now, so there are no low or high tides. That means I get pretty happy when I hear the sounds of waves crashing (having no sense of smell or taste, it's nice to appreciate one of my senses at least), and the Adriatic was quite active during my visit.
Visiting in the night certainly added to the experience, and then it was time for us to head up an almighty hill to the main area of the town. Italy has sadly also been hit pretty hard by the Coronavirus and pandemic, but besides the masks, it felt like an almost normal night. People were happy, chatting away, families were out and about, and there was a definite good vibe in the air. Was nice to be a part of.
After climbing up one hill, I wasn't overly thrilled to see a long, steep, street ahead of me, with what seemed like a thousand steps. 'La Costarella' is beautiful though, of that there's no doubt, and when I stopped being overly dramatic, I made the climb alongside my friend. There is also a really cool art feature around two thirds of the way up (third photo in the gallery above), a perfect place to stop, catch your breath, and appreciate what's in front of you! At the top, there is a viewpoint where you can look over the sea, harbour, and beach beneath you, making the climb more that worth it.
From there, it was on to the main square, with a striking looking modern church, The Sanctuary of the Crucifix (Santuario del Crocifisso), and a city hall, where I was delighted to see there was some live music taking place. After going a long time without live music, I was going to take anything I could get, and this act were great. Below is a little snippet of the Italian classic, Volare, or, 'Nel blu, dipinto di blu,' to give it it's correct name (thank you Wikipedia).
The church was more or less directly opposite, and the main square was bustling with life. As mentioned earlier, it was nice to have a brief feeling of normality.
I had a wonderful night, and my friend was a great tour guide. She drove me back to my hotel, and the next day, I paid a visit to the wonderful San Marino, which I wrote about here.
Numana, Italia, is definitely worth a visit if you ever get the chance. Quintessentially Mediterranean, and a perfect evening out.
コメント