Childhood Memories of Lido di Jesolo

My daughter asked me today what I remember most about the summer holidays when I was little, I was surprised how quickly it all flooded back as I recounted tales of being in awe of the ‘Air Hostess’ (you were allowed to call them that way back then) when we used to travel overseas on our family holidays. I remember my mum had bought me a doll that had looked just like her on the plane.

It got me thinking about those summers, and wondering will my children remember like I do?

Family holidays have changed so much over time with the inception of the all-inclusive holiday resorts that have everything under the sun, the kind of hotels that you never have to leave the grounds once you have checked in. I’m not knocking these hotels and they are popular with a lot of my clients looking for their family holidays, but when I was a child on holiday, we were either catering ourselves, or we were at most half board.

When I was younger, I loved returning to school after the long summer break. But I was lucky, during this break I got to spend my time in Italy. Always with mum and sometimes with my aunt and grandparents.

Strutting through the door in September, I was always keen to share my stories and vividly remember completing a painting in art which, in my 9-year-old view, perfectly encapsulated Venice and the glass blowing factory, complete with a canal and a gondola. It also featured with a Gondolier in his blue and white striped top and straw hat. I remember it so well, because Mr Taylor, my primary school teacher at the time said that it was so good he would put it up in the corridor for display – I helped him. And I remember the smell of the spray glue that we used to back it to the paper and mount it to the wall outside my classroom.

I also remember the excitement, in anticipation of being allowed to eat Spaghetti Bolognese every mealtime at the hotel, only to be told at the age of 9 – it doesn’t exist in Italy! The explanation as to the reason for this would be a whole other blog in its own right -suffice to say the numbness was short when I discovered that there were all sorts of alternative pasta dishes that you could try, with various concoctions of sauces.

When I returned home to tell everyone of my findings I felt like Columbus after he got home from the new world, although not many of my peers believed me! Of course most grownups these days (and possibly some children) who have travelled to Italy probably already know this fact about one our most loved pasta dishes – I wager you there are lots of you that did not know that, and are now opening google to ask am I right!

I also remember the feeling of the sand in my toes, of paddling in the sea and of watching my mum lie on her sun lounger, of the walks that we would take up the sea front till we reached Piazza Mazzini, the heart of Lido Di Jesolo. Here there was a funfair and entertainment for us to watch while mum had a glass of wine and we could watch the fountains.

I think I remember these details so well because I can recount the sounds, the sights, the smells of the street vendors in Venice. How hot it was in the glass blowing factory, and how I wanted so much to wear a mask like the ones they sold on the stalls in the streets. The ones that have been decorated so perfectly with glitter and ribbon and remind me of a masquerade.

I remember the colour of the water in the canals as the gondola sailed up them. And, how the gondolier would point out to show us all the things he wanted us to know about his beloved city.

I remember all this because I was there… what will your children remember when they are asked about their summer holidays as a child?

Want to know more about family holidays to Lido di Jesolo?

Or how you can get your family out of the usual All-Inclusive style holiday and experience more on your next holiday?

Give me a call, what have you got to lose?

Claire