Day trip to Ancona

The view from the tower at the "beach" end of Ancona when we first arrived.
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As Abi and Shannon were catching their ferry to Greece from Ancona and we also wanted to visit a town on the Adriatic, we set off early for Ancona. The trip through the mountains surrounding the Umbrian Valley was so different. You could imagine the snow here in winter and the houses and land felt almost Swiss.

Ancona itself was unremarkable to us, as it was so hot by the time we go there, we wanted to do the essentials only and headed straight to the coast. We were greeted by the deep blue of the Adriatic, fading seamlessly to the deep blue sky in the heat haze. The water directly below the cliffs of the town however, appeared more of a green colour, but was very clear. There was sand only on the pay beach. Everywhere else was a rocky foreshore. However, it being so hot, I was not to be deterred by any of this and we headed down a path to find we were in a place of the authentic Ancona "bach". These were little garage like buildings all lined up by the water and rocks. Some were occupied with locals with their lilos and beach umbrellas. We found an unoccupied one and the girls enjoyed the shade and putting their feet gingerly in the water while I enjoyed a swim. There was absolutely no wind and the water was very warm on the surface.

The view along the " public beach" end of Ancona town. Clear water, but had a green tinge to it.
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After heading back to a café for lunch, we took the girls to their hostel (which was "closed" until 4:30pm). By this time there was a queue of people wanting to check in, so we left them to it and headed home. At 6pm we noted a temperature sign saying 38 degrees, so it was probably over 40 during the peak of the day.

Ancona probably has a lot more to offer than we discovered. We did not even find the "Centro Storica" (the historical centre), which every town has, as it was just too hot to explore either on foot or in the black Fiat Punto..

A view back to the tower we went up when we first arrived.
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However, we returned to Montefalco, happy to have seen the Adriatic and had the experience of Ancona, in another province (Marche). It was interesting as we came back in to Umbria, we could sense it and it felt like coming "home"…