Beach Bliss

Forget fashion, can I be the beach whisperer? Tuerredda beach, about a twenty minute drive from Pula, boasts some of the best waters and whitest sands I've ever seen in Europe. I'm talking prime Bahamian blues and sparkling Cancun greens. However, apart from checking all the necessary paradise on Earth boxes, Tuerredda, unlike the aforementioned dunes of the Caribbean or Central America, is completely undeveloped and retains all the charm of a beach of a 1950s film. Hardly a tourist in sight, local families flock to fill its shores (the downside of which is that all the good longue chairs have been reserved for the whole summer). However, given that the private beach at our hotel seemed to operate on the same basic principle (we arrived and were told there were absolutely no lettini available for the whole of our stay), we were merely glad to have a palce to sit beyond the grasps of our hotel's beach chair Nazis!





What really makes this scene so brilliantly idyllic is the adorable little shack bar and restaurant belonging to one stretch of the beach, Ristorante Ciao Ciao, where my mother swore she had the freshest fish she'd had in ages (and she's from Japan, so that's saying something). And my pizza quattro formaggi, which I delightfully crammed down my mouth despite my bikini and crop top clad status, was no less delicious I'm sure. The restaurant, complete with blue and white tiling, matching beachwood walls and fences and rickety ceiling fans circa 1955, screamed out: photoshoot location! I can just see it, Carmen Miranda inspired styling..bright coloured dresses piled high with bangles and big hair to boot. Or American Apparel beachy sultriness, ripped denim shorts with printed bikini tops, come-hither-bedroom hair, hoards off ethinc jewellery and ridiculous sky high sandals. I could go on.






All this was capped off by a leathery old Italian man selling his Pecorino cheese from a cart on the way back to the main road. Cheese and sand, what more does one really need? The whole vibe was just like stepping back into a happier, simpler time where high waisted bikini briefs and swim caps were all the rage, milkshakes were milkshakes and life was a surfin safari. Come on and safari with me...