"A 300_m walk to a wonderful beach -- can it be any better (especially, but not only, for a family with young children)?

(See maps.google.com: "Viale Sardegna in San Giovanni, Posada, Italia" -- zoom in until you get into the street view mode, and walk north to the beach..)

The beach is wonderful: clean, fine sand, and the crystal clear water shallow over many (at least 20) metres into the sea -- just ideal for your children to learn swimming.

Right at the beach, a "pineta" (pine copse) offers shadow and a particularly relaxing atmosphere.

(Still, a parasol on the beach allows you even better to watch your plashing kids from the shadow).

On the way from the flat to the beach, you pass an inviting "gelateria" (ice-cream for the kids and espresso for their parents :-)) and a little shop with almost everything on sale you need (including a special gadget that allows you to firmly set up your parasol in the beach sand).

At the beach, a couple of small bars and pizzeria type restaurants take care of your needs -- but everything looks chary and hardly reminds of a popular tourist beach. By the way -- we didn''t notice any hotel in the surroundings, just nice one- or two-story summer residences in blooming gardens. And outside the village, there is both the special landscape of the "stagno" in the north and stunning views into mountains of various height to the west and south-west.

So, the flat is in perfect surroundings. And despite the street leading directly to the beach, the whole area was very quiet during both evening and night hours.

Oh yes, and the flat itself:

First of all, we were struck by it being so clean -- no dust, no smell (neither smoke nor anything else) -- almost allergy proof, I''d guess.

Everything was really made for us to enjoy living there -- we felt most welcome!

All bed rooms have spacious wardrobes, the bed mattresses were new and clean (no smell at all).

One room has a true double bed, the other one has two singles that can be placed right next to each other or at any distance.

The third room is somewhat smaller and has a bunk bed -- with our two children, we didn''t need it all.

The living room has the dining table for six, a sofa for three to four, the TV set, a cupboard, and plenty of space and chairs.

The kitchen is a bit small, but fully equipped (including an electric kettle) and perfectly functional.

(Just a toaster and a microwave oven really didn''t fit in. Still, if you need these, bring them -- you''ll find some place for them in the living/dining room.)

Only to make you prepared: The stove runs on gas, not electricity. But that''s really easy to get accustomed to!

The tap water had some slight chlorine taste (like on the ferry from Genova to Sardignia) that doesn''t go very well with tea (didn''t spoil the coffee, though) -- but if you really mind, it''s so easy to buy bottled water in the near-by (100_m) shop..!

Also the bathroom isn''t exactly ample, but it has everything you need (if you can live without a bathtub), and the laundry machine did a perfect job for us!

In the evening hours, we really enjoyed sitting on the veranda -- at least in June, midges weren''t an issue at all.

Oh, and the owners: charming! Surprised us with self-grown vegetables (I''ll never forget these wonderful cucumbers!), but didn''t disturb at all. (You had better speak, or at least understand, just a few words of Italien, though.) All the communication beforehand went very nicely by English E-mail with their kind son.

If you still want to be anywhere away from both the flat and the beach:

For your bigger shopping, you''ll find two supermarkets (one "dico" and one slightly more distinguished one), together with an amazing fish shop, right at the entrance of Posada (assuming you go there by car from San Giovanni). Note: They''re totally closed from 1 to 5 pm (approx.)!

Posada itself is worth exploring -- don''t miss the old town up the hill. There is a tourist ...