La Dolce Vita

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La Dolce Vita “The Good Life”

Saturday 8th October to Saturday 15th October

Feeling a bit sad about leaving, but looking forward to our next destination, we left Malcesine and headed back to Verona by taxi to take the train to Lucca in Tuscany.

3 changes and 4 hours later we arrived feeling rather exhausted and in need of....surprise surprise.... a nice meal. We were staying just outside of Lucca in a renovated barn of an old Tuscan Villa (built in the 1700’s). The villa itself was huge, with acres and acres of land on which there was a swimming pool, vegetable garden (where we picked our own veg) and row after row of olive trees.

At first we were a bit worried about how we would get in to Lucca as there didn’t seem to be any buses and the closest taxi company was in Lucca itself. The taxi companies had the cheek to charge you to come and pick you up, so instead of paying 20 Euros for a one way trip we would’ve had to pay 40 Euros. Luckily though we found a nice taxi driver (Pino) who didn’t rip us off and did the journey at least twice a day for 20 – I am keeping hold of his number in case we go back!!

Whilst in Lucca we thought we would make the most of the public transport and managed to get to Pisa, Florence and the coastal towns/villages of Cinque Terre quite easily (sometimes not so) by train. Am really glad we got to see Cinque Terre because on the 24th October, just over a week after we got back, there have been severe floods and mud slides in most of the towns there. This is a bit strange as it’s happened a few times now we’ve been away – we leave a country and a couple of weeks later they have flash floods......Brisbane in Oz, Thailand, Vietnam and now Italy....maybe we should stay at home!?!?

Whilst in Pisa we of course visited the leaning tower, ate pizza, more gelato, did some shopping and took silly photos (against Phils wishes) of me propping up the tower – haha.

The tower was up right when they first started building it in 1773, but then after the first 2 tiers (it looks like a big layered cake to me – I just couldn’t get away from food!) it started sliding and tilting – instead of just pulling it down and sorting out the problem (not sure why they didn’t!) they stopped building for nearly 100 years but then started up again compensating with curving the building the other way slightly....strange but true. Over the years it has gotten worse and worse until a few years ago they decided to try and sort the problem out slightly and give the tower at least another 300 years of standing (or tilting) bringing more money and tourist in to Pisa to marvel at architecture gone wrong. To do this they basically tied the tower to nearby buildings, dug out tonnes of earth and fill it with concrete (or something similar) to stop it from sinking any more.

The tower isn’t the only thing worth seeing in Pisa, there are a few museums and a beautiful cathedral and of course lots and lots of stalls all selling the same tourist tat. There are also pick pockets – if you do go to Pisa beware of ‘gypsy’ types wandering around pretending to be tourists whilst having a sneaky peek in your trouser pocket or bag!

Pisa was a bit surreal, or at least the tower was. It was another one of those places we have visited after seeing it on the TV so many times and to actually stand right under it is quite strange.

Florence was next on the list. We decided to spend a night in Florence as it took a couple of hours by train to get to and we didn’t want to be rushed. We booked ourselves in to a cheap(ish) converted apartment where the rooms were large and comfortable and the lady that greeted us was really smiley and friendly – which can make all the difference when you’ve previously met some pretty miserable people.

We thought we would just take a general wander around Florence that night as we knew we were close by to all the sights and thought we could explore more the following day. We came across a big street market selling mainly leather bags, leather handmade sandals and touristy stuff. After some gelato we stopped at a restaurant and sat outside watching the world go by whilst eating some more delicious Italian food (even if you just go to Italy for the food and nothing else it is so worth it!).

The next day we went to the Uffizi Museum which is home to Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus, Leonardo di Vinci’s unfinished Adoration of the Magi (wow!) and a few pieces by the great man Michelangelo. A lady (am guessing Italian) was standing in front of The Birth of Venus (where Venus is pictured naked coming out of the sea at the island of Cyprus) absolutely crying her eyes out, tears streaming down her face, loud sobbing and mascara everywhere. I know people get moved by paintings but it was a little dramatic.

We also visited various other museums and sights, but like Venice it’s very hard to explain what Florence is like so I will let the photos do most of the talking. One thing I must say it that Florence is famous for its gelato and vendors compete with one another to produce the best handmade gelato with flavours like Italian meringue/gorgonzola cheese/trifle/rice pudding (complete with actual rice) and crème caramel just to name a few! Our favourite gelato shop in Florence was the Festival del Gelato which since coming home and having a look on the internet it seems to be a few other peoples favourite too, I couldn’t tell you where to find it as we stumbled upon it (twice) as we were just ambling around but if you do get the chance go and grab yourself a seat and at least 3-4 scoops of different gelato.

The next place on our ‘must visit’ list was Cinque Terre. When we were in Australia we saw a programme on Cinque Terre and the beautiful towns that make up this remarkable bit of coast on the western side of Italy. We were originally looking at getting married in Vernazza but changed our minds as it is quite tricky to get to and very very hilly – after going there we are glad we did. It is beautiful, but I don’t think anywhere compares with the old cobbled streets of Malcesine.

We took the train from Lucca to La Spezia which is a bit of a gateway for Cinque Terre, we walked about a mile from the train station down to the sea front (which smelt awful!) and found a few ticket offices in the harbour selling boat tickets to where we wanted to go. Unfortunately there was only 1 boat a day at 9am in the morning!! Feeling very frustrated (as time was getting on) and not wanting to walk all the way back to the train station and wait about for a train we decided to get in a taxi.

We visited two of the five towns, Vernazza and Manarolo as we didn’t have time to see them all. They are UNESCO world heritage sights also (Italy boasts the most world heritage sights in the world) and are stunning. We are planning on going back to Cinque Terre and spending more time here as you can go hiking along the coastal paths and scuba diving in the beautiful clear blue seas. Despite it all being on the cliff edge there is a train that runs along from one town to the next (mainly through tunnels) that was built in the 1800’s or you can walk from place to place. After a few hours having a look around and stopping for some tasty seafood pasta we had to make our way back to Lucca with another 2 hour train journey ahead.

Italy was all we expected it to be, we even managed to learn a bit of Italian whilst we were out there and plan to carry on learning now we are back home. Still on our list is Rome, Pompeii, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia – plus of course a trip back to Malcesine for one of our wedding anniversaries in years to come! Another country ticked off the list (a very long and forever growing list) but we have to go back because we didn’t get to see one of those famous rows by an Italian couple where one minute they are shouting, then kissing and making up and then shouting again. Is this real, or is it just a stereotype? Think some more research is going to have to be done to find out

Thanks all for reading, sorry I have been brief in some places but we saw so much in the 2 and a bit weeks we were away if we were to go in to detail about it all we would be writing for a very long time and boring you all in the process.

Next for our blog will be our trip to Munich and the Black Forest at Christmas in a few short weeks.....bring on the snow, skiing, beer, bratwurst and Christmas markets!

Ciao for now.

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