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Published: December 10th 2006
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Tuscany - November 2006
We flew into Rome from JFK and then flew to Florence. Our motor coach with our cool driver, Pepito, and our accommodating guide, Enza, picked us up in the late afternoon and took us to the very hilly medieval town (as most Tuscan towns are) of Arezzo. This was charming, but we were tired. Our home for a week Villa Casa Grande in Figline Valderno was wonderful - old, restored, very comfortable, wonderful plumbing fixtures and great water pressure. It was nice stay in one centrally located villa and not to have to pack up and move on every morning or so. This was a great hub location for a Tuscan experience. We were welcomed with a wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres and a Tuscan feast in a close to museum setting.
We loved this itinerary, although it was a bit ambitious and there were times when we just hated to leave one town for the next gem, but given the constraints of time, we moved on. We had very competent local guides in most places. There is nothing like a passionate art historian - like we had in Florence - to bring ancient history
to life. We can hardly wait to go back. On our tour we visited Florence Fiernenzi- which we loved - for a full day, and then had split days. San Gimigano (which some tour books call touristy, but we would not wanted to have missed) and Sienna (where we actually saw the relic of St. Catherine’s head and where we were hard put to imagine the excitement of the colorful and famous Palio horse race around the Piazza).
The “foodie” in me must report that we had great Italian style sandwiches in San Gimigano where we also discovered that Fanta Orange Soda is the best drink in Italy (next to vino) and we rested with a nice pairing of gelato and wine on the Piazza in Sienna. Next day was shared by Lucca - which has a wonderful statue of Santa Lucia (Vivian Lucia’s patron saint) and then Pisa. Lucca was great we shopped for the children in an independent toy shop/book store and shared a great snack. We had been told - is this sounding familiar - that Pisa was very “touristy,” au contraire - of course it is a tourist attraction with lots of people gawking and
Every Day Life in San Gimigano
Wash lines, weather so mild a carpenter can work outside, and delicious scenery --- Tuscany! sellers hawking, but it absolutely blew us away with an almost surreal view once inside the gate. We had been flagged off by our tour guide that sitting to eat on the piazza was expensive - but we happily ignored the advice and enjoyed our lunch "cum people watching" seated with the leaning tower in view at Antica Anonietta Trattoria - I was, by then, on an adventurous food kick and had a great bowl of Florentine Peas - delicioso honest! A funny thing happened when half of our group boarded a shuttle back to the motor coach and our guide was still on the sidewalk warning us - “There are Gypsies on your bus guard your purses!” So we did. The scenery around Lucca / Pisa is wonderful - especially a section called Mont Pleasant. Our last day was in Assisi. St. Francis has always been a favored saint for this rather secular person - and I am now driven to go to the library and check out Lives of the Saints. We loved this serene, simple and beautiful town. There was more beautiful scenery on the way in and on the way out of Assisi, as was the
Olive Harvest
We were in Tuscany during the olive harvest. First they spread a net under the olive tree. Then they get on ladders and shake the branches, sometimes using long strips of cloth to throw around the branch and then pull from both ends. World's best olive oil. case with all of our Tuscan experience.
Tuscany is noted for its food. All but two of our dinners were at the villa beginning with a delicious pasta course (different sauce and type of pasta each night), then a secundi or second course with meat and vegetables, and dessert. Breakfast was a nice spread of pastry and fruit with good coffee. There was a fun wine bar out the back gate of the villa, La Porta de Chianti. We enjoyed great, fun lunches featuring local specialties at restaurants like Baldevino on Via Giuseppe in Florence. Also in Florence, we had a nice meal with our whole group at BiBo near the Ponte Vecchio. A high end restaurant - Torre de Ginestra - on the central piazza in Figline Valdarno provided a unique Tuscan eating experience (there were 8 of us and one of our party had her beef served on the hot rock upon which it had been cooked). The waiter was so accomodating, he pulled the English speaking chef out of the kitchen to translate the entire menu for us. He also offered a fixed price "wine pairing" opportunity which wasn't on the menu but, at $35 Euro
Funny Waiter
Dinner at Casa Grande was fun as this server demonstrates for the camera. - including wine for three courses - was a great choice for us.
We peeled off from our group for a whole day when four of us walked to the train station at Figline - took a commuter express to Florence - and then went to a sea side town called Viareggio - near Carrara (famous for its white marble) on the coast of the Ligurian Sea (this was a summer resort in its off season and we never saw another tourist until our return to Florence that evening). The highlights for us included finding our way (remember off season - the visitors center was closed) and a walk from the train station to the beach and pier, a great lunch with wine at Balena (overlooking the water), using our phrase book ever so gingerly and somewhat incorrectly when ordering food, a walk to the marina where boats from around the world bobbed at their docks and seeing local fishermen who displayed their exotic merchandise - catch(es) of the day along a picturesque warf, haggling at a local market, and our daily ration of gelato. It was great! Next time, we have set our sights further up the coast
where the high cliffs are footed by pristine beaches at Cinque Terra.
Leaving for the airport the morning after Assisi, after our Tuscan feast farewell dinner the night before, was EARLY! But we had a great time and can’t wait for another Italian adventure.
This was a great trip. The pros of group travel include that you can nap and read in the bus, avoid lines because your guide has made reservations, save time as you don’t get lost on the highways and byways, and that you have the advantage of an English speaking guide - which are pretty big PROS.
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