Italy and Tuscany 2018
Marseille
October 4, 2018
Today we had our last breakfast on the Crystal Serenity. I heard one gentleman telling his daughter on the phone that what has been so unique is not the quantity of food but the quality. It has all been delicious be it a burger at the grill, Italian at Prego, sushi at Silk Road, or elegant meals in the dining room. They get you off the ship early so we were at our hotel by 9:00 am.
After discussing places to visit and looking over the map we headed out. This is a city of one million which makes it the largest place we have been to in a while. It has a metro and many bus lines. We like to walk to get a feel for the place we are staying. Our hotel is next to the huge football (soccer) stadium which is about 2 miles from the historic area and parks that we wanted to visit. We were warned that the walk to Notre-Dame De La Garde was up a steep hill. Didn’t occur to us that it was sitting on top of a cliff. This is usually where people in these parts plant a fortress. We were very glad that we decided to go to this church first. Mass was being held and the woman who was cantor had a beautiful voice. Hearing a service in French was interesting. We only stayed for part of the service as people were streaming into church and out and if you didn’t find a seat you fought for your space in the back. The cathedral was huge but the seating space was quite small. It was more simply adorned on the inside than a lot of cathedrals we have been in. No walls filled with frescoes and tones of gold. It was elegant but also had model boats and planes from all eras hanging in the back of the church. A gold statue of Mary tops the church and she is the patron saint and protector of sea vessels and fishermen. It had towers and domes that are part of most the church’s architecture in this area but it also had a draw bridge! This was unique. Seems the first use for the building high on this rock was, you guessed it, a fortress.
We climbed down the hill to the harbor area and found a couple more churches to visit. We have heard how no one goes to church in Europe but we saw four large churches today all filled with worshipers. In the historic area there is a large cathedral that looked much like the Italian cathedrals covered in multicolored marble and limestone on the outside. There were police all around, lots of people were streaming in even though it was afternoon, the boy and girl guides were being put to work, a large choir was rehearsing, and the front was closed off for dignitaries and being guarded. Large screens were outside and a satellite dish. After talking with folks we realized that later today was the ceremony where Jean-Baptistery Fouque was going to be granted sainthood. Wow! This isn’t something that happens very often in the Catholic Church. Jean-Baptiste Fouque was a French Roman Catholic priest. He tended to the poor during his time as a parish priest in Marseille and was noted for his desire to create a large and free hospital for them. He achieved this in 1921 and tended to the old and infirm in the hospital. Fouque also was known for his ministering to displaced peoples during WWI and for his commitment to evangelism. We learned something today about someone who spent his life serving others.
The old town portion of Marseille is large and built in the medieval period. The people built two forts, one on either side of a bay that is filled with sailboats. One was built to protect the harbor and the other to protect the government from the people. The guns were actually pointed toward town from this one. The folks of old didn’t like crooked government so the governing folks built a huge fort to protect themselves. Both had great lookout points that now offer great views of the city and water. The old church, there is always a church, is large and simple and built out of stone. They did not adorn churches much in the Middle Ages. The buildings lining the skinny, curved streets had many modern murals. Some buildings are newer as old ones were bombed in WWII. A little new with the old. This area was known through history as a place for immigrants and today this is still true. Many of the people we saw living there, including the children playing on the squares, looked like they were from the Middle East. Music sounded like that from Turkey or other middle eastern countries. Europe has accepted so many refugees from Syria and other countries. This looks like one place where they have found homes.
We also visited two towns near Nice. Aix-en-Provence is a typical inland town. It had beautiful Victorian era straight boulevard filled with large buildings. It also had the windy cobblestone streets filled with medieval age buildings. We enjoyed the morning marketplace that was filled not only with fresh produce but herbs and products made from local plant materials. It also had the required cathedral. Dean says he is going to do a photo spread of the churches of Tuscany and Provence! Should be good.
By noon the wind had picked up, up to 50 mph sustained winds with clear blue skies! The winds were so strong that we had to hold onto the railings on hilltop terraces not to blow away, literally! Seems these are not unusual occurrences here. We traveled to Cassis to visit the seaside town and to take a boat to the large National Park in the area. With high winds no boats went out and so we had to settle for just a town visit in a beautiful seaside town. With plenty of time to relax we found a cafe with protection from the wind but views of the sea and relaxed. We decided we were being told that we had experienced enough walking and it was time to simply rest. At the end of the day we ran into an Irish Pub and Dean’s Irish ancestry demanded a real Guinness. It got us out of the wind which got stronger as the day went on. We fought our way to a lovely French restaurant for our final dinner here and then fought to get to the Metro. Once underground the way home was easy. So ends this trip to Tuscany and Provence. Three lovely weeks.
St. Tropez
October 2, 2018
We woke to find another quiet medieval town on shore. The difference is that this town is a seaside town rather than one built on a hill. The Mountains kept is isolated for centuries. The only way to get there was by boat. The Greeks lived here several thousand years ago and the Romans helped the Greeks fortify the city to protect it from invasion by the Spanish. In return the Greeks taught the Romans about agriculture. What do you know, every once in a while cultures do work together and everyone wins?!
We checked out the fortress on the hill and walked the crowded streets. It is Saturday and the annual sailing regatta is this weekend. The sailing ships were preparing themselves today and the place is bustling with extra people and excitement. What a fun experience.
We also headed out of town to Bormes les Mimosas which is a medieval village on the top of a hill. Starting to see a theme here? This one had many varied flowering plants. This is a change from what we are used to. In some towns people grow plants in pots but in France we have come to a climate with enough natural water that there is quite the mix of flowers. We enjoy gardens so this is fine with us! After visiting the town we went a ways down the mountain to a small winery. It is family run and they know what they are doing. Wonderful wines! A box with a sampling will arrive on our doorstep next week. Best kind of souvenir is one that helps you remember the journey so this works for us! Today, we were alone in the village and winery. No large groups of people. They really found some place out of the way. This reminded us of the Tuscany part of our trip. Nice to know that there are quiet corners in Provence, too.
We pulled out about 6 pm to head for Marseille, our last stop. Each time we set sail they play ‘What a Wonderful World’ by Louis Armstrong. I read that he recorded the song as a wish to how he wanted the world to be. The Captain commented on what a United Nations this ship is. 59 countries represented by the staff and every continent except Antarctica represented in the guests with less than half being from the USA. Of those from the USA, half are from California. So, they have the largest contingency. It has been a different experience with all the cultures coexisting in one place, a good experience.
Monaco
September 30, 2018
We spent two full days in and around the principality of Monaco. It is the playground of the wealthy with more Bentley and Rolls Royce cars than Toyota’s on the road although Prince Albert is pushing sustainability so electric Smart Cars are abundant since he drives one. The harbors are full of yachts big, large and huge. This part of the world is protected from cold by the Maritime Alps that climb out of the sea, so it is always mild and generally sunny and dry. One can easily understand why the British monarchy chose to winter here and why it became a fashionable place to have a second palace or home. We walked through a number of beautiful gardens that are maintained only through a lot of watering since it hardly ever rains. It is sunny 300 days a year. The blue sky has been beautiful this whole trip! This part of the world was under Italian rule before becoming French (except for the tiny part that is Monaco). You can see influences of both cultures here. The gardens are of the French variety with a lot of flowers but still have the statues that we always saw in the Italian gardens. The late Princess Grace loved roses so there are many types of these beautiful and fragrant flowers. One garden that Prince Rainier had built to honor his wife is almost entirely roses and they are all in bloom right now.
The Rock is the name for the old town part of Monte Carol, Monaco where the Prince’s palace sits as well as the state cathedral, the aquarium and some of the highest price real estate in this high priced area. More beautiful gardens fill in the edges between the sharp cliffs and the buildings. One can get workout climbing up there and it is well worth the effort. Not only is this part of town interesting but also the views are spectacular.
The famous casinos are a big attraction and the ship provided tenders until 2 am for those wanting to visit. We chose not to go and get dressed up (formal dress only) just to loose money but many on the ship went. We enjoyed the dinner and entertainment on board the ship in the evening. Those who went to the casino talked about difficulty getting dinner. No problem on the ship and our food is excellent! Dean has been taking the opportunity to have multiple appetizers, sometimes two entrées or deserts. He does love the food options here!
The annual yacht show was taking place while we visited. We walked around the edge of the marina and could see the boats ($8-110 million each) from above while visiting the Rock area but the tickets to get in were 300 Euros which seemed a bit steep especially since you could only walk around the yachts. To go inside you needed a special invitation. They were beautiful boats and there was a crowd enjoying the show. Wonder if the dealers sold any yachts?
Eze is a medieval town that sits high on a hill behind Monaco. It is one of those towns whose skinny, curvy streets only go up and down hill. Your front door might look out on your neighbors second or third story room. No motorized vehicles are seen but there were donkeys to carry luggage to one of two hotels in town. What fun it is to explore these little towns, watch people, see how dogs and cats find a comfortable corner to curl up and take a nap, and see the church and shops. If we were to ever stay in one of these towns longer than an hour or two it would be fun to enjoy a slow meal in one of the restaurants that spill out on the streets.
Nice is a city in Provence and is next door to Monaco. It is a very pleasant city with a beachfront and has a number of newer buildings mixed in with the old. All the Riviera towns were bombed in WWII and one can see how much was destroyed by how much new construction a place now has. Nice has a lovely promenade, huge park with a two story carousel like you see near the Eiffel Tower, and huge sculptures. Some sculptures are quite old like the fountain with Apollo, and some are new like the men sitting on polls representing peace. We had a wine tasting at a very old wine shop and learned about the history of the grapes that are grown in the Provence region of France. Turns out the Chardonnay grape came from Egypt 2500 years ago, the Rose’ Zinfandel grape came from Greece 6000 years ago and the Grenache from Spain in the Middle Ages. History lesson for today. Again, the Maritime Alps govern the weather and make this a great region to grow grapes.
Our final place visited during our two days was Cap Ferrat, a beautiful peninsula between Monaco and Nice. Beatrice Rothschild built a beautiful villa on top of a hill with extensive gardens where one can see in all directions. The series of outdoor garden rooms were magnificent and the water features which ‘danced’ to classical music were quite entertaining. Inside, the home is filled with artwork. This museum was a very pleasant surprise as we had never heard of it.
There is a lot to do in this little corner where France and Italy meet a tiny principality of Monaco. The folks don’t like the large cruise ships coming in so Prince Albert is trying to get a port built in Italy for the ships. Then only busses will go through and crowds of tourists won’t be roaming the streets where the wealthy live. We are glad we came now. It was an interesting place, a pleasant place and one that we can check off the travel list.
Cinque Terre
September 27, 2018
We woke to watch our large ship, Crystal Serenity, parallel park behind a huge ship, Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas in La Spezia’s harbor. Impressive! Symphony has over 6000 passengers and Serenity has about 1000. Another ship is docked close by with another 1000. That puts a lot of folks into the small towns in this area today. We took a day long tour of Cinque Terre which is an area in the Italian Riviera where 5 towns cling to the rocky cliffs. Today we walked three of the towns, Porto Venre, Riomaggiore, and Vernazza Monterossa. Because these towns each hang off the sharp cliffs in north west Italy the train or boat are the way to get there. We traveled to all three by boat and then took the train back to La Spezia. It was another beautiful, clear, mild day which made the boat ride and walks through the towns marvelous. The coast of Italy has sharp tall stone cliffs that are imposing and beautiful. Inhabitants have carved terraced hills to produce grapes for wine. It has all been done by hand as thee is no way to get machines onto the hills to help. They are known for two white wines they make so we had to try the dry one. Sweet wine didn’t seem very enticing.
In the 1970’s a train track/tunnel was built through the rocky hills that allows quick travel between these towns and the rest of the world. This opened the towns to tourism and an easier way to sell their wine. Foot paths are the original communication link between the towns. We had planned on walking between the first two towns but a rock slide has closed several trails including the one we wanted to walk. So, we traveled by boat.
The towns have steep (very steep) narrow streets with no cars. What a change of pace! But, they had many small fishing boats ‘parked’ on the steep streets. We tried to imagine the effort it takes to drag a boat up the steep hills and park it! Can’t. It is too hard to imagine. A few boats are in each town’s small harbors but mostly there are people swimming in the rocky turquoise waters and the boats are parked on the streets.
We enjoyed our ‘hikes’ in each town. The buildings were interesting, the churches were simple and welcoming, and the food was good. We enjoyed pizza in the last town. The hot brick ovens that are so plentiful here produce delicious pies in a few minutes!
One special memory. The first town had an elderly man waving from his small balcony above a shop. He was smiling at everyone and pointing out the pretty flowers on his deck and shouting ‘benvenuto’, welcome. This one man put smiles on the faces of many people today. It is amazing what one person can do with a smile, greeting and waving to make so many feel welcome.
We rode the train home. The tunnel blasted through the stone mountains was long and impressive. It wasn’t as fun as our boat rides but was very fast. We were all pretty tired so it was the perfect way home. Or as they say here ‘perfecto’.
Livorno
September 25, 2018
We woke up this morning in Livorno to a hope that the hot summer temperatures might be coming to an end and cooler weather has arrived. We had to dig to find our jackets but we found them! Livorno is a port city and cruise ships use it mainly as a stopping off point to take people inland to Florence or Pisa. Since we just spent a week and a half in that area we decided to explore Livorno. This town has several miles of oceanfront, all of which is filled with boats big and small. We started our walk in the morning and were treated to watching the fishermen getting ready to head out. One elderly man was repairing a net with a tool that looked like a cross between a crochet hook and a knife. His fingers worked fast and a hole was quickly filled. Younger men were loading nets, cages and other items on board the various fishing boats and would quickly head out to sea. Large cargo ships were unloading huge amounts of cargo at a time with robotic cranes. The geeky parts of us were fascinated by the technology and speed at which trucks were filled from the side of a ship. Other parts of the oceanfront were shallow and rocky and had lovely parks to enjoy the view. The palm trees had interesting berries the size of olives and the deciduous trees’ leaves are starting to turn a beautiful shade of yellow! Autumn in Tuscany. One park, the Terrazza Mascagni, is a Victorian era promenade whose patterned marble walkway encourages you to slow down and linger and that is exactly what we did do.
As with all seaside towns this one has fortresses that were built in the 1500’s to protect the town, two of them. A small fortress by the sea, Fortezza Vecchia, and a larger one, Fortezza Nuova, a few blocks into town that is completely surrounded by a moat. Today, the interior portion of the Fortezza Nuova is a lovely park with a view of the town. Another great spot to stop and enjoy the view.
Livorno is nicknamed Little Venice as it has a number of canals that the streets and buildings wrap around. There are lots of boats docked along the canals. They are parked as tight as the cars along the side of the roads in Italy. Most are pleasure crafts or fishing boats. A few look like people live on them. One has to be ok with walking a foot wide catwalk to get to the boat because that is the only way to reach the boats.
Catholic churches, plural, there are multiple Catholic Churches in each town. Most have s Duomo, the cathedral, and a number of smaller churches. This town had one street with five and three were right next door to each other! Why, was our question. Tournament out that all three were built in the 1600’s. One by Armenians, one by Greeks and one had five alters, one each for six nationalities (French, Portuguese, Flemish, Corsica....). We are guessing but it seems that the immigrants wanted their own space to worship where they were comfortable.
Another thing that the Italian towns that we have visited have in common is a marketplace. In Cincinnati we have Findlay Market. Their market places are much larger and are filled with produce, meat, seafood, pasta and bakery items; many vendors with each type of shop. This one even had shops carrying paper products, cleaning supplies and other typical items we find in grocery stores. There are vendors outside the main building selling their wares, too.
It was a relaxing day even if we did walk a long way. We spent late afternoon resting on the ship. Reading, listening to online lectures, doing puzzles, sleeping. Dean even took an unprecedented two hour nap in a shady corner near the pool. We both needed a day to recharge. It felt great!
Elba
September 24, 2018
Elba is an island off the Tuscan Coast that played an important role in ensuring ships could safely travel to and from central Italy. The town of Portoferro is on one end of Elba and is completely fortified including two forts built to protect the waters from pirates that might come from any direction. Today we climbed the hill first to Stella fortress and heard about its history including how the Spaniards fortified the walls by making them very thick. These thick walls not only kept out pirates and withstood guns and cannons but also WWII bombs. The fort has numerous winding passages including underground ones used to hide. We walked to the other side of town and climbed the multilevel Medicee (or Falcons) fortress that is higher, bigger, was built first and has towers placed at different altitudes and directions that allowed solders to view what was happeneing in any direction. Today, we appreciated the magnificent views of the turquoise water filled with sail boats and neighboring land. Much of both of these fortresses still stand today.
The most famous inhabitant was Napoleon. He landed in Elba when excommunicated due to loosing 90% of the French army to a Russian winter. He only lived in Elba 10 months before escaping and in that time he managed to turn a villa between the two forts into his home, he supported the project to turn an unused church into a theater, built rodes through town, and had a school constructed. He snuck out of town and back to France only to loose the battle of Waterloo and seal his fate.
Portoferrio had a simple looking church on the exterior and a surprisingly ornate interior. Napoleon traveled with an artist who used the trompe l’oeil technique to paint every room in the villa, the curtain on the theater and the church walls. The paintings are well done and are still visible. This small town was interesting, pretty and had some amazing views
Rome
September 22, 2018
Our biking group all rode a bus to Rome and we parted ways as we headed to different hotels late in the morning. As with Florence, there are many hotels tucked away in the old buildings. Some hotels were built as such rather than being converted from something else, but there are more tucked between shops. We are staying at the Spagna Avenue near the Spanish Stairs. We are surrounded by designer shops just as we were in Florence. We put in a lot of miles walking this interesting city. Nancy said that Florence had many museums to visit but Rome is one huge museum. There are few straight streets so it was easy to turn a corner and be surprised with the Colosseum, the Pantheon or a beautiful fountain or a cathedral. We were told this city has 943 churches. It seemed like there was one on every piazza or corner! We only visited a handful, each one spectacular in design. I feel more comfortable in the simple churches high on the hills in Tuscany but for shear opulent beauty, Rome does provide.
During our three days here we took tours through the Colosseum, Palentine Hill and ruins, the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica and square, the Jewish quarter and a food tour. Each tour was very interesting and had surprises. The Sistine Chapeland St. Peter’s were both so ornate that it was hard to focus on one thing. Our guide did a great job of explaining what we were going to see and the meaning behind the ornate artwork. Huge help! The ruins were so large and our guide loved sharing history and was fun and interesting, but the food tour won the ‘most fun’ award. We walked to a cheese shop for wine and cheese, a meat shop for pastrami and other meats and wine, to a bakery for deep fried cheese balls, fried artichokes and beer, to a restaurant where we made our own pizzas, and to a gelato shop. For desert. We were stuffed and had talked to a lot of shop owners and tried local food and adult beverages. Great fun with some walking to help work off a bit of the previous course before eating the next.
The Tivoli fountain is called the Elvis of fountains because it is so flashy. It lived up to its reputation, and we enjoyed the ornate fountain with about a thousand of our closest friends. Rome has many fountains and piazzas with a fountain, obelisk, or statue and usually a church. It is a city that does not disappoint when it comes to seeing interesting architecture or ancient ruins or beautiful spaces. Traveling through this city is like walking along a spiderweb where you can’t see around the corner, but we did get to know the piazzas and they helped guide us home each day.
People gave us many recommendations for restaurants. There wasn’t a bad one in the ones we tried. One that stood out was Collins Emilane which is a small family run restaurant where they make everything from scratch. They are known for their pasta so I had one of my favorites, pumpkin ravioli. Dean had tortellini and both were amazing. We were sitting right by the desert case so we skipped having anything else to save room for desert. They did not disappoint!
Like Paris, Rome has a river dividing it, the Tevere. It is long with lots of bridges and divides the city up. Rome is known for its 7 hills. We climbed the Spanish Stairs and park behind them to enjoy the views of town from one hill. I don’t think we found all 7 hills but climbed a number of them. As with all ancient cities there are layers of buildings as subsequent generations build on top of ruins of previous ones. There were plenty of ‘ holes’ between buildings that made one wonder if they weren’t digging a new sewer line and discovered an ancient temple or village and so a new archeological site was formed. Rome is fun to wander around and be open to discovering whatever you will find around a corner. Wear good shoes as the cobblestone streets are kind of rough on the feet and legs. We saw young women in spiked heals walking the cobblestones. Looked like a recipe for disaster, but the Italians are stylish!
Biking Tuscany, day six
September 22, 2018
It is another beautiful, sunny morning. Mornings are cool here. It is nice to need a jacket. It will warm up soon enough and be a hot afternoon but now the hint of autumn is in the air. Today we climb on our bikes to take our last tour through Tuscany. We ride on the low rolling hills of the valley 15 mile to the sea and an ancient fishing village. There are olive groves and vineyards looking like they are ready for harvest. The grapes in one vineyard are being harvested and will soon be turned into wine. Someone has piled the squash harvest into little mounds around a field. Tomatoes are bright red in the fields. They make wonderful sauce from these, and the pasta is so much better than what we get at home. We pass some low lying areas that were marsh land or shallow lakes until the Middle Ages when the mosquitoes killed many due to the malaria they carried. A series of canals and a river now keep this land dry and it is mostly left untouched for wildlife. It looks much like Ohio in early autumn. Some flowers and bushes are dead and some leaves are changing color, pine cones and nuts are falling from the trees. The tiny lizards that are so plentiful scurry in front of our bikes as we ride. One little guy scurried in front of Dean’s bike but realized that a car was passing Dean so it quickly made an about face and scurried back between his wheels. These little guys are quick!
Castiglione della Pescaia is an ancient fishing village high on a hill by the sea. Before the year 800, the Tuscan’s were self ruling and always built towns high on the rocky hills. Then the Romans conquered them and started building villages in low lands where roads could easily reach them. You can tell how old towns are here by where they are built. Casiglione has a newer part down near the sea and now has beautiful beaches and marinas and is a popular vacation destination for Europeans. We climbed the hill to see the old part. It was beautiful and rugged and had an amazing views from all sides. There was an old Catholic Church very similar to one we saw yesterday, this one had a haunting painting over the alter of Christ’s body being taken from the cross. It also had a baptismal font in a nook with the symbol of the Holy Spirit above it. You had to be in the nook to notice its beauty and simplicity. After a few hours of exploring and trying one more gelato, or in Dean’s case two because we had two recommendations, we biked back to the ranch, Montebelli.
There is a 500 year old Oak Cork tree sitting on top of a hill on the ranch. It overlooks hill after rolling hill of olive groves and vineyards. They say the ancient oak tree at Montebelli is an invitation for self-reflection and spiritual contemplation. There are benches to sit and reflect while enjoying the beautiful hills. We visited it this afternoon and stayed until a thunderstorm chased us back down the hill. The tree has survived lightning strikes but we weren’t sure that we would!
Tonight our small group had our last large Tuscan meal together. It has been a trip of exploration, of stretching our physical limits, of making new friends, and of intimately getting to know some of the local people by stay on their farms and talking and learning what is important to them. Agritourism is big in this part of Italy and is an enjoyable way to be immersed in the culture. Biking gave us the opportunity to see areas that we would never know to go to on our own. We slowly traveled the back roads, the hill villages, two national forest areas and to two areas by the sea. We biked 165 miles and climbed 8,810 feet with four all day bike trips and two days of short trips. There is another Tuscan biking tour farther inland that is supposed to have higher hills that the ones we explored. We have seen them in the distance. I’m rather glad that we unknowingly picked the ‘wimpy’ tour as some of our riding friends call it. It was challenging enough and we had a marvelous time.
Biking Tuscany, day five
September 20, 2018
Well, we did it! We biked the longest, toughest route that either of us has ever attempted! We biked 75 km, or 47 miles, on roads similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road went up and down hills, had many sharp turns and switchbacks as it hugged the hills. And it had an incredible view! Once we got high enough in the hills we left the cypress, olive and cork trees behind and the forest looked much like the Appalachian Mountains with mature trees, small bushes and wildflowers. We heard lizards scurrying through leaves, bees and wasps, birds as we rode by. We were on the lookout for wild boar, deer and peacocks as they live in this area. A few people did see a peacock. There were small towns built on top of the rocky cliffs, some looking like they have been hanging there for over a thousand years. Towns with names like Castagneto, Donoratio, Sassetta, Suvereto, Gavorrano, and Filare greeted us. Walking around the cobblestone streets of a couple of them was an enjoyable break that gave our legs, behinds, hands, arms and shoulders a welcome break. Suvereto even had the ruins of a castle at the top of the hill above the town. What a view that castle had! School children played with balls in a fenced in area by the school. I was imagining tracking a loose ball that might go over the fence. It was a long way down the mountain from where they played!
There are 16 of us spending our days riding, eating, exploring and getting to know each other this week. About half of the group are avid bikers who have taken biking vacations before and half of us enjoy biking but have never spent a week on a biking vacation. It has been fun to get to know our new friends who hail from New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Minnesota, Texas, and California. We all came for different reasons and are enjoying the trip together.
We were told at the beginning of the trip that our bikes would be our best friends on the trip. We have been very thankful that our ‘friends’ have motors that can give us a boost up hill while peddling or help with a strong head wind. They are much heavier bikes but as long as you peddle and the battery lasts you can get help from the power assist. We were warned about using it too much as we would wear down the battery and then you are simply stuck with a heavy bike. Everyone seems to have headed the advise since we all made it to our next hotel with charge in the battery. Half of the people are riding standard bikes and I’m extremely impressed with their endurance.
We ended the ride at our new hotel, the Montebelli, which is inland in a valley. It looks like a a Tuscany ranch with modern interiors. The pool was a popular way to cool down and smooth tired bodies as folks rolled in about 4:30. Tonight we met the owner and learned about the grapes grown and wine produced and olives grown and oil produced. Then we had our first Italian BBQ. There are a lot more vegetables grilled than one sees in a typical US barbeque. Tomorrow we will check out some of the trails on the ranch.
Biking Tuscany, day four
September 18, 2018
Today was a rest and rejuvenation day.We had a choice whether to ride 40 km or 24.Almost everyone chose to enjoy this beautiful area and then ride the short ride starting at 11 am.It was raining which cooled down the temperature and it quit mid morning which made for a very pleasant day.The Tombolo puts on quite the breakfast buffet!We knew it would be good as the guides were excited about it.We enjoyed a slow breakfast with lots of caffeinated drinks.Dean likes long breakfasts where he drinks a pot of coffee while reading a few newspapers, so it was nice to have our first late morning.
We rode through olive grove after olive grove with an occasional vineyard sprinkled in until we arrived at Fonte di Foiano Oil Mill. It is a lovely olive tree farm that stretches up a steep hill (It’s the only kind they have around here.). In the middle is the family home, a Virgin olive oil production site and a restaurant. We learned about how extra virgin olive oil is made from someone who knows how to do it right and loves to tell the story of the family farm and explain the intricacies of the business. We played with the family dog who made a game of chasing and capturing some of the many tiny lizards that live here. She was so funny. The lizards are fast and so it she. Sure keeps her in shape! We had a three course vegetarian meal like last night but this one highlighted the oil. We learned a lot and had a wonderful time. And, we know what to look for in a good oil. Not bad for a few hours!
After a ride down hill back to the hotel, the rest of the afternoon and evening was enjoyed on the beach. School started today around here so, the beach was pretty quiet today. The beach is interesting because there are no shells, little seaweed, no birds, and we have only seen a couple of little fish near shore. There are lots of very smooth stones or very soft sand, but little signs of life. We watched he’s the sun set on the beach and then had a slow, enjoyable Italian dinner on the beach. Magnifico! Tomorrow is our longest ride, so it was great to have a day of rest.
Biking Tuscany, day three
September 16, 2018
Today was considered a light biking day. We biked 29 km in the morning and 15 more in the afternoon. Although the terrain was much flatter than yesterday we got to ride on dirt paths, sand, stone roads and really bad asphalt. So, it was a bit challenging. My hands, wrists and shoulders are feeling the stress from the death grip I put on the handle bars. The view was magnificent! Renascence painters did not exaggerate the beauty of the rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves and the sea. Our lunch was in the small town of Bolgheri. On our way there a line of about thirty vintage cars went by. We got to enjoy an impromptu car show. What fun! We ate at a winery and tasted some types of wines that we have not been exposed to. Red grapes of many types grow plentifully here and some of the vineyards look like it is almost time to harvest. The fields of grapevines are as large as the field of wheat or corn in Ohio. So many and soon they will form this year’s wine.
Our bike trip ended at our home for the next two nights, the Tombolo Resort. It is a new hotel on the ocean with a private beach. The tourquoise ocean felt great after a hot day of riding bikes! We are told there is a pool but how can that compete with a white sand beach with comfortable chairs under awnings? Italians tend to take an umbrella with them to the beach to shade them from the strong sun. Great idea and the resort provided shade for anyone who wanted it.
For dinner we were treated to a Tuscan cooking lesson and then ate what was cooked. Our hostess and teacher, Chicca (pronounced ‘keeka’) gave us all a hands on lesson in making a number of dishes. Dean worked on the sauce while Sue worked on the gnocchi. The Tuscan recipes are full of vegetables, eggs, olive oil, cheese, grains and herbs. Our wonderful guides let us know that they had reservations at a nearby restaurant just in case our food wasn’t acceptable! The plates were stuffed with a number of choices and they were all delicious. Paulo and Frank stayed for dinner.
Biking Tuscany, day two
September 15, 2018
Today was our first real biking day. We biked 23km up and down mountains in the morning and 30 km on relatively flat terrain that followed the Thyrrenian Sea and surrounding pine forests and farm land. The morning ride had amazing views of the Tuscan hills as we had white knuckle downhill rides followed by energy expending uphill climbs. The e-bikes are heavy but sure do make the uphill climbs much easier than a regular bike! You peddle like crazy on a low gear but get a boost to help you climb the hills faster.We stopped in Casale Marittimo in the hills for lunch. It is a quaint village built into the side of a hill. It is rustic, ancient and the least touristy village we have been in.We are now out of the path of most tourists and were able to enjoy meeting people who live in the towns and watch children playing in the narrow ancient streets and women hanging their laundry. It was relaxing and fun even if we were outsiders. The Italians are very generous with food and do not want you to leave a meal hungry. So, the result is way more delicious food than one needs and someone who feels hurt if you don’t eat it up. We were fed quite well at lunch with many platters of Tuscan food from bruschetta to olives to salami to salads to pizza to salads to deserts. Whew!
The afternoon ride was much more relaxing than morning as the terrain was relatively flat and we found the ocean, turquoise and warm; it welcomed us, but we will need to be satisfied with a small taste today and wait until tomorrow when our hotel is on the ocean to really enjoy it. We rode through a national park that was a large pine forest bordering the ocean. Packed dirt paths lined with pine needles and large trees that shaded the path made the afternoon heat (90 degrees) seem very comfortable and the ride enjoyable. The nights here cool down in the 60’s and the humidity is low so the heat is much more bearable than at home.
Swimming and another Tuscan dinner at our hotel made for a relaxing evening. We rode about 27 miles today. We will have longer days but this was a good test. Turns out it wasn’t so bad.
Biking Tuscany
September 14, 2018
We had our warm up ride today, 15 kilometers, to get used to our new bikes. The Dawes and we got e-bikes. They have power assist when you want it. Turns out there are four level of assistance. This can come in handy on big hills. But, you can’t be lazy, no assistance without peddling! Also, if you put the assistance up too high, you will drain the battery and it won’t make the day. We enjoyed getting to know ‘our new best friends’ as our guides call the bikes as we rode around the Collemezzano countryside. We passed classic looking Tuscan homes of stucco with tiled roofs, many olive groves and some grape groves. We even passed a corn field. Kind of makes you feel at home. The one challenging thing to learn was how to use a traffic rotary and not get yourself killed. Cars have no problem passing us on the road but the rotary can be tricky. We got a C- on the first two attempts. Hopefully, we will improve.
We are spending two nights at the Agrihotel Elizabetta. It is a hotel, restaurant and organic winery. They even have a pool to cool off in after your ride. Luigi, the owner gave us a tour of the winery and a special wine tasting. He is so pationate about wine that it is infectious. Then we had a true 4 course Italian dinner. We started with an appetizer table that included muscles, octopus, crab and squid, and many versions of vegetables, cheeses, meats. Yes, this was just the first course! Then there was the pasta course, main course and a desert bar. The desert bar was as big as the appetizer bar. Sue tried death by as many versions of chocolate as possible and finally claimed defeat. I could not finish my desert. Not sure if this has happened before. So, three hours after meeting our riding mates and spending an evening getting to know each other better, we finally all wandered off into the cool, clear night to find our rooms and call it a night. The sky is clear and full of stars.
Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa
September 14, 2018
We took a 12 hour bus tour to several towns near Florence. The bus got us to the points of interest and the guide told us a bit about each place then let us loose to explore on our own.We like this kind of tour.Sienna was/is a rival of Florence. They are smaller but was a place important to the popes. The huge Duomo here has busts of all the popes lining the church along with all the typical alters, gorgeous windows, and statues common in a Catholic cathedral.It also was beautiful, more ornate on the interior but less so on the exterior than Florence’s Duomo. Again, the marble craftsmen outdid themselves in the intricate designs. Sienna also has one of the largest piazzas I’ve ever seen. They have a horse race yearly on it and there is definitely plenty of room for that. This city is built on a hill. I would think residents would stay quite healthy walking this old city.We were glad we came early as the crowds started to come as we were leaving.
Our second stop was lunch at a Chianti vineyard. We had an informal wine tasing and a typical Tuscan lunch with bruschetta, meats and cheeses, pasta and biscotti in a garden patio overlooking the beautiful countryside. It was a very pleasant lunch and break in a long day.
Next stop was the hilltop town of San Gimignano. It is small and ancient with a nice piazza and church and a number of medieval towers. They were known for their gelato so we had to try it. It was excellent. This town’s best point besides the old buildings and cobblestone streets was its amazing view in every direction.
Our final stop was Pisa. Pisa is another rival of Florence because Pisa had access to the sea and taxed the textiles that made Florence wealthy and a world trader. There was a battle and Florence won passage to the sea. Pisa wanted a Duomo better than Florence so build the huge cathedral, baptistery and tower. They are all huge, simple in their marble elegance but of course, the one thing all remember is the leaning tower. If it weren’t off balance, it would simply be a beautiful tower. It was nice to walk on some level land after a day in the Tuscan hills. Soon we start our bike tour and I see a lot of hills in our future!
Florence-Firenze
September 14, 2018
Several days in Florence is enough to explore the art museums, architecture and gardens. And, shop. This city is covered with designer shops and designer want a be shops. We explored the city and walked about 16-20,000 steps per day. Dean commented that we walked more vertical steps than he was expecting. Our hotel is in the center of the historic part of town and one block from the river. Perfect spot! We are on the 5th floor in a large room with high ceilings, large window with a view of red tile rooftops, and parquet floors. It is hot here and the air conditioning works great, nice for sleeping. Now, the elevator only goes to the fourth floor and being Matz’s we don’t take elevators anyway if there are stairs, so we walk about 40 steps up per floor (high ceilings).
One of our tours was to the Accademy to see Michelangelo’s David among other art and then to the Duomo to see the buildings and museum and climb to the top of the dome and to the top of the tower. The views of the rooftops of this beautiful city, the many cathedrals and the Tuscany hills in the distance was breathtaking, but getting there took a lot of climbing, twice, once for the dome and once for the tower. The Duomo is huge and beautiful and quite elegant with an intricately cut marble marble facade. They wanted to be the best in Italy and it shows!
The city is beautiful with stone or stucco buildings, some simple, many with designs and all with red tile roofs. There seems to be a large cathedral every few blocks. So many churches in a small area! Makes one wonder if there was ever a time that they were full. The streets are washed every morning so this is a extremely clean city. The gardens are nice, few flowers and mostly greenery and statues. There are a couple of market places full of outdoor stalls selling mostly leather goods, hats, scarves. The market places smelled of new leather which was quite pleasant if you don’t mind crowded places. Florence has a huge indoor marketplace about 8 times the size of Findlay market. It was full of meat, vegetables, pasta, dried vegetables and herbs and pastries. Made one wish that they could go home and cook with the wonderful food. Now, there were a few things that we found odd like boars heads, squid, and various body parts of animals that are not commonly consumed in the Midwest.
This city also has wonderful restaurants and gelato shops. We discovered how to tell the gelato is made fresh ( don’t go to the stands with mounds of gelato, go to the shops making it) and the incredible taste of the fruit varieties and the chocolate were worth finding the best shops. We tasted some each day and can say that the intense fruit flavors are wonderful. Being a chocoholic, finding intensely flavored chocolate gelato was heaven. One evening we took a recommendation from a foodie site and ended up in a neighborhood Italian restaurant. What a treat! It was family owned and most people who came in were regulars. One son helped us translate the menu and we sat back, enjoyed the pasta course, main course and yummy desert. The wine was the house red that came in a huge bottle and you paid for whatever you poured out of the bottle into your juice glass. It was fun just to watch the folks enjoy their meals and company. The restaurant was loud and boisterous, friendly. The other memorable meal was in a Nuevo Italian restaurant on the edge of town where we met up with the Adams. They were at the end of their vacation and we discovered we were going to be in Florence at the same time. They had found a country estate to stay at and the Dawes and us traveled out to help them celebrate their 35th anniversary sitting on a covered patio by the river overlooking the Tuscan hills. We had a wonderful time with longtime friends in a lovely atmosphere and an elegant restaurant with amazing food. It was a special evening.
