Tuscany

Tuscany

I can now say for certain that a person can live on only pizza and gelato, with a few McDonald's happy meals thrown in there. That was pretty much Steph and mine's diet for our last 5 days in Italy, though Steph went with the pasta whenever she could. Our first stop was Florence, a city we hadn't really ever desired to visit, but everyone we've talked to had raved about it. We stayed at another campground, this one situated in an old olive tree orchard on a hill overlooking the city. The view was superb, and we were happy to be within walking distance of all the sights. So far on this trip, we haven't had much time to plan ahead. We figure out where we want to go, then end up deciding what to do once we get there. It seems the two main draws of Florence are it's art and it's shopping. Two goose-eggs for me, and the shopping was mostly expensive jewelry and leather goods, so Steph wasn't all that into it either (what she's looking for is some cheap clothes!). The thing not to miss, or so we read, was the Uffizi museum, one of the top art museums in the world. Okay, so I'm not into art by any means, but I can appreciate it at certain times. I'm sorry, but I didn't get this place. It was exclusively renaissance art - mostly paintings with a few statues. It all just started to blur together after a while. There's only so many paintings of "Madonna with child" (Mary with baby Jesus) that you can see before your eyes glaze over. Click here to see what I mean. And it's not just me. Even Steph couldn't help to admit that it just wasn't her thing. We did, however, see a few we liked, namely the famous Birth of Venus by Botticelli.

I'm not trying to say that Florence is no good. It's great, actually. Beautiful river, rich history, gorgeous architecture. It's had an amazing influence on the world for any city, especially one so small (didn't reach 300,000 until about 1930 and even still is under 400,000). In fact, the compact city center makes it very walkable without the crazy traffic that often puts people off Rome. Unfortunately, though, we didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Rome, and didn't find it as pretty as the last Italian city we visited, Bologna (more on that later). Plus, the gelato just wasn't excellent. We even visited Vivoli's, a gelateria my mom visited 30 years ago when she toured Italy (she keeps amazing records) that was also recommended by a friend that had visited just recently. Maybe we picked the wrong flavors, but it just wasn't the best. The other big thing to do in Florence is to see the David sculpture by Michaelangelo, but that would have been another 20 euros and 2 hours wait to get into a museum to really just see one sculpture. We decided we'd spend the money elsewhere (like on gelato) and just enjoy the free David replicas dotting the city.

would you have known this wasn't the real thing if I didn't tell you?

Of course we hit all the other main sites (the free ones at least), and were especially perplexed by the ornate but somewhat ugly exterior of Santa Maria del Fiore, a cathedral otherwise known as the Duomo due to it's huge dome. The interior, especially the dome, is spectacular.

interior of the Duomo

this is the only bridge that survived bombing in WWII

From Florence, the plan was to spend two nights exploring the coastal region of Italy known as Cinque Terre, made up of 5 small fishing villages hugging the coast of the Mediterranean. I had seen it in a travel magazine years ago and have always wanted to go there, and we've had at least 5 people highly recommend it, but apparently the word has got out and we could not find accommodation on such short notice, especially in our price range (sorry, no campgrounds worked out). We eventually worked out a plan B where we could stay in a (surprise!) campground just outside Florence and could make a day trip out to Cinque Terre from there. So we packed it up and took a short train ride to the small town of Figline in the Tuscany countryside. Believe it or not, but Tuscany is a pretty cool place. Maybe you've heard of it. Our campground was actually pretty amazing - it's hard to say this but it was more like a resort. Sure, we stayed in something similar to half a double-wide (an upgrade of the tents we'd previously been staying in), but there were three restaurants, something like four pools, a couple waterslides, gym, spa, two wine cellars, market, souvenir shop...all kinds of stuff. Our first afternoon was spent at the waterslide and pool and exploring the massive campground. We stumbled upon a nearby vineyard and olive grove. Anywhere else it might not have seemed so great, but under the "Tuscan sun" it just seemed amazing.

The next day the weather wasn't forecasted to be good, so we cancelled our Cinque Terre day trip. Disappointing, but it was hard to be down as we enjoyed the countryside. After an quick workout at the gym and nice steam at the sauna, we set off on a hike through the hills and vineyards around our campground. It's pretty much everything you'd expect of Tuscany. The vineyards, olive trees, wildflowers, cute yellow stucco or stone villas with red tiled roofs. I have to say, it was lovely. We couldn't help but sample the soon-to-be-harvested grapes and they were fantastic. I didn't think they'd mind if we just snagged a few, but a few quickly turned into a lot. Oops. Steph, of course, was in heaven. She was forever trying to get a good shot of the beautiful wildflowers, but couldn't quite get it. The picture at the top of the blog was taken almost as an afterthought as she held the camera down by her knees as she walked. My favorite shot from the whole day. There was also a frantic episode where we got attacked and chased by a bunch of swarming bugs (we thought they were bees at the time, but turns out they weren't), and I did lead us on a "shortcut" that added about 2 miles to our walk, but other than that it was a great day. The bad weather that had prevented our Cinque Terre trip turned to glorious sunshine later in the day. I think it was a blessing in disguise - it ended up being one of our favorite days.

Our last morning in Tuscany we planned to pack a picnic lunch and rent a little moped to further explore the countryside. It would've been spectacular. The campground, however, wanted 15 euros each (over $20) to rent helmets for the 3 hours we'd use them. Scratch those plans. We packed up and headed to Bologna. Yet another blessing in disguise. I didn't really expect much from Bologna, as it's not a big tourist destination, but I can't figure out why. It was by far the prettiest and most well-preserved city that we visited in Italy. It is incredible. We had a few hours before our flight back to London, so just walked and marveled the city. Of course we sought out the best gelato in the city and found some of our favorite stuff so far. It was amazing. Plus, no crowds! Highly recommended. Only wish we could've stayed longer.

Most of the sidewalks are covered by these walkways

From Bolgona we flew Ryanair up to London. You've probably heard of Ryanair - it's the low cost Irish airline that made news recently for charging customers to use the toilet on board. Well, we went in the airport so had a good flight overall, and for only 50 bucks each. Score! Hopefully tomorrow I will type up a post about London and try to get all caught up (you may have noticed we're in Cairo now). Be back soon. In the meantime, you can check out all of our 400+ pictures from Italy HERE.