Lastra A Signa to Camaiore

Sunday 9^th September

Temperature 34° from about 10am

We had planned to have a quiet day by the pool but that was not to be-too much to do and see. We can sit by the pool at home when we get some decent weather. We went back into Florence and had planned to get on the number 36 bus and get off close to Palazzo Pitti, however we missed the stop and stayed on the bus which took us at least 10-15 kms out of the city. We saw a lot more of the suburbs of Florence including market gardens than we’d ever hoped to see. On out return back into Florence the bus took  a different route and we managed to get off at the stop we needed. We purchased tickets to the Bobilo gardens and the costume and porcelain museums. What an amazing display of wealth that belonged to the Medeci family- the most influential family in Florence. The gardens were spectacular and evidently the residents of Florence can visit whenever they want. Beautiful trees and gorgeous views over the city. After a couple of hours we headed back to the Ponte Vecchio through some little alley ways and towards the Ufizzi museum. There seemed to be many more people around the restaurants were doing excellent business. Around the Ufizzi Museum area, there are many artists but their work is all has a very similar look about it with Tuscany countryside and the Duoma in Florence. There are literally hundreds of market small market stalls all selling the same goods – leather bags, belts, fridge magnets, pictures/paintings and pinocchios by the hundreds.

We found a lovely restaurant Fiorina D’Oro for a late lunch in the Piazza de Republique. Menu- Graham’s favourite melon (Canteloupe) & prosciutto and a pizza which we shared. We headed back to the train station to find that the 4.28 train had been cancelled “because it is Sunday” (don’t worry about what the timetable says!)and we had to wait for the 5.28pm train. By that stage we’d had enough walking so across the road to “Maccas” where there were seats and we waited there.

Once home, there was still time to read and relax by the pool for a couple of hours before our final dinner at the restaurant. To our surprise the restaurant was almost full and there were a couple of large groups, we suspect who were locals having dinner too.

Rear Palazzo Pitti

View over Florence form the top garden

Palazzo Pitti Forecourt

Typical streets and crowds

Favourite lunch

The Hop on & Hop Off bus

Monday 10^th September

Weather 26-34°. Very cloudy skies to start the day but then the sun came out and the temperature rose considerably.

We had a reasonably short drive to Camaiore and arrived about 11.30. We were able to book into our Hotel room at Laconda Le Monarche, offload our cases and then find some free street parking up around the corner. This was the pace that I was most uncertain about finding and sorting the parking and it turns out it was the most straightforward of them all so far.

Armed with a map and some general information from Nicolette, we set off to explore Camaiore. This is a reasonably small town with what I suspect a small influx of tourists. This place had been recommended to us and we are always happy to find places off the main tourist radar. What we had forgotten however was that it was getting close to Siesta time and we walked along the main street of shops and on our way back they were all shut. A peach, grapes and coffee served as lunch. The café at our hotle was open until 3pm but we weren’t especially hungry so were happy with the fruit.

Rather than a quiet afternoon siesta, we set off for Lido di Camaiore which is about 6kms to the coast. We found the sea very quickly and it didn’t take long for Graham to dip his feet in the ocean. We were stunned by the sight of chairs, lounges and umbrellas along the beach as far as the eye could see. We have never seen anything like it. We later discovered how it all worked. You pay according to what you require – Lounges only, lounge and umbrella, lounge and umbrella and locker room etc. Starting price was around €15 for the day up to a maximum of €25. You could also pay per week or month or for the whole season up to €1,800. Judging by the number of areas available, it must be a very overcrowded time in peak season. As we noticed in France, very few people wear hats, no shirts and not much care to avoid the sun’s rays. 

I haven’t taken any Viramin D since being here, I think I am getting enough from the sun for now. What we have also noticed is that the temperature is high from mid morning until about 8pm- so there is a very long time to enjoy the beach and in fact daylight. The evenings are usually quite balmy.

Umbrellas and beach lounges as far as thee eye can see in both directions

Stunned  by the rows and rows or umbrellas and chairs!

Under rthe Tuscan Sun...

Saturday 8th September
Temperature – Blue skies ~ 34°
 

We had a very quiet start to the day and after breakfast did a load of washing which dried in 1 ½ hours! We sat by the pool for a couple of hours before heading for the train for another day in Florence. Checked on the AFL scores and turned off the computer in disgust after the first quarter. What a poor performance by Geelong.
 
When we got off the train we decided to buy a sight seeing bus tour- hop on & hop off. This proved to be excellent and we saw much more of Florence than we would have on foot. First stop was the Piazza Michaelangelo where we were able to get fabulous views over the whole city. We then got off at Palazzo Pizzi but to walk through the gardens was a package with the Palace ticket. We walked for a short while before getting back on the bus and back to the train station where the longer route started. This included a little repeat but also went to Freosole which is 9 kms out of Florence and we wouldn’t have seen this otherwise. The sun was shining and we had enjoyed the more relaxing day. Dinner in Florence, then purchased some fruit from the corner store before heading home on the second last train.

No 405 Villa Saulina

Views of Florence from Piazza Michaelangelo

Typical street in Florence

More of Tuscany

Friday 7^th September

Temperature 31° - very pleasant

We had a leisurely start and set off in the car to drive through Tuscany. We chose to stay away from the autostrada at least outbound. We pretty much had the roads to ourselves as we headed for San Gimignano. Although the guide books suggested that the mornings are usually crowded we were encouraged by the lack of traffic. When we arrived around 11am, there were cars and people everywhere but we found a park in a designated car park and proceeded to wind out way on foot to the top. This is a quaint little tourist spot steeped in history with all the chimneys. We paid to walk up the 260+ steps and were rewarded with good views over the Tuscany valley. As usual there was no shortage of eateries and shops – mainly leather and artwork by local artists. We had found a supermarket en route and had purchased a couple of bread rolls and salami, so on the roadside en route to Sienna, we had lunch from the boot of the car!

We arrived in Sienna and of course had no idea where we were. We parked the car and soon purchased a map of the area, surprisingly we weren’t too far away from the main tourist area- The Piazza Il Campo where we found a shell shaped piazza. Quite a few people relaxing, sitting ont eh hard concrete and we joined them too for a short while. From what we observed, Sienna is quite  large city with high density housing in very ancient looking buildings – very similar to other areas that we’d previously visited i.e. Cortona. These places boast at least one Duoma , a few churches and museums. We walked around the area before heading back home via the quickest route (75kms). 

View from Villa Silauna

San Giminnano

Sienna

We arrived home safely just after 5pm and enjoyed a read by the pool for a couple of hours before dinner.

The temperature today was a pleasant 32° top- no humidity and a very still evening.

Beautiful Tuscany

Wednesday 5^th September.

Sadly time to leave Rome.

It had again rained quite heavily during the night and the skies were very grey. Marianne was full of apologies for the weather but we assured her that we had seen many things during our short stay with her. She had been the perfect hostess and we enjoyed our stay at Oasis in Harmony immensely. We had plenty of room and the whole apartment on airbnb with self catering is great to keep the costs down, get the washing done, unpack the cases for a few days.

We left with rain falling and headed out of Rome on the A1. First stop was Tivoli where we toured the Villa D’Este which we had seen on an SBS program only about three weeks before we left on our journey. This villa is well preserved and in fact only int eh 1990’s did they discover more mosaic tiled floors when attempting repairs. The most impressive thing about this villa was its gardens and waterfalls. Great opportunities for many photos.

After a coffee, we then set off for our next accommodation near Florence. Villa Salauna is about 16 kms from Florence in a very small village, however the resort is 4 kms out of the village and we settled in very quickly. There are two swimming pools and we’ll have to see what time we have for that. We are here for 5 nights and trips planned into Florence by train, to San Gimignano and Sienna as well as to Prato. We went back down to the local area, checked out the train and parking arrangements, walked along the main street which is very quiet and not much happening before returning to the Resort and enjoying a beautiful dinner in the restaurant.

Thursday 6^th September

Temperature – mid 20’s, very comfortable

Time to learn a new public transport system. We drove to the train station and purchased our one way ticket to Florence. We hadn’t read the timetable and waited about 45 minutes for the train. It only takes about 15 minutes to Firenze    Station and from there we purchased a daily ticket for all buses. We found a number 14 bus but had no idea which direction we were headed. The map we had was great and the landmarks were identified. We got off when we saw the sign to the Galleria Dell Accademia. Entry tickets were €11 each and as we found in Rome, there are many ticket sellers for the museum outside trying to sell tickets at inflated prices to jump the queue-€20 each for entry or €29 for a tour with a guide. The queue was expected to take an hour but in fact we waited 1 ½ hours, but passed the time chatting to two young girls, both students in front of us. One was from San Francisco and the other from the UK. We discovered they were staying in a youth hostel for €17 each for a 4 bed dormitory – not bad for staying right in Florence. We eventually gained entry to the museum which was reasonably impressive and the musical instruments were amazing dating way back to the 1500’s. As we approached one of the galleries, there were unfinished sculptures by Michaelangelo as well as the huge and impressive David. 

It is true that he has to be seen in this setting which was purpose built to “show him off”.  Everything in Florence is in easy walking distance so after visiting the Accademia, we walked towards the Duomo finding time for an expensive coffee stop along the way at about 2.45pm. The Duomo is a massive and impressive building from the outside but unfortunately very plain inside. We haven’t decided whether to walk the 463 steps to the top of Brunelleschi’s Dome but are tempted by the views that we’ll get once we arrive at the top. Will look at this challenge on Saturday.

There seemed to be crowds of people in piazzas today. Leather and souvenir shops were right along the way. We soon arrived at the Piazza Della Signora and Palazzo Vecchio where a replica of the David stands tall and from where we could take photos.

We continued around the corner to Galleria degli Uffizi and noticed many artists at work. Some paintings were fabulous and others not quite to our taste.  On to the Ponte Vecchio where there are myriads of small jewellery stores with all their gold before calling it quits for the day. We then had to locate a bus travelling in the direction of the railway station and then the quick journey home. We arrived at the station, purchased tickets then realized that the next train on the Livorno line was about 50 minutes away. There were again people rushing in all directions as this is the only train station connecting Florence to other capital cities and regional areas. No seats to be found but McDonalds with 100 seats upstairs. So a drink and a sit down was very welcome whilst waiting for the train.  It looks like buses are the go for around the perimeter of the city but walking is the best way to soak up the atmosphere and everything is close to each other. We plan another day in Florence on Saturday to do the Palazzo Patti on the other side of the river from the Ponte Vecchio.

Villa D'Este & foountains and gardens

Florence

Ponte Vecchio

Waiting in line for Galleria Dell Accademia

Rome Day 4 From Pantheon to Catacombs

  Inside Pantheon

Pantheon & Piazza Minerva

Having fun

133 ice cream, gelati, mousse flavours

Graham's new purchase - Jacket made in Italy

Piazza Navona

Pantheon

Home sweet home

Tuesday 4^th September

Temperature – much cooler and rain

We awoke to rain which got heavier as the morning continued however with our last day in Rome we set oNo 660 bus / train and then walk. We have a map that we received with our Roma Pass and whilst it ahs the main attractions, it is short on street names or the print is so small that we cannot read it however we negotiated our way to the Pantheon without much trouble. As far as we could see there were umbrellas everywhere and no verandas over shops. The rain was fairly heavy and the street vendors were doing a roaring trade selling umbrellas!

After visiting the Pantheon with the rain streaming down from the open dome, we had coffee at a side café of which there is no shortage – all touting for customers. We set off along a narrow side street and after a while decided we were probably heading in the wrong direction for Piazza Navona. We did come across a sign which here in Rome could mean any direction but got out the trusty Frommer’s Italy Day by Day and found our way back to Piazza Navona. Although we had decided that we would slow the pace, we still wanted to get to the Catacombs before 4.30pm as the last tour was at 5pm so time for a few photos of what would normally have been a very “buzzing” area but today probably a bit quieter due to the weather. We found a lovely little restaurant for lunch.

Earlier in one of the narrow lanes off the Piazza Minerva, Graham had seen a lovely jacket in a shop window. In his normal style declined to try it on or even consider purchasing, however after lunch we back tracked and he did in fact to my surprise buy the jacket. We also stopped at an ice cream/gelati/yoghurt & mousse shop for dessert. I think the board said 133 flavours, but that does sound a lot. The ice cream was really delicious. 

We set off on our way to find a bus/train/bus to the San Callisto Catacombs. This was an amazing place and our guide gave us a history lesson before taking us on the tour of teh first two levels only which was most interesting. About 500,000 bodies were buried here from Popes right down to servants. As the Catacombs is along the Appia Antica we walked the 3-4 kilometres home. As there are no footpaths and the car & bus drivers have no regard for pedestrians, it is quite a challenge walking the Appia Antica.

Time for coffee, photo sorting, blogs and reading are the order of the evening before packing cases and bed time.

 

We move on to Tuscany tomorrow and I think the internet is limited where we are staying so, things may get a bit quiet for a few days. We have accommodation in one place for 5 days between Florence and Prato and then 3 nights in Camaiore near Lucca.