Month: September 2022

Great trip back – all smooth.

Downsides

– messing up Ryanair booking, paying for bags we didn’t use

– someone crunching the car wing mirror which cost

– leaving my wallet at the final place – they’re kindly posting it back

– crazy little car with a 3 gallon petrol tank. Meant had plenty of practice at Italian self service stations.

– midges had plenty of feasts on Eileen, especially at the beginning when it was hot and humid.

Upsides

– the weather – the last week was perfect. Bright sun all day every day, but only mid 20s. And cool nights.

– food, especially the pasta. Who knew????????

– EVERYTHING ELSE. ITALY WAS MAGNIFICENT, AS EXPECTED.

Beautiful countryside, different to Chianti – more magnificent but not as soft.

Pienza, for example, was extremely fine.

San Quirico

(To remind us where we had a fantastic lunch).

Sant’ Antimo

And lots of others. Ended up at Sant’ Angelo in Colle for dinner at Stella’s favourite restaurant – well worth it.

It’s up there. About 25 minutes on mainly a 20% gradient. (Or drive on the main road but not as much fun!)

Worth it when you get there.

Final place – just outside Montalcino in a vineyard.

Here’s the proof.

And here’s the view.

You can just see the pool and the canopy right at the bottom.

And that’s Montalcino up there …

On the move again, and if you’re passing Siena you have to stop by! Just like San Gimignano it’s been a long time since we were here, and not a lot has changed. Usual stress about parking and finding bearings, but solved quickly.

And it looked very fine indeed in the sparkling Autumn sun.

And the cathedral which neither of us had ever been to before which is odd. Anyway, long queue to get in, and so being tech savvy (!) we scanned the QR code and managed to book tickets online. Feeling very smug, waltzed up to the entrance where we were told to go and join a different queue – yes, they had to look at the reference number on the online booking, manually type it into their computer and print out a paper entry ticket. Then we’re allowed in. (To be fair this queue was a bit shorter, but methinks there is scope for some efficiencies!)

Well worth it.

And on to the final destination – looks promising!

Amazing small hilltop towns which it is easy to get blasé about, and at the same time never tire of.

San Leonino then Radda, then Panzano.

One problem with some very small towns is that they are so small there is nowhere to eat or even get a coffee. One solution is the most amazing hamburger van (sorry veggies) – best ever said Eileen which was probably true.

And a decent view.

That’s Lucca done and we’re on the move to Chiantishire.

stopping off in San Gimignano on the way. First we had to contend with a small(ish) thunderstorm on the way. Nothing like the storm Italy had further south around Ancona (400mm in a few hours) but enough even for crazy Italians to drive a bit more safely (only a bit!).

And guess what – San Gimignano hasn’t changed much/at all in the 20 years since we were last here.

With a super lunch

and dessert

Really finding our way around which is comforting. The Guinigi Tower – can’t find out why someone thought it was a good idea to plant trees on the top, although apparently it was once the kitchen garden.

And when you see it, there’s only one thing to do. (Got the reduced entrance for OAPs!). Well worth it.

And the obligatory lunch in a beautiful setting.

And final evening before we move on.

The forecast today was stormy and heavy showers, although still hot. So the mountains seemed like a good idea.

Castellnuovo was praised in the guide book but not really looking at its best.

Barga, however, was great.

Including a late lunch – bit of a crisis as his electricity had gone off in the storm, so cold food (excellent), cash payment and use your phone torch in the loo.

And some views from behind where we’re staying.

Normal service resumes. On the recommendation of Giovanna had a fantastic dinner at an Osteria in the middle of nowhere – so much so that we couldn’t believe anything was there until we eventually found it. And the macaroni with pesto and mint (amongst other stuff) was fabulous.

And then to the business of Lucca. It’s always confusing to a)find a place, park etc. and b) get your bearings and find your way around. Lucca is nicely confusing as it has no central centre (as it were).

Coffee by what we thought was the cathedral (it isn’t).

This is.

See a tower and you have to climb it (233 steps if you’re interested). And worth it.

That really is a tower with trees on top – save that one till Friday.

And to show our confidence back to the house for a rest, then back to Lucca for another fabulous recommendation from Giovanna, all without a satnav. And it really is pretty warm, but watch out for the storm clouds.