Flavours of Tuscany 8th October 2015
Although I have been to Italy before in 2011, this holiday ticked a few more boxes. I took my sister Jen as this was her first time in Italy.
A representative met us at the airport, looking for luggage labels on suitcases. Pointed us to the book in desks as we were a group booking. I see that Gatwick have now opened new monitors to do this.
BA gave us a door step sandwich and a drink- most people had bought breakfast beforehand as we were flying through lunch.
Jonathan met us at Pisa, Slight delay with someones luggage, soon on the coach with Giovanini ( I think)
Il Settebello is on the seafront. Basic room, no fridge or tea making facilities, one English channel- BBC World news. Did watch Patriot Games in Italian which was fun- Sean Bean who plays an Irish man is not the same :D
Salvatore was there to greet us. Room was 226, first floor over the Reception and bar plus smoking terrace. So noisy 😠We did complain after the first night as we could hear people coming and going till 3 am :dodgy: The only good thing was we could receive Wi fi which is in the reception only.
Breakfast is substantial with the evening meal being decided in the morning- where ever you sit at breakfast you sit in the same seat in the evening. Chips with everything- complaints were made.
Pasta making was great fun and how to make a good ragu sauce. Wine tasting was 5 bottles on the table with lunch. Not being a wine taster, I watched other peoples faces.
Lucca is beautiful and well worth seeing. Puccini has a big statue- one American girl was heard to say 'Who is he?' Jonathan had told us about the ruins under St Giovanni and the wooden mask at St Martins. The ampitheatre is well worth seeing.
Pisa was beautiful. Jonathan informed us of the half hourly acoustics in the Baptistry. A gentleman sang - the high point of the whole tour. Some paid 18 euros I think to climb the steps up the Leaning Tower. The cemetary has lots of old paintings on the walls- would have liked more time to look at them properly.
Florence was a big tick. A local guide took us around and gave a lot of history and the general layout which was useful. The statue of the Boar 'Il Porcellino' was mentioned in the Just You leaflet but not shown on the tour. We found it purely by accident. Florence is one of three cities in Italy that has a Hard Rock Cafe. Jonathan knew where it was and showed me :thumbup:
Greve in Chianti for more wine tasting- waste of time. One girls' face was a picture 😃 They took us up to the Castle to see the cellars- they had a castle? Not allowed near it !!!
San Gimignano is very pretty and full of shops all selling the same thing. Lots of leather handbags being bought 😛 You are unable to take photos in the church which is a shame as the walls are covered in paintings showing the story of the Old and New Testaments.
Siena and Il Campo for the famous horse race were mind boggling that they race horses around this small space :huh: The guide showed us Divisions that make up the Palio- the money that exchanges hands is huge.
Castello Sonnino was very clever. We were shown how to make simple sage and anchovy dipped in beer batter, Rolled chicken, proscuitto and smoked cheese securing with a cocktail stick to make saltim bocca. A lemon dish that took eggs and a litre of whipping cream was for pudding. While all this was cooking they took us up to the Castle and showed important war documents as Sonnino was both Prime Minister before the First World War and then Foreign Minister during the 1919 Peace Treaty. Dinner was beautiful with several different wines again.
As this over ran, the trip to Volterra was very short. The local guide was brilliant. He took us into the Duomo and showed us one of the paintings of Mary being visited by Gabriel. The details he told us made us all look at paintings in a new light. New ruins have been found which he showed us. We had 45 minutes to see what we could before the long trek back to the hotel. This is one place that I could spend a whole day in- so beautiful.
Our one day off was spent walking into Cecina- not far. A supposed craft market was not found and their lunch hour is between 13.00 to 16.00- beware!
This tour is not for the faint hearted. Lots of hills and walking. Several ladies had to have taxis and then missed some of the guided walks.
I had a great time and loved most of the trip
Jan