Flavours of Tuscany May 2018:
Final documentation arrived by email in good time, and of course, no name for the TM. Why on earth can this not be included. JY must have it.
As expected, I did not see a rep at the airport. Terminal 5 is vast and without an idea of where to look I was not going to waste time looking. A specific meeting place should be designated. I have only seen a rep once, and that was some time ago at Gatwick North, when a young man wearing a miniscule Travelsphere lapel badge spotted the JY luggage label, and asked if I was going on a JY holiday.
However, once we got to Pisa all was well. Jonathan Clarke met us at the airport. He must be the best tour manager JY have in Italy. His knowledge, humour, communication skills and personality are all first class. Always seems to be smiling. Gets on well with everyone. I have read good reports of him on the forum and they are all fully justified. Nothing fazes him. An absolute gem. Everything went so smoothly. Our driver, Pietro, was very good. A nice comfortable ride, and he kept the coach clean.
I did not go on the optional excursions. There is a limit to the number of times I can see the leaning Tower of Pisa and traipse around Siena. In Florence we decided that we were not going to join the heaving mass of bodies on the Ponte Vecchio.
The demonstration in Fattoria il Poggio was very interesting and I think we all made lots of notes and learned something from that. The cookery at the Castello Sonnino, was great fun, lots of laughter and input from everyone. We all had different ideas about how things should be done. The food we prepared was cooked for us in their kitchens, just imagine 35 of us all trying to cook! No way! ‘Elf and safety would have a crisis. However, we ate what we had prepared and are all still alive. No-one was ill afterwards. Well done The ‘A’ Team.
The wines we tasted were very varied, from very dry, reminiscent of weak vinegar to extremely full bodied and balanced. I was pleased to see that the wine I liked at the hotel is available in the UK by mail order, at much the same price as the hotel were charging.
An optional extra was available. By coincidence there was a live opera performance of well known arias in a nearby hotel. Thanks to Jonathan’s local knowledge he was able to obtain tickets for us. This event does not appear in the itinerary or brochure because performances vary and do not always coincide with JY tours. We were fortunate that this one did. It was fabulous.
The hotel looks like all the others in Montecatini. Once inside though things change. It is not modern by any means, but it is clean and it is comfortable. The décor is a bit dismal, but you get used to it. Reception staff are welcoming, knowledgeable and really helpful. The barman is a gem, the waiters are cheerful, and extremely busy. The air conditioning, and shower worked. Some of us had problems with the safe, but mine worked OK. The room was clean and the bed comfortable. My room also had a couple of comfy armchairs. The food is good, if anything ran out at breakfast it was very quickly topped up. The only thing I did not like about the evening meals was the fact that the vegetables served separately, buffet style, were served cold. Don’t go much on cold cauliflower, broccoli, etc.
Montecatini is a nice little town and the hotel is within easy walking distance from the main shopping area and restaurants. If the cookery venues were changed this is a holiday I could easily do again, even though I did arrive home minus my suitcase. But that is another story.
Sylvia
