As a change from aftermath of ‘the election’ I thought I’d do a review of my first JY tour. I could sum it up in 3 words – a roaring success - but I will go into a bit more detail!
As you will see from the itinerary, it’s a packed programme and maybe we didn’t have quite enough time in some places but we saw so much that I have no complaints.
As a first time solo traveller I was worried about finding my flight etc but that all went smoothly. I didn’t see the JY rep in Manchester airport as Jet 2 now do a twilight check in for those who have booked online - I had a text the day before to tell me. This meant that I was able to drop my case as soon as I arrived the afternoon before (I travelled up by train and stayed overnight) which was really good. I then rang the hotel for pick up and when I was taken back next morning could go straight to security. It worked really well and it would be useful if all airlines did this.
I didn’t spot any other JY travellers on the flight (I later found that there were 5 of us) but once into arrivals at Pisa I saw our Tour Guide holding up a green JY card. Our guide was Liz Tommasini and she was lovely, efficient and friendly, she kept us under control in a nice way. She was always on hand and even took us for a walk in the pine forest on our ‘free day’, which was very kind of her. She provided maps at each town/city and either gave us a walking tour or we had a tour guide to take us around for the first hour or so, we then had free time to explore. Liz gave us her mobile phone number in case of problems. She was fun and had a laugh and joined in with us, it made me feel very comfortable and I was able to ask for help or advice when I needed it.
The Hotel Il Settebello (our base) was set in a lovely little seaside town, with clean streets, a good selection of bars, restaurants and shops. One of the ladies even found an opticians open late on a Sunday night when she needed some repairs to her specs.
Rooms in the Hotel are all different, I was lucky and had a massive balcony (bigger than my room), others had smaller balconies or no balcony at all but maybe a bigger room and/or bigger bathroom. My TV never did pick up any English channels despite it being retuned several times - yes Kate I know yours did, but I did have a balcony!! Sockets take the thinner 2 pin plugs, I had 3 in my room (plus one in the bathroom) but Peter said he only had 1 and that was the one in his bathroom. Rooms have TV (no use in my case!), air conditioning, hairdryers and fridges, kettles are available in reception with a deposit being payable. The bar is open all day, every day!
There is a lovely roof terrace, with fantastic views, where we met on most evenings for pre-dinner drinks. The Hotel kindly providing plastic glasses when we bought our own wine. Dinner was 4 courses, the salad buffet (1st course) was so good that after a couple of days some of us decided to skip starters (2nd course) so that we could have extra salad. There was a choice of as much salad as you liked then 3 starters, 3 mains and just one dessert, we had to select from the dinner menu at breakfast time and sometimes we had trouble remembering what we’d ordered (maybe too much wine tasting that day!). Maurizio was a great host, having a laugh with us and always keen that we were happy with our food. All the staff in the hotel and the restaurant seemed very keen to please but they do not speak a great deal of English.
Breakfast consisted of a buffet including scrambled eggs, bacon, bread, toast, cereals, ham, cheese, yogurts, fruit, jams, croissants and cakes, juice and coffee (and probably other things that I didn’t notice). Meals are taken in the restaurant across the road. The meal and entertainment on the last evening was a lovely ending to our holiday.
We had 3 wine tasting sessions and 2 cookery lessons, my personal favourites were the Vin Santo at Fattoria Il Poggio, (our first visit) and the cookery lesson at Castello Sonnino, they were great ice breakers and we had such a laugh. We visited Pisa, Lucca, Montecarlo di Lucca, Florence, Bolgheri, San Gimignano, Siena and Volterra. It was the Italian equivalent of a bank holiday weekend whilst we were there so we were lucky enough to see some of the festivities, including a parade of drummers. It also meant that it was busy everywhere but not unbearably so. There was some noise in the hotel from the street entertainment, bands etc but, even as a light sleeper, I slept better than I expected.
There were 20 of us in total, 17 ladies and 2 men - plus Liz our tour guide. I think we all mixed together very well and I now feel that I have an extra 19 friends, so if any of you who were on the tour are reading this can I just say a heartfelt thank you for making my first trip such a success. I can truly say I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
If you are thinking of doing this tour and have any questions then please do ask and I will do my best to answer. I really can recommend this tour, I loved it
