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Northern Italy and the French Riviera
Cinque Terre 9th & 10th July
We arrived in Italy via Pisa airport and it was hot and sunny, just as we had expected. Pisa airport is quite small but only a 2 min train ride into the central station. From there we changes trains to head to La Speizia, the gate way to our first destination, the Cinque Terre (five fishing villages). We had to change trains again at La Speizia to get to the fishing village we had chosen to stay in, Vernaza . The coastline, 5 fishing villages, and the surrounding hills are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Vernaza is the 4th of the 5 fishing villages and is a sister city to Fiordland in NZ!
Vernazza was exactly what I expected of an Italian town. This town is the only one of the five to have a natural port, although it has now been 'developed' with a concrete & bolder breakwater providing shelter for the little fishing boats moored in the small harbour. It also provides a sheltered bay for local children and tourists alike to enjoy a swim. I had a rather challenging conversation over the phone with a lady trying to organise the keys to our room, but, we got it sorted and a man came to let us into the room. Our room was dark & cool with a little window that looked out over the narrow street and into the neighbour's windows.Italy, we found, was made up of small shady narrow streets and high rise buildings with ropes hanging on pully systems from window to window for washing lines. Vernazza was no different.
The our first evening there we spent a few hours relaxing and taking in the laid back atmosphere, enjoying pizza focaccia bread on the breakwater. From where we sat we could enjoy the rich colours of the towns buildings, fishing boats and giant sun umbrellas, the multi-storeyed buildings with clothes hanging on rope lines strung between scattered windows, the steep hills covered in grapevines, olive trees and a variety of other produce, and all of this was sitting on the edge of rugged toweringcoastal cliffs. We headed to bed early that night so we would be ready for our long walk the next day.
We stared our day with breakfast from a small narrow coffee shop / bar which made the best coffee and the best fresh custard or apricot filled croissants, cheap and delicious!
A myriad of paths link the various villages of the Cinque Terre and there neighbouring hill top hamlets. We purchased our Cinque Terre card which enabled us to access all the paths in the park. And set off on the first section of our hike 9km, Vernazza to Corniglia. The path was step and though it was only 8am it was already warm. This park of track had a lot of costal bush so the trees provided good shade from the warm sun. This part of the track was 4km long and very unspoilt and natural. There were no rails or barriers between you and the cliff edge and no artificially made paths, it was just a basic cliff top track in the bush with stunning views. We could see Corniglia coming into view as it sits high on the cliff top and is the only village with no beach. The costal sloping hillsides surrounding this small village are terraced with local produce. The town itself was a little quainter than our one. Feeling a bit Jaded we stopped for a cold coffee that looked amazing in the poster - it was really tasty, a mixture of coffee, milk and chocolate crème, the only problem was it was the size of a short black and we were expecting something much bigger needless to say it didn't do anything to quench our thirst. The next section of the track, Corniglia to Manarola, was 1km long and very similar to the first part. As we approached Manarola we were greeted with a rocky cliff side that had been modified by man to form a gently sloping ramp into the sea. The rocks formed a small sheltered bay for swimming that opened out into the sea. We decided we had to test out the water so took turns at sitting on the giant concrete steps while the other one dived into the water. It was great and so refreshing after the walking we'd done. After a quick dry off by sun bathing on concrete we carried on into Manarola. This town was typical of all the towns but the streets were a little wide and lined with covered fishing boats. A lot of the buildings also had balconies looking down into the street. As we found our way again we had to walk down what felt like hundreds of stairs to lead us to the next part of the walk. As people passed us in the opposite direction we were having a laugh to ourselves glad that we weren't the ones having to walk up all those stairs! The next section of the track, Manarola to Riomaggiore, was 1 km again. But this part of the track was much more built for tourists. It was mostly flat and concreted and followed alongside the train tracks that were tunnels dug into the cliff side. This part of the track we decided was made for the tourists who were short on time or unfit so they could hop off the train at the first town and have an easy short walk to the second town without any trouble and then carry on the train. We saw people walking sandals and even heels along here. It was nice for us though as by now the sun was high and it was very hot, it gave our legs a chance to take it easy.Riomaggiore is the second biggest town and was pretty busy with tourists. At first we were unimpressed but after we explored a bit further we found the 'Cinque Terre' character we expected. We imagined that a lot of people would miss this town as there was a small uninviting track that lead from that train station to the town. It was in the opposite direction track that lead to the other villages. At first we thought we weren't even supposed to be on the track itself but then we saw the small port area that lead up the main street, this was lined with pastel colour fishing boats. We headed up into town and found a small pizza place selling slices, this was our lunch. We took our pizza and after getting a little lost in the labyrinth of streets we found the sign that point to the beach. The track narrowly followed the cliff edge until it opened up onto a large pebbled / rocky beach. We had to get our timing just right and run along the narrow path in between the waves so we didn't get saturated as they crashed against the costal path. We attempted to make ourselves comfortable on the rocks to eat but never really found a comfortable position. We decided not to swim here as the sea was quite rough and we didn't want to lie on the rocks any longer that we had to.
As we were at the southern end of the Cinque Terre now we caught the train to the northern most and to our final village, Monterosso. This was the largest of the 5 villages and the most touristy and developed. . The main street was lined with cafes, tourist shops and hotels on one side and by the beach on the other. There were loads of people everywhere and the resort town had a buzzing feel to it. This town was quite different to the other 4. There were 2 beaches. The main beach was long and packed with deck chairs & umbrellas and there were only a few small sections that you could put down a towel without paying. Around a small point there was another beach which was a lot more causal with less deck chairs and umbrellas. Moterosso had expensive houses on one side and terraces of local produce on the other. We found a spot on the main beach, squeezed in amongst hundreds of others and enjoyed a swim in the beautiful turquoise waters while enjoying some sun. We stayed long enough to feel refreshed for the final leg of our journey.
It was late afternoon by the time we were ready to leave and the sun was still high in the sky. The final section of the coastal track back to Vernazza was 3km long and felt the most hilly although maybe that was due to our tired bodies. This section was very up and down with loads of stairs. It was probably the highest section of the day but of course the views were amazing. Our final view, down onto Vernazza, was spectacular. Once back down into the village we had to refrained from the temptation of bed after such a long day, we got changed and went back town. We brought foccatia and gelato and found a spot on the break water again. We sat and watched and relaxed. Being a Saturday night there was a buzz about town. We watch the local kid play football in a small concreted area. We pondered why locals were fishing straight off the rocks into the marine protected area. We later learned there were different zones within the protected area some that allowed fishing. We watched the light and colours change and village light up as it got dark. The local people gathered in groups lazily sitting on steps outside the various small cafes and bars with drinks in their hands. After a long, hot, tiring, but amazing day it was the perfect way to end it. Eventually we gave in to our tiredness and headed to bed.
The next morning we visited our new favourite café / bar for coffee and croissants, this time taking them away to make it cheaper. We contemplated a quick morning swim but decided there wasn't time before we had to catch the train that would take us away from the Cinque Terre.
Genoa 11th & 12th July
When we brought our train tickets from Vernazza to Genoa and heard rumors of a train strike the next day. Once in Genoa we asked at information and found out that there was going to be a strike and that all trains would probably be suspended.We had planned to go to Monaco the next day and had a hotel booked. We spent hours searching only to we discovered that the only way to get to Monaco was by train so we had to completely change our plans and book another night in Genoa. We emailed the hotel in Monaco and told them we weren't going to make it. Very grumpy and mad having wasted so much time rearranging things we headed into Genoa and looked around the port. It was full of super yachts and some not so super but still impressive yachts and motor boats. We wanted to get dinner but most places weren't open because it was before 7pm we settled on a pizzeria on the waterfront. After dinner we explored the old town by foot, got a little lost and sampled an Italian Mc Flurry, which they put nuts in and was all kinds of wrong.
The next day, after breakfast, as I was getting things ready Craig decided to check out the train station and see if trains were going. The information lady told him there was a train to Monaco due to leave at 11am. Once again we rearranged our plans, canelling the extra night in Genoa, excited that we would be able to get to Monaco after all. We had a bit of time before the train left so walked through parts of old town again and to get cash out that we needed from my NZ eftpos card. Big mistake, the machine we used told me it had processed my request but wouldn't give me the money or card back. Craig decided if we tried to put another card into the machine but held onto it then it might then spit out my card instead. No such luck - it took Craig's card because we didn't hold onto it tight enough. To make it worse it was his UK card that we had all our money on! Luckily we managed to get his card back, but still not mine, mine was gone. We rushed back to the hotel to call Westpac to canel the card and check that the money hadn't actually been taken out of my account. What was supposed to be a collet call turned into a €26 phone call because the hotel lady didn't understand what I had asked when I asked her to dial for a collect call for me. I cancelled the card and found out that luckily I hadn't lost the $1000 out of my account. Finally sorted, we raced to the station to catch our 11am train to Monaco. We spent the next 5 hours at the station moving between platforms waiting with hundreds of other tourists for a train to come but despite what the lady at information had told Craig earlier there were no trains coming or going. To add to the drama we had validated our tickets to be used on that day. Fortunately the info centre were able to stamp the tickets, after looking at us like we were stupid for validating them in the first place because there was a train strike on, so we could use them the next day. Eventually feeling defeated and angry we headed to the hotel who we'd told we weren't coming hoping they would have still have our room available. For the first time that day something went right and we were able to have the room, I think the lady was pissed off though because she was very rude. We were so hungry so went n a search for dinner but being Sunday most things were shut so we ended up walking back to the port area and settled down for a kebab. We walked through the old townfor a bit more but after a while feeling tired and grumpy we went back to the hotel for the night hoping the trains would be running as normal the next day. We lost our money on the Monaco hotel but thankfully we had a place to sleep for the night, and thanks to lastminute.com it was a nice hotel for cheap and the breakfast the next morning was fantastic.
The next day trains were all running as scheduled and we were relieved when we got on our train and it pulled away from the station heading to Nice! Unfortunately we had brought regional train tickets the day before and didn't want to waste money upgrading them to a faster train so we stopped at almost every station between Genoa and Nice. Needless to say the trip was torturously long; we left Genoa at 9am and arrived in Nice at 2:30pm.
Nice 13th & 14th July
Finally we arrived and Nice and it was worth the wait. After getting settled into the hotel we set off to explore Nice. We headed straight to the beach. The water looked awesome and the beach stretched as far as the eye could see. We decided to walk around and come back for a swim later. We walked along the water front, which was busy with people both on the footpath and on the beach, to a site known as Castle Hill where there is a lookout providing great views along the beach, you could also head up the stairs to get better views, but we left this for now. We continued round the cost to the port. This was full with boats, super yachts, motor boats and sailing yachts. We walked around admiring for a bit before heading into old town. Old town was full of charm and was so busy. It was a labyrinth of narrow streets with lots of boutique market shops underneath awnings that covered the footpaths. From time to time the narrow streets opened up into paved squares that were packed with café tables & umbrellas and people enjoying the atmosphere. We stopped at a local bakery and brought cheese & bacon loaf and a giant piece of chocolate tart which we enjoyed sitting on the beach front. We headed back into old town to explore a bit more before deciding to tackle Castle Hill. It was a bit hard on the legs walking up the steep paths and steps but the views from the top were well worth it. We had 360o views of Nice and its surrounds. From here you could clearly see the distinction between the old and new town divided by a row of trees. After taking in the views it was time to test out the turquoise blue water. The beach was pretty packed so we had to search a bit to find a free small pebbled patch to lay down our gear. Once we found one we did our taking turns routine so someone could look after our gear. The water was fantastic after the climb up the hill.
In the evening we headed into town, it was so lively with people everywhere walking around or sitting in cafes and restaurants whose tables covered the pedestrian only streets. There were street performers playing music, dancing with people, and break dancing. We spent all night wandering round and for a while sat in a café eating ice cream and people watching, soaking up the atmosphere.
The following day we took a tour along the coast to Cannes, Antibies & Saint Paul de Vence. It was a ½ day tour and we ended up being the only ones so we had our own private tour. Our guide was not the best English speaker but that was ok. He would tell us a bit about each town on the drive and then give us free time to explore in each place.
First stop was Cannes, Home of the Cannes film festival. We visited the Film Palace where the festival takes place and saw the hand prints of famous people, similar to Hollywood except there weren't many names we recognized. There was a beautiful white sandy beach where a couple of people were crashed out from the night before. We saw all the designer shops and fancy hotels. It was a public holiday so not much was open. We walked around the harbour area watching the crew cleaning and polishing the super yachts trying to pick out which one would be ours. Next stop was Antibes. This is another coastal town with a small white sandy beach and a port full of yachts and boats. Antibes is also home to the Picasso museum, but unfortunately we didn't have time to go in. There is also a big provincial market here where people from all around the province bring their local produce to sell. We walked around this for a bit and I tried some awesome chutney type stuff and crackers. The town its self was really cool with cobbled streets and stone buildings occupied with boutique stores or cafes. Next stop was Saint Paul de Vence. This was one of the most beautiful villages we have been to. It is a completely walled village perched on top of a mountain. Even the drive, through vine yards and villas, slowly winding up the valley to the mountain top was beautiful.Behind the walls and into the village we found narrow cobbled streets where the cobbles had actually been arranged into patterns in all the streets. All the buildings were old stone buildings and had flower vines growing over them or flower pots hanging off window ledges. There were loads of art galleries and craft shops and also boutique stores selling beauty products, clothing and souvenirs. We took a break at one cafe and had the best fresh fruit salad cup ever. I can't really do this town justice describing it so check out the photos! This was the last stop on the tour before we headed back into Nice.
In the evening we went to Monte Carlo. We didn't start off well as we got on the wrong train and were heading for the hills leading to nowhere. Luckily they had someone checking the tickets and the lady sorted us out, she was so helpful. We had to wait at a station in the middle of nowhere for half an hour to get a train back to Nice. Second time round we got on the right train. We arrived at the station which is built underground and into a hill. We figured it was so the common people arriving by train didn't taint the reputation of Monaco, Ha! The station was the nicest train station ever and so clean! We walked around the harbour area which was packed with super yachts and lined with fancy restaurants. We also walked down to where we could see the palace. We then headed around to the main attraction - the Monte Carlo Casino. This is where the super expensive shops and hotel are also. There is a really awesome terraced park area outside the casino which was lit up at night with the casino lit up behind it. We joined the other tourists standing outside and watched for a while but it was pretty early in Monaco terms and there wasn't much happening, we watched expensive cars drive past but that was about all. We saw one couple drive up in the yellow Ferrari and get ushered inside the casino through a special door while the valet took away the car. They looked pretty important but we had no idea who they were. There were so many people walking up to the expensive cars and having their photos taken with them like real tourists. Eventually we decided to go inside. You have to have your passport checked and pay €20 to go inside. Inside was much different to what we expected. It was like being inside a mansion house or small palace, not a casino. The rooms were all decorated with painted ceilings. It was made up of three different rooms open to the public. The first one had roulette tables, another had a few pokie machines and the third had black jack and poker tables.It was pretty small over all. Craig was keen to play blackjack but at €25 a hand he decided against it. It was really quite, we had read somewhere that it doesn't start to get busy until about 2am after people are finished at restaurants, bars and clubs. I played on the pokies at one of the other smaller casinos just so that I could say I've played at the casinos in Monte Carlo! Monaco was pretty quiet and low key while we were there not what we were expecting at all but still a cool place. We caught the last train back to Nice at midnight.
Milan 15th - 16th July
Today we spent most of the day travelling from Nice to Milan because we had a 4 hour wait in a coastal town called Ventimigiale on the boarder of France and Italy. We had a bit of a stroll around here, sat in the park for a while and had iced lemon drink but there wasn't much to see or do here. Once we caught our connecting train we arrived at Milan at 6:50pm. We didn't have much time in Milan so we went for a bit of a walk that evening but town was quite far from where we were staying so we didn't make there.
Since we were short of time we had booked a sightseeing tour for the next morning.This was also the only way to get tickets to see Divinci's The Last Supper because by the time we booked all the tickets had been booked for the date we wanted. On the tour we visited the palace, the opera house & statue of Leonardo Divinci, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele (designer shopping gallery & Europe's only 7 star hotel) and the Duomo (cathedral). The Duomo was so impressive the best one we've seen. After the tour we had a little look around the city and in a few shops before catching the train to Venice.Milan was very hot and muggy and just a big city, not really that impressive. It is mostly just shopping if you have the money to spend!
Venice 16th - 18th July
We arrived in Venice to a beautiful sunset at around 7:30pm. After getting into our hotel we took a walk around St Marco Square which was all lit up has three restaurants with string ensembles playing while people eat. It had a very romantic feeling.
The next morning we spent following a walking tour that was in our guide book. We visited San Moise, Campo San Maurizio, Ponte dell Accademia (grand canal bridge), dell'Accademia, Santa Maria Della Salute, the Canale dela Giudecca, Campo Santo Stefano, Santo Stefano, Campo St Angelo, Gran Teatro la Fenice, Campo San Fantin, Campo Manin, Campo San Luca, Calle del Fabbri (main shopping street), San Salvador and Ponte de Rialto.
In the afternoon we did a boat tour visiting three of Venice's surrounding islands. We had a guide on the boat who told us about the islands but with the noise of the boat and her thick Italian accent it was hard to understand what she was telling us most of the time. Our first stop was Murano which is home of the famous Murano glass. Here we watched a glass blowing demonstration, the blowers made a vase and a ornamental horse. It was pretty amazing how the men just flicked, pulled and rotated the glass to make the objects. It was unbearably hot in the workshop too, some people left before the demonstration was finished because they couldn't handle the heat. We were then taken to the shop where they tried to entice us to buy glass things at a discounted rate. We were also able to look around the gallery which had glass pieces worth thousands of dollars. The next island stop was Torcello, which was the site of an old monastery. This island has a beautiful large lagoon with a canal that lead us towards the historic area. Here we saw the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. The old Cathedral was founded in 639. Opposite this were the remains of its ancient 7th century Baptistery and nearby, the 13th century Church of Santa Fosca. Our final island stop was the island of Burano, a fishing village island. This island is famous for the art of point-lace, a skill that requires great patience with needle and fine thread to create highly refined designs and motifs. We watch an Old Italian woman in her chair working at a piece of lace. It took so long and she looked really board. We saw some amazing lace table cloths that must have taken months to make. The island has very characteristic brightly coloured houses. We were told that each family paints it house a different colour and this is how they know which properties belong to each family.
Once back on the main island we picked a table under an awning and settled in for dinner at one of the restaurants lining a narrow street that ran off San Marco Square. There were people walking round trying to entice tourists to buy roses for their loved ones and it was all really lovely. The suddenly the skies opened up and it poured with rain and the thunder was loud over our heads. People in the streets were running and some were hiding inside the shops. The rose sellers mysteriously disappeared only to re appear moments later selling umbrellas! Then giant balls of hail pounded down onto the awnings and streets. A couple in a group down from us had rain pouring through a light socket narrowly missing their heads instead landing in a wine glass! It was the first and only rain we had on our entire trip so we didn't mind and it had been the hottest day of all so it was a nice change. It didn't last long so after dinner we strolled around the streets and enjoyed some late night shopping.
The sun was again the next day and as hot as ever. We did some more sightseeing in the morning getting up early to beat the lines to go inside the Basilica san Marco. We strolled around exploring more of the narrow streets and visited the crowed main shopping areas. After all of that we enjoyed an Italian tradition - siesta time! Revived from our sleep we headed out again, this time walking around a more residential area of Venice and towards the boat building sheds. We thought we might be able to see some gondola being built but we couldn't see anything so it was a bit of a letdown.Heading back to San Marco Square we noticed there were big groups of people piling into boats and as we walked further along the Canal Di San Marco we discovered there was a big event on.
We had been watching people having gondola rides and had been debating whether we should do one, knowing that it would be so expensive. Eventually deciding that it was something that had to be done, we asked one of the gondola men how much it would cost. He said for a short tour it would be €100 and for a full tour it would be €150. We said no and walked away. One of the men in the group followed us and told us we could do it for €80 or €100. We decided to just go for it and did the full tour. It was so relaxing and a beautiful, a completely different perspective of Venice. We visited lots of sights including Marco Polo's House and Casanova's house, both places we could not have gone to seen by walking. The tour only ended up lasting about 20mins making it very expensive but we were glad we did it. After the tour we headed back along Canal Di San Marco were people were crowded onto boats, having bbq's and playing music. Some of the restaurants and houses had tables out decorated in bright colours with paper lanterns decorations everywhere. There were hundreds of boats filling the canals and people were singing and dancing on all of them. We found out that there were going to be fireworks later on and sat at a café and had pizza enjoying the party atmosphere. Later that night we went back to San Marco Square and found a spot to sit so we would have a good view of the fireworks. As we waited more and more people crammed in sitting in any tiny gap they could. As the fireworks began everyone stood up and more people packed in, it was like being in a mosh pit! The fireworks lasted for about 45 minutes and were amazing. I think they were the coolest display of fireworks I have seen although Craig was not as impressed!We found out that the celebrations were for La Festa del Redentore, giving thanks for the end of the plague that hit Europe.
Florence 19th & 20th July
We were up early today to catch the train to Florence. Our last walk through the narrow streets of Venice was a complete contrast to every other day we had spent there. It was dead quite, I guess everyone was still recovering from the night before. The only ones around were those who had the horrible task of cleaning up the mess. We arrived in Florence around lunchtime; during the train ride Craig had planned a sightseeing walking tour for our afternoon/evening. We visited:
- - San Marco Church
- - Galleria dell Academia: the home of Michelangelo's David, we decided not to go in instead to come back early another day to avoid the queues.
- - Palazzo Medici-Riccardi
- - Mercato di San Lorenzo/San Lorenzo Market: full of cheap leather products, clothing and souvenirs.
- - Cappelle Medicee: The Medici chapels
- - Piazza Duomo: Home of the very impressive Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral (Duomo), Battistero di San Giovanni (baptistery) and Campanile di Giotto (Bell Tower). We joined the queue to go inside main cathedral building because it looked so cool from the outside. The queue was moving quite fast so it didn't take long. It was funny because there were men who were trying to sell copies of Italian paintings to people in line but every time a police or security person came along they would fold away the paintings and run to join the line so they looked like tourists. Inside we were quite disappointed as it was quite plain. There were a few stained glass windows and one cool painting on the roof of the dome but everything else was plain.
- - Bargello Museum
- - Piazza della Signora and Palazza Vecchio: This square was full of really cool sculptures, we weren't sure if this was a special exhibition or if they were always displayed here.
- - Ponte Vecchio: This is an iconic tourist attraction of Florence. It is a bridge of shops where the shops hang over the edge of the bridge itself. It is a pedestrian bridge/street where the majority of shops are jewellery shops that cram as much jewellery into them as they possibly can.
- - Palazzo Pitti (small palace).
- - Piazzale Michelangelo: This Square is where the original David first stood. This has now been taken to the museum and a replica stands in its place. We had to walk up a lot of stairs to get here and it was hard work in the heat but it was well worth it. The square provides amazing views of Florence.It looks just like the photos you see in books that you are sure have been enhanced. From here we could see an old wall leading from near to river to Forte di Belvedere which somehow I got the idea was the wall that David slung the rock over to beat Goliath. Not sure where I got that from but it's a good story so i'm sticking with it!
- - Chiesa si Santa Croce: We wanted to go into this church and museum but arrive right on closing time so weren't able to.
- - Santa Maria Novella church.
After the main city sightseeing we walked out Fortezza da Basso. Here we found a nice grassy park with a lake so we sat/lay down and relaxed for a bit after all our walking. We were keen to go inside but it was closed for the day as it was getting late.
The next day we were up early for our wine cycle tour and I was really excited. We were picked up in a shuttle van and taken into the Chianti wine region of Tuscany. The area that we were to cycle round was known as Chianti Colli Fiorentini (Hills of Florance). The tour company was owned and operated by a couple of Scottish guys who were excellent and very funny.We were taken to Catella di Poppiano, an estate of 270 ha of which 130 ha are vineyards and 47 ha are olive groves. The castle has belonged to the Guicciardini's since the year 1199 and has been producing wine and olive oil ever since. The family still lives today. We did a tour through the castle's winery buildings to the top of one of the towers that offered us stunning very out over the estate. We finished the tour with a wine and olive oil tasting. We tasted the castles signature red wine which was fantastic. The olive oil was divine, the most amazing olive oil we have ever tasted. We brought a few bottles of wine and oil to bring home. Next it was off to get our bikes. We were fitted out into our gear and split into groups then headed off. They were a bit mean starting us off with a hill as most of us hadn't ridden a bike in a while but it was only a small one. We rode through the county and a small town for about ½ and hour before we made our first stop at a local restaurant for lunch. We were given a 3 course traditional lunch with several dished to choose from and of course more wine! After lunch we carried on our way through the vineyards, olive groves and sunflower fields. It was so picturesque. Then came the hill, we had been warned about the hill by both the guides and all the reviews. We had the choice of riding it or taking the van up. I had decided I was going to do it but by about a third of the way up I was walking, it was too hard. It was not so steep but it just kept going. Craig was one of 2 or 3 who cycled the entire hill. We had a water break at the top and carried on back to the castle. It was such a fantastic tour we would highly recommend it. That night we were knacked and just crashed.
Pisa 21st July
Today we had to leave Italy and head back to the UK but before we did we had one last stop.We couldn't leave without see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We got the train to Pisa early so we would have time to check it out before heading to the airport. It meant we had to lug all our gear around with us in the heat but that was ok. The Tower is located in a piazza with the Duomo (cathedral) and another building. Lining the outside of the piazza were tourist stalls selling souvenirs and there were tourists everywhere trying to get there photos just right so they were holding up the tower. The tower was pretty cool and it is on a pretty big lean. You are able to climb up it, although we didn't.
We checked in our bags at the airport, which were pretty heavy with our wine, olive oil and Viennese glass, assuming we were allowed 20kgs. Turned out we were only allowed 15kg and we got stung with a €75 charge to take the extra weight on the plane. We were so pissed off but just couldn't leave any of it behind. If we had have known we could have brought another bag to check in for only €30. Another lesson learned, the hard way!
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