Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Saturday
Well here we are in Bucine after our first uneventful transfer, if you put aside the drama of buying the bus tickets and the fact that it was raining when we got off the bus and walked the couple of hundred metres to the Villa, uphill of course.
After a somewhat soggy welcome from all those present, we settled into a lovely room on the first floor overlooking the valley and hills in the distance. The Villa has been a "work in progress" for the past 400 years and presently consists of 4 floors. If you are interested, google "Villa Catola, Bucine, Tuscany" and you never know, you might just see us in the photo gallery!! That night, the owner of the Villa, whose name is Fabio prepared a Tuscan meal for us.
Antipasto, then a pasta dish followed by thinly sliced roast pork, then dessert, all washed down with wine from his family vineyard.
Sunday
Today was a quite, do nothing day which was very nice for a change. A walk around the village of Bucine, find the local supermarket and where the best coffee was served and that was about it.
Monday
Up reasonably early and it's over to Monte San Savino to pick up the bikes. Sue's brother was the only other starter with me and so when I say "over" to M. San Savino, I mean "over"! The ride back was a long climb up around 400m then down the other side, with a few little hills on the way, just to loosen things up. All in all around 26kms on very quite roads through mainly forest, olives and grapes making it a good ride.
While all this was going on, Jean and the others took a trip to the Prada outlet factory, but, fortunately for the credit card, came back empty handed. Later that day, Fabio had arranged for his son, who is a chef, to show us how to make a Pasta dish, starting with two packets of flour and 8 eggs!
The cooking class was very interesting and the result even better. A thick tomato soup, pasta and a pork sauce, followed by a local version of a rich beef casserole. More wine and fall into bed.
Tuesday
A little overcast made for a slow start today, but things eventually got into gear and Jean and I went for a ride to Ambra, purpose unknown ( to me at least) when we left. The ride along a lightly trafficked road was easy enough and we soon arrived at our destination, a shoe factory outlet!!
After the mandatory browse, Jean asked if there was a quieter road back to Bucine, which there was, through a town called Cenina. The road looked innocent enough on google maps on my phone, so off we went. However, unfortunately the capacity of google maps to correctly indicate the topography proved to be somewhat limited and we were confronted with a truly tortuous Tuscan hill. Approx 500m climb over 3 or 4 kms. Definitely mountain goat country! With much sweating, gasping and struggle, we reached the village at the top of the mountain ridge, where I ask a local where the cafe or bar was, only to be told that there was no cafe or shop in the village. Nothing! Not a shop of any description so there nothing else for it other than to point the bikes down the other side of the hill toward Bucine and let gravity do the rest. Through gritted teeth and some scepticism about my navigational skills, all of which was ill placed, the ride home was very picturesque, and enjoyable, that is until we stopped a roadside tourist board with a local map on it that showed the hill we had just descended, a long road along the valley floor with an equally high hill at the end. As this did not accord with my map, we pressed on and luckily, I was right and there was no second mountain to climb. All this to avoid a few cars and trucks, but I think we both enjoyed it, especially as I found a pair of shoes for me and a pair for Sarah.
As I couldn't carry two pairs of shoes with me, we had agreed that I would come back tomorrow and pick them up, only his time I will stay on the main road!!
Dinner at the local Ristorante and the end of another day.
Wednesday
Back to Amba, me on the bike and Jean in the car with Rick and Sue, pick up the shoes and home again. After lunch, Fabio took is all for a tour of the surrounding countryside which was great, and then, back home again in time to think about dinner.
Thursday
Today, We took the train to Florence for the day. It was a bit showery but we spent the time wandering the streets, climbing the dome of the Duomo, and a walk through the street market. Home around 5 and it was all hands to make dinner, which turned out to be a walk up to the local Pizza shop for 4 gigantic Pizzas.
Friday
Up and away early to ride back to M. San Savino to take the bikes back. I went on my own and Rick took the other one in his car. Monte San Savino is a medieval walled town, so after dropping off the bikes, we went up to the town for a wander. It was fascinating, such an old town clearly not on the Tuscan tourist trail, made for a great end to a really enjoyable week. After finding a fresh fish shop here, on the top of a hill, we bought a kilo of fresh prawns, a kilo of small clams and a couple of sea bass and headed home to prepare a feast to remember.
Saturday
Today we are leaving Bucine and Tuscany and heading to our final destination, Rome. As I write this on the train we are travelling past hill top towns and castles, vineyards in the valleys and olive trees on the slopes. It is forecast to be 23 degrees in Rome today with warmer days to follow so here's hoping they are right.
Notwithstanding all of the excitement and heart stopping events associated with train travel in Italy, once we are actually on the train, it has been very comfortable and really, the only way to get around. It's just the surety or not, of getting on the preferred train at the preferred time that has been the problem.
We have arrived in Rome and safely tucked up in the Hotel Centro, a small hotel that we have stayed in before that is ideally located close enough to the train station and far enough away from the tourist trail.
Ciao
- comments