Toscana

30 Apr - Day 46

We leave our movie themed hotel in Cannes today for a long drive to Siena, about 50km south of Florence, a distance of 450km.

The drive was a costal route, with intermittent views of the Mediterranean. The route was a sequence of valleys and hills, so the road was a sequence of viaducts soaring over the villages below and tunnels punching a straight line through the hills.

It rained all the way from Cannes to Siena. But the rain did not deter us from stopping in Nice for two coffees (I drank both) and for Marcus buy stamps and mail his post cards before we left France. Nice would have nice to wander around, but as it was raining, we did not hang around for too long.

Just before the France/Italy border, near Monaco, we arrived at a toll gate. The queues were long on the four lanes on the left, so I joined a shorter queue on the right and paid the E2.90. As it turned out, the queue was shorter for a reason. This was the exit gate from the motorway for folks who wanted to go to Monaco. The GPS did a hasty recalculation, and we were guided along the hills above Monaco for about 7km before rejoining the motorway. The views from up here of Monaco were pretty spectacular. I was tired after the long rainy drive, so we stopped at the supermarket for some cheese, cured meat, bread and a couple of chiantis for dinner before checking in.

The hotel we will be staying in is a rural-ish bed and breakfast run by a lovely couple of sisters. They explained the free parking areas in Siena, what to see in Tuscany and how to catch the bus to Florence.

View out of our room.

1 May - Day 47

Our priority for the week was to visit Florence, because we had least control over this. It is really difficult to find a park in Florence and the streets, traffic and drivers are very confusing. Furthermore, casual parking is about E90 per day. We were advised to take the bus.

After a lovely breakfast, we duly drove into Siena town and found our free park on Via Don Giovanni Minzoni. After a couple of wrong turns, and one request for directions, we found Piazza Gramsci where the Florence bus departs.

After looking around a bit we could not find the ticket office, but we spotted a solitary parking ticket machine where there a no car parks. So this was the ticket machine, and we purchase two tickets to Florence for E15.80. Next bus was 10.10am. We waited till 10.30am and I was thinking "is this Italian time keeping or something else". Noticing that no one else was waiting for the bus, I went to the office of the tour bus company to enquire (though it had nothing to do with them).

"Parla Ingleses Senora.

Yes I speak English.

We have been waiting a while for the Florence bus.

No Florence bus today.

Why?

1 May Labour Day."

I went back to Marcus with a big smile on my face, and he said what was so funny. Changing our plans, we decide to check out Siena itself. It was very nice walking around this medieval town. It was very crowded though, being a public holiday and all. The queues for the museum and cathedral were long.

After a couple of hours of walking we decided to go back to the hotel to recalibrate our plans for the afternoon.

 

We decided we would visit San Gimignano, a pretty little town 37km north east of Siena. The drive there was pleasant enough, but the tourist numbers and parking was impossible.

Luckily, as a contingency, we'd brought our dirty laundry along. So it was back to Siena to the laundramat next to Piazza Del Campo we spotted this morning.

I have to interject at this juncture to say that the Tuscany chianti I am drinking called "Conti Serristori" is tasting very mellow at the moment.

It was mainly undies to be washed with a couple of T-shirts and the cotton laundry bag itself. After the wash cycle, I decided that we would use the large dryer instead of the smaller ones to ensure everything was completely dry.

There was only one of these and the lady who came in after us with a large load of washing had to wait another 20 mins for us to finish. Marcus had to apologise for my inconsiderate decision, because I was at the 99c store buying a couple of beers at that time.

 

 

 

 

2 May - Day 48

The sun was shining brightly,the country out of our window looked really inviting, and we were determined to get to Florence today.

Finishing breakfast at 9am, we were in Siena town by 9.15am to catch the bus. All the free parks on Don Giovanni were taken, probably because it was a work day. So we drove to the other free parking area, Viale Vittorio Veneto, no luck there either. It appears market day was on, from the number of elderly people walking around ignoring traffic and stalls around.

I resigned myself to pay the E1.60 per hour parking which will be about 16 for our full day in Florence, but no luck either, paid parking was full too. So we missed Florence second time around.

It struck me at this moment that Italy must be experiencing an elderly population boom. Most of the Italian tourists we run into are elderly with canes etc. Lots of ads on TV sell stuff catering to the elderly. There, on TV, is this sit upright bath tub with all kinds of assisting bars, and a door that opens to let you out from a sitting position. Wouldn't mind one of those for myself.

I digress. Marcus suggested we try going to San Gimignano again. This time we did find a park and wandered around this lovely little fortified village. It is a tourist trap with shops selling crafts, cheese, wine and art. But done so elegantly with only the volume of people marring the experience. We procured some delicious gelatos here.

With Germanic efficiency we knocked off the three Chianti towns of Castellina (largest), Radda, and Gaiole (smallest and don't bother).

The drive through the Chianti country side was very pleasant, and took us up to 650m for some beautiful vistas of this wine country.