Relaxing in Tuscany

Sunday 18^th May

Planning time again. We need to plan our next couple of weeks and book some accommodation once we leave San Vincenzo. The next place to explore will be Umbria but first we have a couple of days to explore Tuscany.

Today we just took a drive along the coast detouring via a couple of small towns along the way. We drove up hill to one town and the views from up there back across the bay were pretty spectacular. The water was a beautiful blue/green colour. It looked very inviting and indeed there were some people in swimming, but there was quite a cool breeze and I think it was only about 22 C so not really hot enough for swimming. We continued on to the port town of Piombino where ferries leave to take you to a couple of islands off the coast of Italy. We thought we could have lunch in the town but it seemed to be closed for business – don’t know if that is just because it was a Sunday, or it is not really a busy town. We hadn’t planned to visit any of the islands so finding nowhere to eat we decided to head back to one of the small towns we passed on the way.

Populonia, not far from San Vincenzo
- again on the highest point.

A villa near to Populonia.

Looking back across the bay from Populonia
towards San Vincenzo..

The small town of Barati at the foot of Populonia.

On of the swimming pools at the park.
Anyone for a deckchair?
No problem today but I wouldn't want to be here
at the height of summer.

The beach at San Vincenzo. The sand was quite coarse.

We both enjoyed a nice meal of fish for lunch. Hopefully we will get to enjoy another seafood meal while we are here.

Monday 19^th May

Pisa was only 1 hour away so we headed there for the day – you can’t visit Italy and not go to the leaning tower. We were both very impressed with our first view of the tower. The tower and the cathedral and baptistery are all walled in the same area. When you walk through the gate it is a pretty spectacular sight with the 3 white buildings, and it is in a lovely park like area with expanses of green grass. The tower though is smaller than I imagined it – not really sure what I was expecting but that was my impression.  The cathedral is made out of white stone so inside was lovely and light. The carving on the cathedral is amazing and there were beautiful  paintings inside.

The cathedral at Pisa. Everything just looked so clean and white.
Beautiful first impression.

We tried to get the usual photo of us holding up the tower,
but they weren't quite successful.

The cathedral and baptistry.

Inside the cathedral at Pisa.

Another dog taking in the sights of Pisa.

You never know what to expect in terms of tourists – on a Monday we thought it might be quieter, but there were literally dozens of tour groups. A lot of Americans and Japanese we heard and saw. We decided to have lunch before moving on to the walled city of Lucca. We picked a chinese restaurant which was obviously a big hit with the Chinese and Japanese tour groups. I’ll never worry about making a mess at a chinese restaurant again; we watched one group as they spat the bits and bones on the table next to their plates (that explained the plastic on their tables).

Lucca is said to be the most impressive walled city in Italy. It has a wall that is 4km around the old city and inside the city walls there is only local traffic allowed so easy to walk around. We just wandered the city and visited the church. We really aren’t doing a church tour but every city has at least one church and they are all different, both outside and inside. They are often the most significant building in the town and usually set on the high point in the town.

Street view in the town of Lucca.

The church at Lucca.

We sat for a while in one of the piazzas and enjoyed a gelati and watched the passing parade.  Lucca is the home of Puccini and Rob visited the Puccini museum there. I visited a couple of leather shops, the wool shop and the fabric shop. No wool or fabric but I did pick up a nice handbag.

Puccini

Funniest thing - holding up the eftpos machine to find the satellite
where I bought my bag in Lucca. Only in Italy.

Part of the walls surrounding Lucca.

Tuesday 20^th May

We decided we would head back to Volterra to have a look at the town and are so glad that we did. This town is set high on the hill and is also walled like Lucca. The town also has an old roman theatre – this one is in ruins, unlike the one at Orange in France.

When you walk into the town it is just jaw-dropping to see the old buildings and streets; narrow alleys with buildings leaning close, pigeons roosting, little shops and cafes tucked around every corner. Just beautiful! We loved this town and the views from the walls of the town are pretty amazing as you look out over the Tuscan landscape. Everything is so green and picturesque – just like photos I have seen of Tuscany with the ochre buildings, and the pencil pines.

Looking towards Volterra.

Old city rooftops in the town of Volterra.

One of the narrow alleyways in Volterra.
Complete with roosting pigeons.

We call these 'bongo vans'. One wheel at the front and 2 at the rear.
They put-put along. This one had 2 big blokes squeezed into it.
We heard one tour guide comment that these were the most dangerous vehicles in Italy as the people in them were either too young, too old, or too drunk.

The ruins of the roman theatre in Volterra.

Alabaster seems to be the local product - we briefly visited this alabaster workshop,
 just snuck in with a tour group.

This dog was at home where he belonged.

Views from the top of the walls in Volterra.

From Volterra we moved on to San Gimignano which is another walled town set high on a hill. This one has 4 or 5 tall towers around the central piazza. We didn’t find out what purpose the towers served. We visited the church here also and inside this one the walls are completely covered with frescoes. Sadly no photos allowed in here. We should have got the audio guide as I was interested to know if all of the paintings were original – they have certainly been touched up as the colours are too vibrant to be very old. Again we ran into lots of tour groups here and felt that the town was catering very much to the tour buses with lots of expensive shopping.

A few photos of San Gimignano.

This shop won the world gelati championship a couple of times
so we lined up with everyone else for a gelati.

Last stop for the day was the village of Castellini in Chianti. Another pretty little town – it was late in the afternoon by the time we reached here and we were tired, so it was just a wander up and down the main street.

A couple of street views of Castellini in Chianti