Tuscany bike tour

We had booked a bike / wine tour in the Tuscan countryside for this day, with Tuscany Bike Tours. We walked to the tour office in the Santa Croce area, and met the group. There were a few different groups, some cycling, others on vespas. There were 8 of us in the cycling group. A couple from Australia, a few from the States, and a guy from India.

We got into the van and drove to the start of the cycling  which was a beautiful old family estate that was a winery and olive oil maker. 

The cycle was fairly short, less than 20km, and the first part of it was mostly downhill. We stopped to take some pictures of the amazing countryside. 

Angus, our guide, talked about the different types of grapes that are grown. Most grapes are machine harvested and fermentation starts early, for cheaper wines. Some grapes are hand-selected to make very expensive wines, and the fermentation is more controlled. They don't sell a lot of it, so it doesn't make much money, but it creates a good reputation for the winery. When grape season is over they switch to harvestng and pressing olives for olive oil. That is why there are both vines and olive treea everywhere.

The last part was a very steep uphill climb to make up all the elevation we'd gone down. A few of us did it, the rest took the van.

Back at the estate we had a tour of the winery and the olive oil production and had a pasta lunch with different wines.

We drove back to Florence, getting in about 3:00pm. We walked back to the hotel, then found a laudromat and did some much-needed laundry. Then for dinner in the Santo Spirito area. 

Siena

The next day was a day trip to Siena, just south of Florence. In the middle age Siena and Florence were competing neighbouring kingdoms. We caught a regional train, and from the Siena train station there is a long series of escalators to take up to the edge of the city centre. It seemed wierd at first because the escalators start in a shopping mall. From the top you get a view of the Tuscan countryside. 

You come near an old gate on the city wall, walk down quaint, medieval style street.

Arrive at Il Campo, the huge circular plazza in the heart of the city. Beside it is Siena's old city hall with its tower. 

We bought some food at a grocery store and made lunch, sitting outside. We then wandered a bit to find the Duomo. It is very easy to get lost, since there are no right angles and the streets seem to take you in circles. Eventually we found it and walked around the outside.

Walking back to the train station we took a side road and found a great view of the Duomo. Took the train to Florence. Walking back to the hotel we went into the Santa Trinita basilica, of the Vallumbrosan monks, which has an early gothic style inside and a crypt.

After getting back to the hotel,  we had dinner in the Santa Spirito plaza which has a lot of restaurants.

Florence - Uffizi

 Cinque Terre to Florence by regional train, via changes in La Spezia and Pisa.

The hotel is right by Piazza Pitti on the other side of the river Arno. We checked in, this is the view from the window.

We walked into  over the Ponte Vecchio to the center of the city around the Duomo. 

On way back find cool secret bar down an alley. 

The neighbourhood near the hotel is called Santo Spirito has lots of restaurants buy very busy, hard to get in without reservation, but we finally found a place for dinner. A Florence specialty is a huge T-bone steak. Didn't try it but saw lots of people doing so.

Morning of first full day in Florence we had booking for Uffizi museum. Ground floor was contemporary exhibition of political magazines from the early 1900's. Second floor had two wings of classical statues. Some were Roman copies of Greek statues, dating to about 100AD, others had only pieces of original Roman statue, the rest added to in the 1400s.

Off the main wings were side rooms of paintings: Medieaval in early 1200's and early Renaisance in 1400's

Also saw famous paintings of masters like Bottecelli

as well as Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo.

There was also an exhibition of the notes and drawings of someone who had come to research Florence a few hundred years later. Upon exiting the Ufizzi museum you end up in Plazza Vechio, the old city hall  and we went into the courtyard. 

Nearby there was a monastery, Badia Florentina, with a central courtyard, and a church where I saw monks in white robes.

We walked to the Duomo, and since the lineup to get into the basilica was not that long, we went inside.

Went back to the hotel, had dinner at a nice little restaurant, Trattoria Bobli, a little ways up the road.

Cinque Terre - Porto Venere

 On Sunday we bought Cinque Terre Cards, or day passes for the train, so we could see the towns we haven't yet been to.

We took the train to Riomaggiore, the largest and southern most of the towns. We got off the train and walked through the tunnel ro the town. There are more restaurants and bars here compared to Manarola, where we are staying. We then walked to the marina and then up the cliff a bit, to get some great views.

We didn't stay long in Riomaggiore. It is the first stop for people on day trips to Cinque Terre, and perhaps because it was a Sunday, the crowd of people was overwhelming. Also, despite the weather forecast for cooler temperatures  it was still very hot and humid. So, we went back to the hotel in Manarola to change into lighter clothes.

We then took the train to the next town north, called Corniglia. It is up on a hill so there is no ferry stop. In fact when you get off the train, there is either a bus up the hill to town, or you climb up a long set of steep, switch-backing stairs.

Once you got to the top it was worth it. Corniglia is a very quaint little town with lots of narrow stone alleyways and great views of the surrounding countryside and the water.

There is so the old stone church of San Pietro built in the 1330's.

After walking around we had lunch, and then back down the stairs to the train station and back to Manarola. We had to wait quite a while for dinner because all the reataurants were fully booked.

On Monday we took the ferry to Porto Venere, which is outside the Cinque Terre park but it was recommeded to us as worth visiting.

The weather was finally turning, clouding over and getting windy, so the waves were large and the ferry ride was very choppy.

Porto Venere was definitely interesting. It is bigger and has more of a feeling of a city on the water rather than the small towns of Cinque Terre. There is a strip of shops and restaurants along the water by the dock, and a beach farther along. The strip is lined with colourful buildings.

 Narrow stone streets go up the hill to the small church of San Pietro in Porto Venere, built in 1198, which is on a point of land on cliffs overlooking the water.

Further up the hill is the imposing Castello Doria, built in 1161.

Just behind it is the church of San Lorenzo, built in the 1100's, with its interesting facade and huge black columns on the inside.

From there we walked back down through the narrow stone streets, and had a traditional meal in one of the restaurants.

We caught the ferry back to Manarola - another choppy ride and a bit of rain. This was our last day in Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre

On Friday we caught a high speed train from Bologna to Florence, and then regional trains to Manarola in Cinque Terre, via Pisa and La Spezia. So far we'd only used high speed trains for which we had pre-booked tickets, so using regional trains was new to us: getting the tickets, validating them, trying to find a seat, etc.

Cinque Terre is a national park on the northwest coast of Italy, in which isolated, beautiful, colourful towns sit like gems nestled in the cliffs, terraced vineyards, and olive groves of the steep, green shoreline. There are five main towns, from south to north they are: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterossa. Here is a picture of Riomaggiore.

An interesting thing about the train to Cinque Terre is that the train spends much of the time going through tunnels. Even the towns have pedestrian tunnels connecting one part to the other.

Upon arriving in Manarola, I was a bit shocked at the sheer density of the crowds of tourists. Just getting off the train platform took a long time since so many people had to funnel through a tiny exit. 

We found our hotel and after settling in we walked down the main street of the town to the water. There is a rocky protected cove where lots of people were swimming. I went into the water for a bit because it was so hot and humid. We then found a place for dinner. The view up the road gives a good idea of the scale of the place.

There is a ferry that goes to most of the towns (except Corniglia which is on a cliff above the water) and beyond. 

The next day we took the ferry to Vernazza.

Near the dock there was a group of people painting watercolours of the town so I joined them and did a sketch.

There are hiking trails connecting all the towns, and we did the hike from Vernazza to Monterossa. It was quite a hot day for a hike, about 30 degrees C, and the first half was all uphill. The trail went through olive groves and, dry Mediterranean shrubbery and huge aloe verra plants. It was sometimes dirt and sometimes very narrow stone steps. 

It was great to get a view of Monterossa with its large beach.

After a dip in the water we went for a drink and a bite to eat, walked around a bit, and then caught the ferry back to Manarola. Here is a view of both Corniglia and Manarola from the water.

After cleaning up at the hotel, we found a very nice restaurant up on the side of the hill for dinner, and a great view of the town at night.

Bologna

On Wednesday we took the high speed train from Bolzano to Bologna. The train left early in the afternoon so we had the morning to have a leisurely coffee and wander around the centre of town a bit.

The scenery from the train was still mountainous for a while, then changed to flat agricultural land about half way. We arrived in Bologna about 4:00 pm, and we checked into a small hotel near the station.

After a bit of reading we found that the main center of Bologna is the Piazza Maggiore, about 20 minutes walk from the hotel, so we headed in that direction.

We could see right away that the architecture was quite different from what we've seen so far. In contrast to the bright Baroque architecture of Rome, Bologna is full of red brick, Medieval buildings from the 1200's or 1300's.

As we walked down the main street toward the square, we found we were walking under a long series of arched, covered walkways, or porticoes. Apparently Bologna has almost 40 km of them.

The Piazza Maggiore is surrounded by red brick buildings that were Medieval adminstrative buildings, and St Petronius Basilica.

Branching off from the main square are little sidestreets filled with restaurants and food shops. Bologna is supposed to be a 'foodie' capital  and this is where it's at. The streets were very lively with restaurant patios filled with people.

We had a dinner of the local specialty Tagliette al Ragu, and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we walked to the square again and went inside the basilica. In addition to the impressive altar, it has the world's oldest organ, and a line of longitude engraved in the 1600's.

 

Next we walked down to the towers of Gaisenda and Asinelli, which are symbolic of Bologna. 

Garisenda is the shorter on and leans at an angle of 4 degrees, even more than the tower of Pisa. The Asinelli tower is 97 m high, built in 1109, and for a fee you can climb the 498 stepa to the top.

The views of the city from the top were amazing.

Afterward we found a nice little restaurant that served local specialties, and we had a late lunch with a bottle of wine.

We then wandered around the sidestreets some more, headed back to the hotel for a rest, and then found a funky restaurant nearby for dinner.

Bolzano - St. Ulrich

 On Monday we took it kind of easy: slept in, did laundry. In the afternoon we walked up the market street in Bolzano to get some stuff for making lunches.

The next day we woke up early and caught the 350 bus to Ortisei -St. Ulrich. It is a quaint ski town.

From the bus stop it is a bit of a walk to the Seceda cable car. You can tell everything is built to accommodate the large numbers of skiers in winter: there were wide escalators and moving walk-ways all the way. We took the two cable cars all the way to the top. The second one was really steep.

At the top you are at 2600m altitude, and right up close to tbe dramatic mountain peaks of the Dolomites.

There were people on the cable car with paragliders, and we saw them floating down from the top soon after we arrived.

The views of the Dolomites in all directions were incredible.

Just below was farmland and some of those small long-horned cows.

 There are some short hiking trails that take you right to the edge the peak called Fermeda, if you don't mind a little vertigo.

I've always wanted to see the Dolomites, so this day was a real highlight for me.

We had a beer at the cablecar station, then made our way back down and caught the bus back to Bolzano.

We got back just in time to check out the South Tyrol Archeological Museum which has the remains and the artifacts of a 5300 year old mummified man that was found in melting ice in the 1990's. Very good displays describing eveything that was found and what it meant for our understanding of human history.

Afterward we got cleaned up and went out for our last dinner in Bolzano.