We wake up to find that after last night’s rain rather than improving the weather has turned worse…so a rain day, no touring just some housekeeping, blogging and planning the next steps. The next few days slowly get better although rather than sunny skies over the vineyards we get clouds and a smattering of rain….Continue Reading “Borgo di Tuopino …Chianti heartland and stunning Siena”
Archives
September 27th A nice morning, as we get sorted out, the first order of business is to exit the garage without hurting the car no problems, and we are off, following the very clear instructions from our host. Departing is really quite simple and very quickly we are on the road to the hamlet of …Continue Reading “Florence to Borgo di Tuopina…..a week in Tuscany > Part I”
September 23rd to 27th Our stay in Lucca has been wonderful but now it is time now to visit one of the crown jewels of Italy, Florence. It is a short drive and on the hill above Florence there is a good overlook of what is awaiting us: In Florence it gets a little tense…Continue Reading “Florence…as Mark Twain said, “a city of dreams””
September 24th – 26th An incident-free trip to Lucca mostly via autostrada but also on some minor roads…on the way we passed Carrara. where for centuries marble has been quarried, the pure white “statuario” grade was used for monumental sculpture due to its high tensile strength, in addition, it could take a high gloss polish…Continue Reading “La Spezia to Lucca…. two nights behind the walls”
September 20th Today is a blue sky day and we are heading to Portovenere by car which is about 45 minutes away…. no issues en route car is parked and we stroll the promenade which is very pretty. The village is situated on the Gulf of La Spezia, more romantically known as the Gulf of…Continue Reading “La Spezia …a day trip to Portovenere”
September 18th The morning is cool and cloudy with the possibility of rain, we hustle down to the train station tickets in hand, and are on our way on the 08:15 train to Vernazza….as you can see the station is empty … We wind our way through the village and are climbing above the village…Continue Reading “La Spezia … Vernazza to Monterossa hike, train to Riomaggiore and Manarola”
September 17th, 2022 La Spezia is our base for four nights as we will be exploring the Cinque Terre…the flat is a 16-minute walk from the apartment to the La Spezia train station and a minute or three more on the way back, which is uphill. La Spezia is a bit gritty, a port city…Continue Reading “La Spezia, Italy……Corniglia to Vernazza hike & then train to Monterossa”
September 15th, 2022 The morning looks decent, but not the customary blue sky that we have become accustomed to. We head out on the trail which immediately starts climbing steeply…it is muggy with some flies harassing us. There seems to be no let-up to the climb, with few switchbacks, it then turns cloudy with a…Continue Reading “San Pietro de Venaco, Corsica …some hiking and onwards to Italy”
September 13 & 14 th Pretty relaxed days visited some beaches, hung around the town, and did some reading. Plage d’ Arone is some 12 km out of Piana, past the trailhead to Capo Rosso, which we visited a few days ago. The weather has been great and the views are always beguiling… We arrived…Continue Reading “Piana to San Pietro, Corsica…last days in Piana & heading to the mountains”
September 12th, 2022 We get up and are excited about our day …once again a clear, sunny day. Breakfast is a leisurely affair today as our day on the water will start in the early afternoon so as to take advantage of the light in the afternoon. As such, a few chores are on tap…Continue Reading “Piana, Corsica … a day on the water”