May 17
Today we wanted to bike ride in Tuscany. We had a bit of a challenge as the first tour we tried to book was already full. We found one who could take us and were prepared for a full day bike ride through Tuscany hills. We got up early and had coffee and breakfast at a delightful little cafe that had three sets of stairs and we ended up in a little outside garden. Who knew? The things you can't see from the streets......amazing. This place actually served eggs, the first place we have found that does. After breakfast, we went to our designated spot for our tour. We were told that the all day tour had to be canceled due to the Tour d'Italy - similar to Tour de France. The good news was that we had a tour with just the guide and the two of us and we still got a four hour tour. The weather was beautiful beyond belief and we biked out of the city and up into the Tuscany hills. We passed a huge palazzo that was the Medici summer home. This family had unbelievable wealth and power and funded much of the reconstruction during the Renaissance. This palace is now a public high school. We biked on hills that made your heart race and your muscles burn but the payoff view was worth it. We stopped at a Villa that farms grapes and olives and is extremely old. The cellar was actually built in the first century. The Villa has been added on through the centuries so there are more modern parts as well as very old parts. A B&B is run by the family who owns it now - it was originally built by the Acciaiolis. We had lessons in olive trees and grape vines. Very interesting. Olive trees can live to be 1200 years old and are passed from family to family with a very personal interest in every tree. The farmers often alternate rows of grapes and olives. The olive trees shade the grapes and because their roots reach so deep in the soil, they provide water and minerals for the vines as well.
A light lunch with two different types of red wine and fresh olive oil was prepared for us. Everything was amazing but being such a light weight with alcohol, I could barely get my legs to move after! Our guide, Andrea, told us that olives must be pressed the same day as they are harvested to get the richest flavor imaginable. Italian families are reverent about their olive oil and they literally eat gallons of it. He told us that his family goes through about 60 liters a year and they only buy the best. They eat it on everything.
We biked past Galileo's home where he was exiled and his original conservatory. The countryside everywhere you look is breathtakingly beautiful.
After our bike ride, the day was still young. It was only about 2:00 so we decided to jump on a bus and head to Siena, an old Italian town that is about 50 km away from Firenze. Up to this point, everything was fairly uneventful. We found the bus station and bought our tickets and got on the bus. We saw "biglietto" machines as we boarded the bus but thought they were for people who had passes and saw no signs or received instructions otherwise. We thought they would just collect our tickets on the bus, same as they had done on the train. When we arrived in Siena, a ticket control agent who was riding on the bus, asked to see our tickets. We showed them to him and he told us that they were not validated and that we could no longer validate them at this point in our journey. He acted like he was going to try and "fix" this for us and asked for our driver licenses which we willingly gave. We then followed him off the bus. Off the bus, he told us that we were subject to a fine of 63 Euros each - about $75.00. $150.00 total for a ride that cost about $8.00 each. Both of us were livid as he had deceived us up to that point. It got ugly and could have been much worse. Long and short, we paid the fines but it took a while for both of us to cool down. I realized that it isn't much different than the speed traps we set for drivers in the U.S.
Anyway, we finally cooled off and decided not to let it ruin our day. Siena was absolutely amazing, more old castles and buildings. The streets were incredible - everything is like a picture book with cobblestoned streets and side walk cafes everywhere. We stayed in the city for 2-3 hours and then headed back to the bus to ride back to Firenze. We validated our tickets this time!!
LONG day. About 9-10 miles on the bike going up and down hills and about 10 miles on our feet. We are both exhausted but we did manage to get one more gelato stop in before heading to bed. If I keep this up, I'm going to roll home. I haven't been able to find time to run and have basically given up. We are just too busy for me to take a couple hours out to run. And it isn't easy to find a place to run either. I see a lot of runners on these crazy streets and I think I'll leave that to them......
Tonight is our last night in Firenze.......don't know if I'll get back here in this life but I love this city.
Today we wanted to bike ride in Tuscany. We had a bit of a challenge as the first tour we tried to book was already full. We found one who could take us and were prepared for a full day bike ride through Tuscany hills. We got up early and had coffee and breakfast at a delightful little cafe that had three sets of stairs and we ended up in a little outside garden. Who knew? The things you can't see from the streets......amazing. This place actually served eggs, the first place we have found that does. After breakfast, we went to our designated spot for our tour. We were told that the all day tour had to be canceled due to the Tour d'Italy - similar to Tour de France. The good news was that we had a tour with just the guide and the two of us and we still got a four hour tour. The weather was beautiful beyond belief and we biked out of the city and up into the Tuscany hills. We passed a huge palazzo that was the Medici summer home. This family had unbelievable wealth and power and funded much of the reconstruction during the Renaissance. This palace is now a public high school. We biked on hills that made your heart race and your muscles burn but the payoff view was worth it. We stopped at a Villa that farms grapes and olives and is extremely old. The cellar was actually built in the first century. The Villa has been added on through the centuries so there are more modern parts as well as very old parts. A B&B is run by the family who owns it now - it was originally built by the Acciaiolis. We had lessons in olive trees and grape vines. Very interesting. Olive trees can live to be 1200 years old and are passed from family to family with a very personal interest in every tree. The farmers often alternate rows of grapes and olives. The olive trees shade the grapes and because their roots reach so deep in the soil, they provide water and minerals for the vines as well.
A light lunch with two different types of red wine and fresh olive oil was prepared for us. Everything was amazing but being such a light weight with alcohol, I could barely get my legs to move after! Our guide, Andrea, told us that olives must be pressed the same day as they are harvested to get the richest flavor imaginable. Italian families are reverent about their olive oil and they literally eat gallons of it. He told us that his family goes through about 60 liters a year and they only buy the best. They eat it on everything.
We biked past Galileo's home where he was exiled and his original conservatory. The countryside everywhere you look is breathtakingly beautiful.
After our bike ride, the day was still young. It was only about 2:00 so we decided to jump on a bus and head to Siena, an old Italian town that is about 50 km away from Firenze. Up to this point, everything was fairly uneventful. We found the bus station and bought our tickets and got on the bus. We saw "biglietto" machines as we boarded the bus but thought they were for people who had passes and saw no signs or received instructions otherwise. We thought they would just collect our tickets on the bus, same as they had done on the train. When we arrived in Siena, a ticket control agent who was riding on the bus, asked to see our tickets. We showed them to him and he told us that they were not validated and that we could no longer validate them at this point in our journey. He acted like he was going to try and "fix" this for us and asked for our driver licenses which we willingly gave. We then followed him off the bus. Off the bus, he told us that we were subject to a fine of 63 Euros each - about $75.00. $150.00 total for a ride that cost about $8.00 each. Both of us were livid as he had deceived us up to that point. It got ugly and could have been much worse. Long and short, we paid the fines but it took a while for both of us to cool down. I realized that it isn't much different than the speed traps we set for drivers in the U.S.
Anyway, we finally cooled off and decided not to let it ruin our day. Siena was absolutely amazing, more old castles and buildings. The streets were incredible - everything is like a picture book with cobblestoned streets and side walk cafes everywhere. We stayed in the city for 2-3 hours and then headed back to the bus to ride back to Firenze. We validated our tickets this time!!
LONG day. About 9-10 miles on the bike going up and down hills and about 10 miles on our feet. We are both exhausted but we did manage to get one more gelato stop in before heading to bed. If I keep this up, I'm going to roll home. I haven't been able to find time to run and have basically given up. We are just too busy for me to take a couple hours out to run. And it isn't easy to find a place to run either. I see a lot of runners on these crazy streets and I think I'll leave that to them......
Tonight is our last night in Firenze.......don't know if I'll get back here in this life but I love this city.
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