Small trip report "Firenze - Tuscany - Piemonte - Lake Maggiore and more"
Apr 23rd, 2011, 08:54 AM
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Small trip report "Firenze - Tuscany - Piemonte - Lake Maggiore and more"
A minor attempt at a trip report.
After several months of research and planning our trip came together. Thank you very much to all of the help and advice we were given from this site. It was amazing.
My wife and I flew from Los Angeles to NY. In NY we met up with my cousin and his wife and continued on to Milano. The flights were on time and without incidents.
We had gotten tickets to take the high speed train direct from Malpensa to Firenze. In order to catch the train, we had about a four hour layover. There is a nice Sheraton Hotel right at the airport near the train station, so we went there and had breakfast at the hotel and relaxed a bit before catching our train.
Quick train trip down to Firenze and caught a cab from the train station to our hotel (Hotel Casci). We checked in, cleaned up and ventured out to stretch our legs and get a lay of the area. I will say that the hotel was perfect for us. It is in a part of the city that we were able to get around comfortably on foot. We were able to see the spots we wanted to see (Duomo, Uffizzi and Academia) with just a short walk. Many good restaurants within a couple of blocks also. We never had to take a cab the entire three days we were there.
Just around the corner we met Stephano and Anna at “Anna’s Bar”. Stephano proved to be our perfect resource for insider tips on local restaurants as well as history and other countless questions answered asked by four inquisitive travelers. Plus he makes a mean “Spritz” which soon became our new favorite afternoon libation. We really enjoyed our afternoon stops here, chatting with some locals and getting recommendations on restaurants for the evening.
More to follow….
After several months of research and planning our trip came together. Thank you very much to all of the help and advice we were given from this site. It was amazing.
My wife and I flew from Los Angeles to NY. In NY we met up with my cousin and his wife and continued on to Milano. The flights were on time and without incidents.
We had gotten tickets to take the high speed train direct from Malpensa to Firenze. In order to catch the train, we had about a four hour layover. There is a nice Sheraton Hotel right at the airport near the train station, so we went there and had breakfast at the hotel and relaxed a bit before catching our train.
Quick train trip down to Firenze and caught a cab from the train station to our hotel (Hotel Casci). We checked in, cleaned up and ventured out to stretch our legs and get a lay of the area. I will say that the hotel was perfect for us. It is in a part of the city that we were able to get around comfortably on foot. We were able to see the spots we wanted to see (Duomo, Uffizzi and Academia) with just a short walk. Many good restaurants within a couple of blocks also. We never had to take a cab the entire three days we were there.
Just around the corner we met Stephano and Anna at “Anna’s Bar”. Stephano proved to be our perfect resource for insider tips on local restaurants as well as history and other countless questions answered asked by four inquisitive travelers. Plus he makes a mean “Spritz” which soon became our new favorite afternoon libation. We really enjoyed our afternoon stops here, chatting with some locals and getting recommendations on restaurants for the evening.
More to follow….
Apr 23rd, 2011, 10:20 AM
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Right around the corner from Hotel Casci, we noticed a small travel agent business. We stopped in on our second day and within a few minutes had tickets for our next two legs of our trip. After three days in Firenze, we were off to the train station. As it happened, there was a train strike on this day. Our scheduled train to Castiglione Fiorentino in Tuscany had been had been canceled. Luckily, learning from this site, I knew that the train tickets are good for all of the trains. We figured out which was going to be the next train arriving at our destination. No problem, we arrived at our destination only 30 minutes later than our original time of arrival. Had I not learned about the train situation from research here, we would have wasted most of the day getting to CF.
We had arranged to have a rental car waiting for us when we arrived in Castiglione Fiorentino. After calling and notifying them that we would be a bit late. The car and the owner of the company was at the station waiting for us when we arrived. We took care of the car paper work and off to “Il Ceriolo” http://www.ceriolo.com/Inglese/Home.htm our lodging for the next three days. We loved it here and it was a great homebase for a taste of Tuscan life.
We were blessed to have good friends to show us around the area. On our second day we took a cooking class http://www.il-girasole.com/cooking.htm in Cortona, which was only a few kilometers away. This proved to be our favorite meal in Italy (and we didn’t have one bad meal) and one of the many highlights of our trip. On our last day in Tuscany, my wife was in heaven as we went to Arrezzo and strolled the streets for an antique mart.
More to follow...
We had arranged to have a rental car waiting for us when we arrived in Castiglione Fiorentino. After calling and notifying them that we would be a bit late. The car and the owner of the company was at the station waiting for us when we arrived. We took care of the car paper work and off to “Il Ceriolo” http://www.ceriolo.com/Inglese/Home.htm our lodging for the next three days. We loved it here and it was a great homebase for a taste of Tuscan life.
We were blessed to have good friends to show us around the area. On our second day we took a cooking class http://www.il-girasole.com/cooking.htm in Cortona, which was only a few kilometers away. This proved to be our favorite meal in Italy (and we didn’t have one bad meal) and one of the many highlights of our trip. On our last day in Tuscany, my wife was in heaven as we went to Arrezzo and strolled the streets for an antique mart.
More to follow...
Apr 24th, 2011, 10:18 AM
#4
Good so far, but I don't understand why people use the national names of cities (Firenze) when a well-established name (Florence) exists in the language in which you are writing, especially if you are going to use English words like Tuscany in the same breath.
Apr 24th, 2011, 10:26 AM
#5
a bit picky, kerouac.
glad you had such a great time, Orion.
you have a positive attitude to things going wrong, which I admire.
I'm off to florence in two weeks time, so I'd be interested in knowing why you thought that anna's bar was so good. directions?
glad you had such a great time, Orion.
you have a positive attitude to things going wrong, which I admire.
I'm off to florence in two weeks time, so I'd be interested in knowing why you thought that anna's bar was so good. directions?
Apr 24th, 2011, 07:07 PM
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Hi Sampaguita,
Sorry we missed you on this trip. Not enough time to get up to meet you and your wife. Hopefully on the next trip.
kerouac,
Didn't mean to break the rules. I just fugure I should respect the cities and country by referring to them by their proper names in Italian. I guess I messed up on Tuscany.
annhig,
One of the fun things we like to do when we go to a new area, is find out where the locals hang out. It is the best way for us to find out about restaurants and other out of the way places. "Snack Bar Anna" was a very small spot that we loved due to the owners, Anna and Stephano. They were happy to answer our load of questions. We met some of the regulars and they were very gracious to us and made us feel at home. Their restaurant recommendations were spot on (for our group). It is directly behind the Hotel Casci, (Via Ginori 26/R)
Piemonte,
After three days in Castiglione Fiorentino, we dropped off our rental car and took the train to Asti via Milano and Torino. After a quick cab ride to the Europcar rental car office. We were in our car and off on our way to Alba.
We arrived in Alba, called Roberta at La Favorita and within a few minutes, we were following her up the hill that overlooks the village. We were shown our rooms and relaxed while we chatted with Roberta and had a glass of her excellent Nebbiolo. La Favorita was all it was cracked up to be and more. Another great tip from the Fodor’s site.
We had reservations at La Libera for the next night (Tuesday), but Roberta clued us in that they were one of the only restaurants in the area open on Monday nights. She called them and easy as that we had our ressies changed for later that night. I wont go into details, but the restaurant does an excellent job and we had a wonderful meal and we were able to drink some older Barolo’s and Barbaresco’s from the list.
The next day we ventured north a explored the area’s around Barbaresco, Nieve and surrounding area’s. The following day, the opposite direction and enjoyed Barolo and it’s surrounding area’s. If you get a chance, make sure you go to the wine museum in Barolo. As much if not more of an art exhibit as it is a wine museum.
The next morning after one of La Favorita’s wonderful breakfast’s, we were off to Milano to drop off our cousin at "First Hotel". They were off home the next day. We headed west for Chateaunuef du Pape in France.
More to follow…
Sorry we missed you on this trip. Not enough time to get up to meet you and your wife. Hopefully on the next trip.
kerouac,
Didn't mean to break the rules. I just fugure I should respect the cities and country by referring to them by their proper names in Italian. I guess I messed up on Tuscany.
annhig,
One of the fun things we like to do when we go to a new area, is find out where the locals hang out. It is the best way for us to find out about restaurants and other out of the way places. "Snack Bar Anna" was a very small spot that we loved due to the owners, Anna and Stephano. They were happy to answer our load of questions. We met some of the regulars and they were very gracious to us and made us feel at home. Their restaurant recommendations were spot on (for our group). It is directly behind the Hotel Casci, (Via Ginori 26/R)
Piemonte,
After three days in Castiglione Fiorentino, we dropped off our rental car and took the train to Asti via Milano and Torino. After a quick cab ride to the Europcar rental car office. We were in our car and off on our way to Alba.
We arrived in Alba, called Roberta at La Favorita and within a few minutes, we were following her up the hill that overlooks the village. We were shown our rooms and relaxed while we chatted with Roberta and had a glass of her excellent Nebbiolo. La Favorita was all it was cracked up to be and more. Another great tip from the Fodor’s site.
We had reservations at La Libera for the next night (Tuesday), but Roberta clued us in that they were one of the only restaurants in the area open on Monday nights. She called them and easy as that we had our ressies changed for later that night. I wont go into details, but the restaurant does an excellent job and we had a wonderful meal and we were able to drink some older Barolo’s and Barbaresco’s from the list.
The next day we ventured north a explored the area’s around Barbaresco, Nieve and surrounding area’s. The following day, the opposite direction and enjoyed Barolo and it’s surrounding area’s. If you get a chance, make sure you go to the wine museum in Barolo. As much if not more of an art exhibit as it is a wine museum.
The next morning after one of La Favorita’s wonderful breakfast’s, we were off to Milano to drop off our cousin at "First Hotel". They were off home the next day. We headed west for Chateaunuef du Pape in France.
More to follow…
Apr 25th, 2011, 11:26 AM
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After dropping off our cousin outside of Milano, we turned the car west and headed for France. This part of the trip I had kept a bit of surprise from my wife. She did not know that we were planning on making a small detour out of Italy. After several hours we arrived in Chateaunuef du Pape. We found our B & B, La Muscardine http://www.provence.guideweb.com/bb/...ne/indexa.html got situated and before long we were strolling down to the center of the village to have a glass of wine and relax after the day of driving. La Muscardine was a good spot for us as it had private parking and is only a short walk to village center.
Chateaunuef du Pape is one of our favorite places. Casual atmosphere, nice people and we love the wines. We were lucky, as fate had it. The weekend we were there the producers of CdP wines were having a wine tasting in village center. For 8 euro, we were able to taste over 75 different producers over two days. As side trips over the next few days, we traveled to L’ Isle sur la Sorgue, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Sablet and other villages and towns within an hour or so of CdP.
After four days we departed CdP and headed north to Condrieu and Cote Rotie in the northern end of the Rhone Valley. We spent the night in Ampuis and visited with friends and relaxed for the evening.
The next morning after a five day diversion to France we headed back to Italy through the tunnel at Mt Blanc.
Chateaunuef du Pape is one of our favorite places. Casual atmosphere, nice people and we love the wines. We were lucky, as fate had it. The weekend we were there the producers of CdP wines were having a wine tasting in village center. For 8 euro, we were able to taste over 75 different producers over two days. As side trips over the next few days, we traveled to L’ Isle sur la Sorgue, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Sablet and other villages and towns within an hour or so of CdP.
After four days we departed CdP and headed north to Condrieu and Cote Rotie in the northern end of the Rhone Valley. We spent the night in Ampuis and visited with friends and relaxed for the evening.
The next morning after a five day diversion to France we headed back to Italy through the tunnel at Mt Blanc.
