Tuscany without a plan
Sep 2nd, 2011, 04:30 AM
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Tuscany without a plan
Herself and I are off to Tuscany tomorrow morning: fly from Dublin to Bologna; pick up car; drive to agriturismo accommodation near Florence; stay one week, then reverse the journey. That's the entire programme.
We'll probably visit Florence and a few other places. I think it likely that we will enjoy ourselves.
If I find Wifi and time, I'll let you know how we are getting on.
We'll probably visit Florence and a few other places. I think it likely that we will enjoy ourselves.
If I find Wifi and time, I'll let you know how we are getting on.
Deborah
Sep 2nd, 2011, 09:05 AM
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The weather forecast suggests a thunderstorm on Sunday, followed by reasonably good weather.
I plan to wear my own clothes, which means unsmart casual. No way will I blend in with the locals, because my hair is generally unkempt. The socks I am packing to wear with my sandals are not black, so they won't take me for a German. We might speak Gaelic, and confuse them thoroughly.
Of course Tuscany is worth it: either we will enjoy visiting, or we will have a very satisfying grumbling session. I might post warnings like "Avoid Arezzo: I was served stale coffee there".
I plan to wear my own clothes, which means unsmart casual. No way will I blend in with the locals, because my hair is generally unkempt. The socks I am packing to wear with my sandals are not black, so they won't take me for a German. We might speak Gaelic, and confuse them thoroughly.
Of course Tuscany is worth it: either we will enjoy visiting, or we will have a very satisfying grumbling session. I might post warnings like "Avoid Arezzo: I was served stale coffee there".
Sep 3rd, 2011, 11:16 AM
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So we got here. I can't, at the moment, tell you where, because the name of the place has more than two syllables, and I have had several glasses of wine. But it's nice, and it's near Florence.
We are sitting on a terrace, looking at the moon, drinking our post-prandial coffee and tea, accompanied by the chirping of whatever insects chirp loudly on summer evenings.
We have no maps, and we are in unfamiliar territory. This could become interesting.
We are sitting on a terrace, looking at the moon, drinking our post-prandial coffee and tea, accompanied by the chirping of whatever insects chirp loudly on summer evenings.
We have no maps, and we are in unfamiliar territory. This could become interesting.
Sep 3rd, 2011, 11:24 AM
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One of our funnest vacations ever involved picking up a car in Florence and driving through Tuscany for a week with absolutely no plans except to drop the car off at the Rome airport in time for our return flight. Every night we got out the map and decided where to go the next day, usually planning to arrive in our destination city by early afternoon in order to find a hotel we liked. Lots of tiny winding roads, lovely little villages, good wine, good food, and great adventures! Have fun (but you really should try to pick up a map)!
Sep 3rd, 2011, 12:39 PM
#10
So we got here. I can't, at the moment, tell you where, because the name of the place has more than two syllables, and I have had several glasses of wine. But it's nice, and it's near Florence.
We are sitting on a terrace, looking at the moon, drinking our post-prandial coffee and tea, accompanied by the chirping of whatever insects chirp loudly on summer evenings.>>
jealous? me? it sounds idyllic, even if you can't pronounce it.
keep it coming!
We are sitting on a terrace, looking at the moon, drinking our post-prandial coffee and tea, accompanied by the chirping of whatever insects chirp loudly on summer evenings.>>
jealous? me? it sounds idyllic, even if you can't pronounce it.
keep it coming!
Sep 3rd, 2011, 02:52 PM
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Next Saturday we'll be hopefully kicked back in our villa in Florence and resting up from the rigours of a flight from Brisbane.
However we DO have a plan - best little rooms in much researched villages between Florence and Rome, booked and the car organised too.
Just a different way of doing it matched to the presumed circumstances.
From Rome (2 days in a big city is enough thank you!)we fly direct to Rhodes island then a ferry across to Turkey and two weeks of wandering up the Aegean Coast where I feel the "just wander as it happens" approach will suit - in Early October anyway.
Might compare notes on these techniques if you are keen....
However we DO have a plan - best little rooms in much researched villages between Florence and Rome, booked and the car organised too.
Just a different way of doing it matched to the presumed circumstances.
From Rome (2 days in a big city is enough thank you!)we fly direct to Rhodes island then a ferry across to Turkey and two weeks of wandering up the Aegean Coast where I feel the "just wander as it happens" approach will suit - in Early October anyway.
Might compare notes on these techniques if you are keen....
Sep 3rd, 2011, 04:31 PM
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Sounds perfectly rational as long as you have either a decent guidebook or online access to check opening days/hours etc. (I never understand the people that plan every hour and every meal in advance - it seems more like the D Day invasion than a vacation.)
Sep 3rd, 2011, 08:54 PM
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I love it!! Keep it coming on!
I (over)plan, but (he says, hastily defending himself!) I don't prebook anything, nor do I take a copy of my plan(s) with me. (Note the plural - I do several alternate plans, which would be too confusing; maybe that's why I don't take them with me).
The good thing about this is that there's a structure in my head but it's not so fixed that I feel bound by it. Every day is like a new discovery, interspersed with wonderful moments of revelation along the lines of "Hey, I remember reading about this place...it was on my itinerary anyway." At which point memories of what to do and see there will come flooding back to me.
How did such an idiosyncratic approach ever get started, I hear you ask? My first overseas trip - 3 months spanning from Ireland to Turkey - was planned very meticulously. And then, for various reasons (work and financial, mainly) the trip didn't happen. A whole year later, a window of opportunity presented itself and we took off - too suddenly to re-plan or revisit my old plans (even if I could have found them). We had no choice but to wing it. And it was just as I described above - new discoveries (the Turkey part hadn't been in my original plan at all) interspersed with great moments of recognition.
I (over)plan, but (he says, hastily defending himself!) I don't prebook anything, nor do I take a copy of my plan(s) with me. (Note the plural - I do several alternate plans, which would be too confusing; maybe that's why I don't take them with me).
The good thing about this is that there's a structure in my head but it's not so fixed that I feel bound by it. Every day is like a new discovery, interspersed with wonderful moments of revelation along the lines of "Hey, I remember reading about this place...it was on my itinerary anyway." At which point memories of what to do and see there will come flooding back to me.
How did such an idiosyncratic approach ever get started, I hear you ask? My first overseas trip - 3 months spanning from Ireland to Turkey - was planned very meticulously. And then, for various reasons (work and financial, mainly) the trip didn't happen. A whole year later, a window of opportunity presented itself and we took off - too suddenly to re-plan or revisit my old plans (even if I could have found them). We had no choice but to wing it. And it was just as I described above - new discoveries (the Turkey part hadn't been in my original plan at all) interspersed with great moments of recognition.
Sep 4th, 2011, 12:35 AM
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We are in Fattoria di Castiglionchio, near Rosano, about 20 km. from Florence. It's self-catering accommodation, and we have no food, so target #1 is to do some shopping. I hope that the Italians are more relaxed about Sunday trading than the Germans, or we will be in some bother (it's okay: we have just been told that the shop in Rosano will be open until 1 p.m.).
We are not impossibly far from Arezzo, and I am told that it is worth seeing. So we may go there. That, and Florence, and a bit of lazing about: the week is beginning to look fairly full already. I know some people here rate Firenze very high, but a third city might be too much.
We are not impossibly far from Arezzo, and I am told that it is worth seeing. So we may go there. That, and Florence, and a bit of lazing about: the week is beginning to look fairly full already. I know some people here rate Firenze very high, but a third city might be too much.
Sep 4th, 2011, 01:33 AM
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Well, already Padraig you've gone to the wrong part of Tuscany. It's not the part with the cypress trees. It seems like you are headed further in the wrong direction, unless you are teasing us and actually are going to San Gimignano. (I don't know where you got the idea Arezzo is worth visiting. I never hear anybody talking about it. If you have a guidebook, it must be very old.)
A day trip to Florence plus a day trip to Firenze would definitely be overkill, unless you are one of those "museum-types". It would be a shame to go all the way to Tuscany and miss the whole point of being there. So do the following:
Immediately leave where you are staying (sounds like some kind of farm) and book a 3* star hotel in Siena so you have a hotel desk that can give you a wake up call for no later than 7:00 am. Get in your car and take and drive the N2 to Montepulciano, and then take the N146 west to Pienza. When you pass the large white domed church of San Biagio, you will want to take out your camera because this is one of the most photographed sites in Tuscany, so you must take a picture too. But DO NOT take a picture now. Come back later in the day when the sun is also shining on the village behind it. That way, your picture will look more like everybody else's.
Hurry on to find parking and get inside Pienza by 9:30am, no later. You will be back over this route later in the day and the sun will be in a better position for admiring the scenery. No matter where you park, enter Pienza through Porta al Murello, because then you can pick up a lockstep walking tour of Pienza in English so you don't discover anything on your own. Pick up some lunch provisions because you are going have a picnic in San Antimo.
After spending 1.5 hrs in Pienza, go to San Quirico. DO NOT ENTER THE TOWN. Instead, drive into the parking lot behind the Taverna del Barbarossa restaurant. Park the car, get out WITH YOUR CAMERA and you will see another of the most photographed sites in Tuscany. It is on every coffee table book in America. The Italian post office has it on its walls. Hell, take TWO pictures of it.
Get back in your car, take the N2 toward Montalcino. Keep the village to your right at all times. DO NOT MOVE FREELY ABOUT. You should arrive in Montalcino at 11:30. Park and shop.
After 1 hour and 20 minutes, return to your car, lock your purchases in your trunk and follow
your map to Sant' Antimo Abbey. You may now eat, but you should leave Sant' Antimo about 2:00 or earlier. Take the road south-east of the abbey, toward Monte Amiata. At Ost. Ansidonia, turn left (north-east) to Castiglione d' Orcia. NOW go to San Quirico. You should get to San Quirico about 2:30 - 3:00.
Take pictures in San Quirico but get back on the N2 so you can get off it at Torrenieri. Go south across the railroad track (watch out for trains!) turn right in front of a church (they all look alike!), drive slowly along the dirt road (hope it's not raining!) to the dead end.
This dead end is your destination, the ultimate experience of Tuscany for tourists and the whole point of your trip. Look at your watch and consider what time it is. You should be at this point around 3:30 or earlier. If you didn't follow my instructions exactly, go home, get up at 7am the next day, and try again. If you did everything like you were supposed to do, you have time for more shopping in one of the cute Renaissance towns. Or you can take more pictures of cypress trees.
You'll thank me for this!
A day trip to Florence plus a day trip to Firenze would definitely be overkill, unless you are one of those "museum-types". It would be a shame to go all the way to Tuscany and miss the whole point of being there. So do the following:
Immediately leave where you are staying (sounds like some kind of farm) and book a 3* star hotel in Siena so you have a hotel desk that can give you a wake up call for no later than 7:00 am. Get in your car and take and drive the N2 to Montepulciano, and then take the N146 west to Pienza. When you pass the large white domed church of San Biagio, you will want to take out your camera because this is one of the most photographed sites in Tuscany, so you must take a picture too. But DO NOT take a picture now. Come back later in the day when the sun is also shining on the village behind it. That way, your picture will look more like everybody else's.
Hurry on to find parking and get inside Pienza by 9:30am, no later. You will be back over this route later in the day and the sun will be in a better position for admiring the scenery. No matter where you park, enter Pienza through Porta al Murello, because then you can pick up a lockstep walking tour of Pienza in English so you don't discover anything on your own. Pick up some lunch provisions because you are going have a picnic in San Antimo.
After spending 1.5 hrs in Pienza, go to San Quirico. DO NOT ENTER THE TOWN. Instead, drive into the parking lot behind the Taverna del Barbarossa restaurant. Park the car, get out WITH YOUR CAMERA and you will see another of the most photographed sites in Tuscany. It is on every coffee table book in America. The Italian post office has it on its walls. Hell, take TWO pictures of it.
Get back in your car, take the N2 toward Montalcino. Keep the village to your right at all times. DO NOT MOVE FREELY ABOUT. You should arrive in Montalcino at 11:30. Park and shop.
After 1 hour and 20 minutes, return to your car, lock your purchases in your trunk and follow
your map to Sant' Antimo Abbey. You may now eat, but you should leave Sant' Antimo about 2:00 or earlier. Take the road south-east of the abbey, toward Monte Amiata. At Ost. Ansidonia, turn left (north-east) to Castiglione d' Orcia. NOW go to San Quirico. You should get to San Quirico about 2:30 - 3:00.
Take pictures in San Quirico but get back on the N2 so you can get off it at Torrenieri. Go south across the railroad track (watch out for trains!) turn right in front of a church (they all look alike!), drive slowly along the dirt road (hope it's not raining!) to the dead end.
This dead end is your destination, the ultimate experience of Tuscany for tourists and the whole point of your trip. Look at your watch and consider what time it is. You should be at this point around 3:30 or earlier. If you didn't follow my instructions exactly, go home, get up at 7am the next day, and try again. If you did everything like you were supposed to do, you have time for more shopping in one of the cute Renaissance towns. Or you can take more pictures of cypress trees.
You'll thank me for this!
Sep 4th, 2011, 03:57 AM
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Oh dear. So we are doing things wrong.
I can't fix it now, because we still have no map. The local shop that is open on Sundays does a nifty range of foodstuffs, but lacks the necessary focus on catering for the needs of tourists. Even their efforts at speaking English are of limited efficacy (but the young man in the shop enthused greatly about Connemara).
Anyway, we are back at base considering lunch.
The weather forecast mentioned storms for today, and there is that type of heaviness that causes one to wish for thunder and lightning to discharge it.
Cypress trees? Don't see any here. Poplars, yes.
I think we have to scrub Florence from the programme. We can't find any signposting to it. We'll try Firenze instead.
I can't fix it now, because we still have no map. The local shop that is open on Sundays does a nifty range of foodstuffs, but lacks the necessary focus on catering for the needs of tourists. Even their efforts at speaking English are of limited efficacy (but the young man in the shop enthused greatly about Connemara).
Anyway, we are back at base considering lunch.
The weather forecast mentioned storms for today, and there is that type of heaviness that causes one to wish for thunder and lightning to discharge it.
Cypress trees? Don't see any here. Poplars, yes.
I think we have to scrub Florence from the programme. We can't find any signposting to it. We'll try Firenze instead.
