Trip Report: 4 days in Tuscany. 1 year late
May 23rd, 2012, 04:40 AM
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Trip Report: 4 days in Tuscany. 1 year late
First off, this trip report is woefully late. We made this trip to Italy in May 2011 and here I am finally getting down to penning this down. I started this off as a Live trip report that I would update during our trip. Impossible.
So quick intro to us - We are a couple in our mid-30s from the coastal city of Chennai, India, making the first long haul trip to Europe. This was supposed to be a 2 week long trip to celebrate our 5 year anniversary but ended up being 4 days and a part of a larger itinerary that included Switzerland and Spain. And we were travelling with kids. DD1 at 2 and a half years old, and DD2 at 8 mo. We like some variety in our travels and prefer the do instead of see experiences. However, this trip was hampered a bit due to the kids. Nevertheless, we had ourselves quite an adventure as you will see.
Day 1: What we knew would be a long travel day. This was compounded by a horrible event that transpired the previous evening. I lost DW's and my Swiss rail pass. There are warnings everywhere in Switzerland and all rail officials tell you that if you lose your rail pass there is nothing they can do and you have to purchase tickets to your destination. I was numb trying to figure out where I had left it. The only place was the local sport store from where we had rented winter jackets the previous day for our trip to Jungfraujoch. They unfortunately shut at 6pm and I was unable to go that night. Needless to say, it was a sleepless night. Christopher at Hotel Roessli had asked me to try early the next morning as it was possible that someone may open the store early. It was also a Sunday. Our train was at 9am. I took a chance at 7:15 and walked over to the store. It was locked but I noticed the same girl who had helped us the previous day with our jackets inside the store. I begged her to open and told her my story. She was wonderful. We walked down to the lower level and there by the jacket stands were 2 Swiss rail passes. I almost collapsed with relief. I gave her a big hug and said she had saved our vacation. Another example of how friendly and warm the Swiss are.
We needed to get from Interlaken to Florence and when I did the booking, it showed me 4 train changes. Now this was not convenient at all as we were travelling with our daughters. The route was Interlaken – Spiez – Brig – Milan – Florence. In order to reduce this, we decided to take a cab from our hotel to Spiez station. A E75 ride away. The drive is absolutely gorgeous and the road pretty much hugs Lake Spiez as it winds its way up towards the town. There was a lot of construction at the station and it took us a while to figure out how to get to our platform for the train to Brig. I was wheeling the trolley with 2 suitcases, 1 large holdall with 2 strollers, and my backpack. We finally found the ramp and waited by the designated location that marked 1st Class. I then made the second mistake of the day. I returned the luggage trolley thinking I would not need it anymore. Within a few minutes the train pulled in.
The 1st class car was right at the back of the train and it should have stopped right in front of us, as it did throughout our time in Switzerland; only Swiss inefficiency decided to rear its ugly head today of all days. It stopped a good 150 meters away. I knew it was a 2 minute halt at Spiez. I told DW to run ahead. So she was carrying DD2 and pulling DD1 along. I hauled the holdall onto my shoulders and wheeled both the suitcases and started on a quick trot – this was heavy stuff we were carrying. I looked ahead to see that DW had reached the car and she was standing at the steps. DD1 had already climbed up and gone in.
Suddenly she screamed and said the train was leaving now. There was a railway official standing right by her. I assumed that if the guard saw me running to make the train, they would wait for the last boarding passenger and then take off. Not so. She told DW that it will leave in 30 seconds no matter what. She panicked as she had no money on her and no mobile phone. Usually, while travelling we fix a plan of what should happen if we get separated. Either we meet back at the hotel or at the nearest central location. It had happened earlier during one of our trips to Singapore. This time we hadn’t really made a plan.
I have to thank the Asian traveller who was sitting at that platform. He jumped up, took the holdall from me, grabbed one suitcase and said run! My initial thought was that he was stealing my luggage when I realized he was rescuing this hapless tourist. We made the train with seconds to go. If it hadn’t been for him, I dread to think what might have happened. Thank you sir whoever you are and wherever you might be.
The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful. At Brig station, we transferred to the Trenitalia line that would take us to Milan. It reached speeds of upto 220 miles per hour I believe. It was absolutely packed with tourists. We transferred at Milan station, helped by a Bangladeshi porter, when I realized there were no luggage trolleys around. I am always a little nervous about people offering help while travelling abroad, but there are also really genuine people who want to help. He waited until our train to Florence was announced and helped put our luggage on board. All for E10. Awesome!
We took a cab from the station to the Maggiore rental office. Less than 5 minutes away. Due to some scheduling screw up, we were made to wait for about an hour. I had booked a compact hatch, but we got upgraded to a mid SUV which was nice. They also threw in the GPS and the baby seat for free. We rolled out of the office by 3pm with a set of basic instructions of how to get out of the city and head toward San Gimignano. Promptly of course within a matter of minutes I was lost. I had set Siena as my destination as this was on the turn off from the main Florence – Siena highway. I encountered one of many problems I would face with driving inside cities in Italy. Zones. After 10 minutes of getting nowhere, we pulled in to a parking lot, got our bearings, reset our GPS and were on the Siena highway within minutes. I was driving on the right after many years of driving in the US and Italian cities were probably the worst place to start again. But once on the highway, I felt more confident and by 5pm, we were pulling into the gates of Antico Borgo il Cardino. A quaint little property. We were promptly shown to our room by Thomas who runs the place.
Our room was a large double room that one enters from the back of the office but has a sit out that overlooks the pool and the towers of San Gim into the distance. That evening we merely relaxed, walked around the property, chatted with Thomas on our plans for the next few days and called it a night to rest our weary legs after a long travel day.
Day 2: We woke up leisurely. The owner of the Borgo, an Italian woman who speaks little to no English but amazingly we got by with sign language. She is an absolute delight and got us lots of goodies for the girls. The breakfast is a spread of corn flakes, bread assortments, jellies, fruits, some meat cuts, and juices. We had planned to drive to the town of San Gim today, a 20 minute drive through the lovely winding roads of Tuscany. We did not require the GPS at all throughout our Tuscany stay as the roads are all pretty straightforward. We reached San Gim around 11am and found parking easily enough. These are clearly marked and there are 2 large open air lots right by the city gates and another 2 lots a further 2 minutes drive away. In fact the only time I had to use either of those lots was when we returned a few days later to a nearby Laundromat.
San Gim was lovely. It resembles a medieval city with the architecture and high walls and fabulous views over the rolling Tuscan countryside. It is quite touristy as well with almost every shop selling curios, local art, ceramic, wine, oil and fruits. We spent a good couple of hours here. We had the strollers for the kids and even though the streets are cobbled, we didn’t have any problems wheeling the kids about. We ate lunch at a local pizzeria and returned back to the hotel around 3pm for our afternoon siesta.
Around 6pm we drove around toward Colle di Val d’Elsa, which is a much smaller typical Tuscan town. We parked and randomly walked around, resisting stopping at the various tourist traps. One usually finds a good restaurant and returns to that restaurant quite often and so it was for us. We found Il Monte about 5 minutes from our Borgo and I think we ate there about 3-4 times during our 4 day visit. We returned back to the Borgo around 10pm having had a wonderful day. The kids were really well behaved though DD1 was getting a bit bored as she was obviously not keen on doing these touristy things and visiting places. Their needs are very simple. Splash in the pool, play on the swing, slide or other such fun activities. So the next morning was devoted to this pursuit.
So quick intro to us - We are a couple in our mid-30s from the coastal city of Chennai, India, making the first long haul trip to Europe. This was supposed to be a 2 week long trip to celebrate our 5 year anniversary but ended up being 4 days and a part of a larger itinerary that included Switzerland and Spain. And we were travelling with kids. DD1 at 2 and a half years old, and DD2 at 8 mo. We like some variety in our travels and prefer the do instead of see experiences. However, this trip was hampered a bit due to the kids. Nevertheless, we had ourselves quite an adventure as you will see.
Day 1: What we knew would be a long travel day. This was compounded by a horrible event that transpired the previous evening. I lost DW's and my Swiss rail pass. There are warnings everywhere in Switzerland and all rail officials tell you that if you lose your rail pass there is nothing they can do and you have to purchase tickets to your destination. I was numb trying to figure out where I had left it. The only place was the local sport store from where we had rented winter jackets the previous day for our trip to Jungfraujoch. They unfortunately shut at 6pm and I was unable to go that night. Needless to say, it was a sleepless night. Christopher at Hotel Roessli had asked me to try early the next morning as it was possible that someone may open the store early. It was also a Sunday. Our train was at 9am. I took a chance at 7:15 and walked over to the store. It was locked but I noticed the same girl who had helped us the previous day with our jackets inside the store. I begged her to open and told her my story. She was wonderful. We walked down to the lower level and there by the jacket stands were 2 Swiss rail passes. I almost collapsed with relief. I gave her a big hug and said she had saved our vacation. Another example of how friendly and warm the Swiss are.
We needed to get from Interlaken to Florence and when I did the booking, it showed me 4 train changes. Now this was not convenient at all as we were travelling with our daughters. The route was Interlaken – Spiez – Brig – Milan – Florence. In order to reduce this, we decided to take a cab from our hotel to Spiez station. A E75 ride away. The drive is absolutely gorgeous and the road pretty much hugs Lake Spiez as it winds its way up towards the town. There was a lot of construction at the station and it took us a while to figure out how to get to our platform for the train to Brig. I was wheeling the trolley with 2 suitcases, 1 large holdall with 2 strollers, and my backpack. We finally found the ramp and waited by the designated location that marked 1st Class. I then made the second mistake of the day. I returned the luggage trolley thinking I would not need it anymore. Within a few minutes the train pulled in.
The 1st class car was right at the back of the train and it should have stopped right in front of us, as it did throughout our time in Switzerland; only Swiss inefficiency decided to rear its ugly head today of all days. It stopped a good 150 meters away. I knew it was a 2 minute halt at Spiez. I told DW to run ahead. So she was carrying DD2 and pulling DD1 along. I hauled the holdall onto my shoulders and wheeled both the suitcases and started on a quick trot – this was heavy stuff we were carrying. I looked ahead to see that DW had reached the car and she was standing at the steps. DD1 had already climbed up and gone in.
Suddenly she screamed and said the train was leaving now. There was a railway official standing right by her. I assumed that if the guard saw me running to make the train, they would wait for the last boarding passenger and then take off. Not so. She told DW that it will leave in 30 seconds no matter what. She panicked as she had no money on her and no mobile phone. Usually, while travelling we fix a plan of what should happen if we get separated. Either we meet back at the hotel or at the nearest central location. It had happened earlier during one of our trips to Singapore. This time we hadn’t really made a plan.
I have to thank the Asian traveller who was sitting at that platform. He jumped up, took the holdall from me, grabbed one suitcase and said run! My initial thought was that he was stealing my luggage when I realized he was rescuing this hapless tourist. We made the train with seconds to go. If it hadn’t been for him, I dread to think what might have happened. Thank you sir whoever you are and wherever you might be.
The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful. At Brig station, we transferred to the Trenitalia line that would take us to Milan. It reached speeds of upto 220 miles per hour I believe. It was absolutely packed with tourists. We transferred at Milan station, helped by a Bangladeshi porter, when I realized there were no luggage trolleys around. I am always a little nervous about people offering help while travelling abroad, but there are also really genuine people who want to help. He waited until our train to Florence was announced and helped put our luggage on board. All for E10. Awesome!
We took a cab from the station to the Maggiore rental office. Less than 5 minutes away. Due to some scheduling screw up, we were made to wait for about an hour. I had booked a compact hatch, but we got upgraded to a mid SUV which was nice. They also threw in the GPS and the baby seat for free. We rolled out of the office by 3pm with a set of basic instructions of how to get out of the city and head toward San Gimignano. Promptly of course within a matter of minutes I was lost. I had set Siena as my destination as this was on the turn off from the main Florence – Siena highway. I encountered one of many problems I would face with driving inside cities in Italy. Zones. After 10 minutes of getting nowhere, we pulled in to a parking lot, got our bearings, reset our GPS and were on the Siena highway within minutes. I was driving on the right after many years of driving in the US and Italian cities were probably the worst place to start again. But once on the highway, I felt more confident and by 5pm, we were pulling into the gates of Antico Borgo il Cardino. A quaint little property. We were promptly shown to our room by Thomas who runs the place.
Our room was a large double room that one enters from the back of the office but has a sit out that overlooks the pool and the towers of San Gim into the distance. That evening we merely relaxed, walked around the property, chatted with Thomas on our plans for the next few days and called it a night to rest our weary legs after a long travel day.
Day 2: We woke up leisurely. The owner of the Borgo, an Italian woman who speaks little to no English but amazingly we got by with sign language. She is an absolute delight and got us lots of goodies for the girls. The breakfast is a spread of corn flakes, bread assortments, jellies, fruits, some meat cuts, and juices. We had planned to drive to the town of San Gim today, a 20 minute drive through the lovely winding roads of Tuscany. We did not require the GPS at all throughout our Tuscany stay as the roads are all pretty straightforward. We reached San Gim around 11am and found parking easily enough. These are clearly marked and there are 2 large open air lots right by the city gates and another 2 lots a further 2 minutes drive away. In fact the only time I had to use either of those lots was when we returned a few days later to a nearby Laundromat.
San Gim was lovely. It resembles a medieval city with the architecture and high walls and fabulous views over the rolling Tuscan countryside. It is quite touristy as well with almost every shop selling curios, local art, ceramic, wine, oil and fruits. We spent a good couple of hours here. We had the strollers for the kids and even though the streets are cobbled, we didn’t have any problems wheeling the kids about. We ate lunch at a local pizzeria and returned back to the hotel around 3pm for our afternoon siesta.
Around 6pm we drove around toward Colle di Val d’Elsa, which is a much smaller typical Tuscan town. We parked and randomly walked around, resisting stopping at the various tourist traps. One usually finds a good restaurant and returns to that restaurant quite often and so it was for us. We found Il Monte about 5 minutes from our Borgo and I think we ate there about 3-4 times during our 4 day visit. We returned back to the Borgo around 10pm having had a wonderful day. The kids were really well behaved though DD1 was getting a bit bored as she was obviously not keen on doing these touristy things and visiting places. Their needs are very simple. Splash in the pool, play on the swing, slide or other such fun activities. So the next morning was devoted to this pursuit.
May 23rd, 2012, 05:19 AM
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Day 3: We had decided to leave a little later, so the morning after breakfast was spent in the kids play area at the Borgo. We met an American family who were also on holiday who had a 2 year old girl. DD1 had a good time playing, bonding with this girl, for about an hour or so. It was time to hit the pool. I knew the water was going to be very cold. I had warned her as well but you can only convince a 2 and a half year old so much. So she bravely waded in and within seconds started shivering. Even though the day temperatures were about 24-25 degrees C, the water was freezing. She lasted maybe 20 minutes and had had enough.
Siena was on the cards today. Here I have to mention one problem that I was warned about and whichever way I tried to avoid it, I couldn't escape. Driving through restricted zones in big Italian cities. It is a nightmare! I found a parking lot about a 10 minute walk from the main city and we offloaded the kids, strollers and we were on our way. Today was a hot day and the sun was quite sharp. I'm sure it could not have been more than 25-26 degrees and I come from a place that's 40 degrees in the shade throughout the better part of the year. I shouldn't be complaining right! I thought the sun was a lot sharper. Anyways, we walked around the little alleyways, trying to make our way toward first the Duomo, and then the Piazza Campo.
Our first stop however was at St Catherine's chapel. It is rather smallish, but a wonderful atmosphere inside. We are not christians but there are some places of worship that transcends religion. Frescoes by local artists were displayed of St Catherine who I believe lived with her 24 siblings! We were rushed out of there by DD2 who decided the room was too quiet for her and threw a fit. Too bad, we would have loved to linger a little longer. Next stop - ice cream! You cannot go to Italy and not have ice cream. Our diet went through the window while in Italy with the smorgasbord of cheeses, and meats, and wine, and of course ice cream. Today was hot enough that we needed one.
We finally reached the Duomo, but for some strange reason we could not go inside. We sat by the steps and decided now was a good time for lunch. The piazza had some street cafes and we sat in one of them and ordered lunch. I stopped at a tie store at that piazza and bought a tie for my dad. What a wonderful store. So many bright colours, and hundreds of ties. Anyone recall the name of this store? Run by a very sweet lady who gave us a 10% discount on a E40 tie. Pricey, but great quality. After lunch, we made our way to the Campo. I had briefly seen images of the campo, and some of course during the Palio. When we reached it however, it did not have the impact that I had anticipated. It seemed like a really large regular Italian piazza. Maybe one has to see it during the Palio to feel the energy and the full impact of its magnificence. We walked around taking some pictures. The kids by now were asleep on the strollers and it was still hot. We picked up some scarves for friends back home at the street stores, some cheap jewellery, and we were on our way.
Reached the car, and I realized I had been ticketed E34 for a parking violation. Now, everytime I parked in a lot, they had the security gate and the ticket that you collected. On your return, you then insert the ticket, pay the fare, and drive out. Simple enough. In Siena, there are no such gates - just open lots. So I looked around for a parking meter, couldn't find one, also looked at the other car windshields to see if anyone had displayed their parking tickets. I thought I had lucked it and found a free lot!!! What an idiot! I was quite annoyed.
We drove back to the Borgo and rested for a while, put the kids to bed.
We found out from Thomas about a nice restaurant called Tre'Archi which I believe means 3 archs, about 10 minutes away. We found it soon enough and realized it was a fine dining restaurant. We started with some wonderful vegetable soup and breads, some glasses of the local red wine, and I had a chicken dish which was sensational - sorry don't recall what it was called - and DW a pasta dish. The service was wonderful and they were very friendly, with DD1 getting lots of freebies, and DD2 lots of attention. This was consistent right through Europe. If you are travelling with kids, people seem to go out of their way to help you. We found this in Switzerland, Italy and Spain. People got up from bus seats, held open doors, gave free snacks, even carried DD2 for a while, while we managed to enjoy a semblance of a quiet dinner. Amazing!
Siena was on the cards today. Here I have to mention one problem that I was warned about and whichever way I tried to avoid it, I couldn't escape. Driving through restricted zones in big Italian cities. It is a nightmare! I found a parking lot about a 10 minute walk from the main city and we offloaded the kids, strollers and we were on our way. Today was a hot day and the sun was quite sharp. I'm sure it could not have been more than 25-26 degrees and I come from a place that's 40 degrees in the shade throughout the better part of the year. I shouldn't be complaining right! I thought the sun was a lot sharper. Anyways, we walked around the little alleyways, trying to make our way toward first the Duomo, and then the Piazza Campo.
Our first stop however was at St Catherine's chapel. It is rather smallish, but a wonderful atmosphere inside. We are not christians but there are some places of worship that transcends religion. Frescoes by local artists were displayed of St Catherine who I believe lived with her 24 siblings! We were rushed out of there by DD2 who decided the room was too quiet for her and threw a fit. Too bad, we would have loved to linger a little longer. Next stop - ice cream! You cannot go to Italy and not have ice cream. Our diet went through the window while in Italy with the smorgasbord of cheeses, and meats, and wine, and of course ice cream. Today was hot enough that we needed one.
We finally reached the Duomo, but for some strange reason we could not go inside. We sat by the steps and decided now was a good time for lunch. The piazza had some street cafes and we sat in one of them and ordered lunch. I stopped at a tie store at that piazza and bought a tie for my dad. What a wonderful store. So many bright colours, and hundreds of ties. Anyone recall the name of this store? Run by a very sweet lady who gave us a 10% discount on a E40 tie. Pricey, but great quality. After lunch, we made our way to the Campo. I had briefly seen images of the campo, and some of course during the Palio. When we reached it however, it did not have the impact that I had anticipated. It seemed like a really large regular Italian piazza. Maybe one has to see it during the Palio to feel the energy and the full impact of its magnificence. We walked around taking some pictures. The kids by now were asleep on the strollers and it was still hot. We picked up some scarves for friends back home at the street stores, some cheap jewellery, and we were on our way.
Reached the car, and I realized I had been ticketed E34 for a parking violation. Now, everytime I parked in a lot, they had the security gate and the ticket that you collected. On your return, you then insert the ticket, pay the fare, and drive out. Simple enough. In Siena, there are no such gates - just open lots. So I looked around for a parking meter, couldn't find one, also looked at the other car windshields to see if anyone had displayed their parking tickets. I thought I had lucked it and found a free lot!!! What an idiot! I was quite annoyed.
We drove back to the Borgo and rested for a while, put the kids to bed.
We found out from Thomas about a nice restaurant called Tre'Archi which I believe means 3 archs, about 10 minutes away. We found it soon enough and realized it was a fine dining restaurant. We started with some wonderful vegetable soup and breads, some glasses of the local red wine, and I had a chicken dish which was sensational - sorry don't recall what it was called - and DW a pasta dish. The service was wonderful and they were very friendly, with DD1 getting lots of freebies, and DD2 lots of attention. This was consistent right through Europe. If you are travelling with kids, people seem to go out of their way to help you. We found this in Switzerland, Italy and Spain. People got up from bus seats, held open doors, gave free snacks, even carried DD2 for a while, while we managed to enjoy a semblance of a quiet dinner. Amazing!
Jun 23rd, 2012, 05:41 AM
#6
reb77 - Here is the start of the trip.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm
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