Quick visit from Paris

We didn’t get a lot of time to recover from our lovely holiday in Italy, until it was time to welcome some visitors. Sarah and Bruno, our dear friends from Paris, were stopping over for a night this time, on their way to Corsica for their holiday.

It gave me a good excuse to get out of the office for a late lunch (due to some car trouble, our guests arrived a bit later than planned). Gave me a sort of “soft start” to life in the office…

For dinner, we sampled some of the Italian delicacies we’d acquired during our road trip. Tuscan wine, a rather delicious-looking snake-shaped Umbrian pastry was on offer, and some ice-cream with balsamic vinegar (the real thing, from Modena) to finish off… As always, we had a great time with Sarah and Bruno.

The next morning, it was time to say bye bye, and wish them a good holiday on “L'Île de Beauté” (and good luck with their car).

The road back home

After Gubbio, the plan was to drive down to the Adriatic coast, somewhere around Pesaro, in Le Marche region, and then head into Emilia-Romagna, and from there back home.

On the way to the Adriatic, we decided to make a short stop at Urbino. I have a vague memory of having gone there when I was a kid, when we stayed near Rimini for a couple of weeks with my folks. Anyway, the approach to Urbino was quite striking, the town being perched on its hilltop. Urbino is another one of those charming medieval Italian towns, mostly famous for its Duchal palace. We were starting to feel a bit fed up with doing touristy stuff by now, so we actually didn’t visit the palace (and not even the Duomo!), and decided to quite quickly head on towards the Adriatic.

Our initial plan was to try one of the beaches in Pesaro, but as we approached the town, we had second thoughts. The idea of spending an afternoon crammed like sardines on a beach didn’t; appeal to us – this was, after all, Italy in August. So in the end we decided to drive north, and try to find a more secluded beach. After crossing a natural park, we ended up in a small village (which I can’t even remember the name of), where we decided to lunch. We asked about a potential beach, and found out there was indeed one – but that a 20 minute downhill walk was required. Undeterred, we took the path down to the beach. And what a lovely beach it was – like a piece of paradise, almost. The beach was located in a kind of shallow lagoon, which made it pretty much perfect for a bit of leisurely swimming (no big waves to worry about). And best of all, there were hardly any people at the beach – I suppose that 20 minute walk puts a lot of people off. So we spent a pretty much ideal afternoon there, until we eventually reluctantly decided to head on.



Our next stop, where we were spending the night, was Faenza. I can’t remember now why we had chosen Faenza, I suppose it was just conveniently on the way. It’s a pretty unremarkable town, but quite pleasant with its pretty main square. Faenza is mostly famous for its pottery – it even lent its name to the kind they specialize in. We definitely had the impression we were in “northern, organized Italy now” – the Faenza “vibe” is definitely more Milan than Florence. We found a nice little Enoteca on the main square, where we had a light meal of local specialties, while trying a bottle of local wine. Very cozy, all in all.

The next day, we got up bright ‘n early and headed for Bologna, which is where we were planning to spend the next two nights. After a bit of heavy traffic, we eventually arrived, and even managed to find a place to park not too far from the hotel in the end (Bologna is again one of those cities where most cars are banned from the town centre). After checking in, we immediately started to explore Bologna.

We had quite high expectations for Bologna, as it’s apparently one of the coolest cities in Italy. It is known as the red city (partly due to its left-wing political tendencies, partly due to the fact that a lot of the buildings are apparently red there), and also has the oldest university in the world (haven’t I heard that before – at least in Cairo I think). Bologna is also famous for its arcades/porticos (there are 38 kilometers in total), as well as its towers (the vast majority of those are gone though – only 2 remain). And Bologna certainly didn’t disappoint. The city is indeed quite red, and there are indeed arcades everywhere. And it’s a very pretty place indeed, with its spread out historic centre (apparently it’s the largest one in Europe, after Venice’s).

We spent most of our first day wandering around the streets of Bologna, soaking in the atmosphere. We did visit the old town hall, which had been converted into a museum (which was free). It was all rather impressive, except for the modern art exhibition at the end – modern art just doesn’t tend impress me very much as a general rule. After this dose of culture, we checked out the famous twin towers of Bologna (the two aforementioned remaining ones…), one of which leans more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Naturally, we had to climb up one of them so that I could take my panoramic shots, too… I have to say the climb up was rather off-putting for me, and the walk down even more so… But what wouldn’t one do for a couple of great pictures, eh ? ;-). After some more walking through pretty arcades, and checking out the university area, we headed back to the hotel for a well-earned rest. For dinner, after consulting Tripadvisor, we ended up in one of the restaurants near to the hotel, where we had a very decent dinner indeed. I finally decided to have a go at my Bisteca Firorentina – half a kilo of pure meat, that’s my kind of dinner ;-). For dessert, Mathilde had a somewhat unusual delicacy, ice cream with 25-year aged balsamic vinegar from Modena (nearby Modena is not only the home of Ferrari, but also THE place to get your vinegar in Italy, and perhaps in the world). Quite an unusual combination, I have to say, but it’s absolutely delicious!

The next day, we decided it was time for a bit of touristy action again. We started off with the Santo Stefano religious complex, which is made up of no less than 5 churches from various eras (the oldest of the churches dates back all the way to the 5th century). It’s a pretty atmospheric place, less impressive than some of the big cathedrals we’ve seen during our trip, but more intimate places. And not overrun by tourists. There is one funny little artifact in the complex – the so called “Pilatus basin” – where apparently Pontius Pilatus washed his hands after that famous Biblical scene. Unsurprisingly, it has all been proven to be nonsense afterwards, I think the basin dates to the middle ages.

We continued our church tour by visiting the very impressive Basilica of San Domenico. Most Italian cities seem to have a church dedicated to St. Dominico, and one to St. Francis (I guess they are kind of in competition), but this one is special since St. Dominico is actually buried here, in the sublime main chapel of the church. That chapel is indeed stunning, it has to be said (not surprising, considering it was decorated by Michelangelo, amongst others…). The wooden choir stalls found in the basilica are rather exquisite, too. In spite of all the churches we’d seed during our trip, this one left us well impressed…

We also visited the famous anatomical theatre in the Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, which is actually a public library these days. It’s possible the most beautiful public library I’ve even been to… And the anatomical theatre is rather beautiful as well.

We rounded off the day with yet more walking – in this city that activity is a real pleasure, since there is just so much to see. Clearly, two days isn’t quite enough to do the place justice. Oh, well… We rounded off our visit with another exquisite meal, again “recommended by trip advisor”. This time I went for local specialties – some tortellini. Washed down with some local wines, and followed by another ice cream with balsamic vinegar. Yummie. But the real dessert came afterwards, when I asked for a limoncello. THEY LEFT THE BOTTLE AT THE TABLE. And guess what happened when I asked for some grappa. Yes, they left the bottle at the table ? And when I got the bill, guess how much we were charged ? Zero, nothing, nada, niente! I tell you what, that would NEVER happen in Finland, that’s for sure… ;-) So one could almost say it was the perfect end to our Bologna visit!

From Bologna, we continued on our way to Parma, where we were spending the last night of our lovely trip. We arrived at the hotel a bit after noon, and after a brief rest at the hotel room, summoned our strength for one last burst of touristic energy and headed out to explore town. Parma is mostly famous for its food (no surprise we planned a stop here then, I suppose?) – Parma ham and Parmesan cheese being the most famous specialties. The most famous son of Parma is no doubt Giuseppe Verdi, the opera composer. The town itself is typically pretty, with its famous cathedral and Baptistery being the most famous buildings, probably. But all in all, Parma didn’t impress us that much from an architectural perspective – I suspect we’ve simple seen too many incredibly pretty towns over the last couple of weeks to properly appreciate Parma. But the cathedral was well worth the visit – as was the Baptistery.

We finished our visit with a proper meal of local specialties in a cozy restaurant in a lively part of town where the locals seemed to spend their evening. A very decent meal to finish our Italian odyssey with…
The last day was basically a case of driving back to home sweet home – although we did make a stop in Finale Liguria for a refreshing swim in the sea.

All in all, it was a rather fantastic holiday. Perhaps the only problem is that we tried to cram too much into our trip, in the end I think we got a bit saturated towards the end of the trip. Probably we should’ve contented ourselves with just visiting Tuscany and Umbria, and left Emilia Romagna for another time. Not that we have any regrets, we enjoyed every minute of our trip! Hard to single out any particular highlight, but if I had to pick one, it would have to be, surprise surprise, Florence. There’s a reason for it being one of the most visited places in the world…

In the shadows of Umbria

As we entered Umbria, we drove past Lake Trasimene, which is the fourth-largest lake in Italy. We figured it would make a good break before getting into Perugia. So we drove over to San Feliciano, a small fishing village (according to our guide book, didn’t look much like a fishing village to me), from where we took a boat over to the biggest island on the lake – Isola Polvese. We spent a couple of peaceful hours on the island, walking around, trying to stay away from the scorching sun. There’s nothing much to see on the island, apart from a ruined castle and a small church (which was shut). But it made for a nice break on the road. And the boat ride back to the mainland was pretty cool, we were treated to a very nice sunset over the lake.

The next major stop on the trip was Perugia, then. There was a very specific reason for this (apart from the fact that Perugia is supposed to be a very nice town) – Mathilde did her Erasmus here a few years ago. Our hotel was located about a 20 minutes’ walk from the town centre – by the time we arrived we didn’t really feel like a hike so we decided to dine at the hotel (not a bad choice at all, as it turned out).

On Saturday, we decided to visit Assisi. Assisi, is, of course, the birthplace of St. Francis, that humble chap who lived his life in poverty, and founded the Franciscan order while he was at it. After his honour, the powers that be decided to build a rather impressive basilica in his honor (St. Francis, humble as he was, might have thought it a bit excessive, perhaps?). This basilica is what makes Assisi the most popular tourists site in Umbria. We decided to start our visit by checking out the Eremo delle Carceri, the humble monastery located in a canyon above Assisi, where St. Francis used to retreat and preach to birds. The monastery was quite a peaceful place, and in a beautiful location indeed (we also came across what used to be St. Francis’ bed apparently, or rather the slab ot stone he slept on). Having done the tourist bit, we decided to hike up the mountain overlooking the monastery – Mount Subasio. It was quite a pleasant hike (aside the flies that just wouldn’t leave us alone), with nice views over Assisi and the surrounding countryside.

Having had our dose of exercise for the day, we headed down into Assisi, to check out the old town and that famous basilica. It’s a very nice old medieval town actually, with a very well preserved medieval centre, dotted with churches, one more impressive than the other (what I especially liked was an old Roman temple which had been converted into a church, on the main town square). It is of course rather a touristy place, but in spite of that we managed to find a nice little pizzeria for lunch. We then walked down to tackle the famous Basilica (Basilica Papale di San Francesco d'Assisi). It is the mother church of the Franciscan order, as well as the burial place of St. Francis. Which makes it one of THE pilgrimage sites in Italy. And it’s an undeniably impressive place. It’s actually divided into two levels, the upper and lower levels. We started at the well-lit upper levels, where we spent some time trying to decipher the beautiful frescos describing St. Francis’ life using our rather rubbish audio guide, and then continued down to the lower level, more dark, sober and atmospheric. And of course we made our way into the crypt as well, where St. Francis is buried. All in all, it’s a very impressive and spiritual place, and clearly an important place for a lot of people.

The rest of the day we spent exploring Perugia. And it surely didn’t disappoint, even after the rather overwhelming visits to Florence and Siena. It’s a very historic city, as it was one of the most important cities of Etruria (to simplify grossly, Etruscans are kind of the predecessors of the Romans). Some remains from this area can still be seen in the city, most notably one of the city gates in the old city. We naturally checked out Mathilde’s old haunts (including the famous Pazzetteria), and just strolled around this wonderful city. Perugia is not only blessed with a rather stunning old town, but is also brought to life by its large student population. This time of the year, there are loads of foreigners, thanks to Perugia’s international university. So actually Perugia had a very cosmopolitan, youthful and lively atmosphere, and didn’t feel touristy at all (which was quite refreshing after a week in Tuscany). I can definitely understand why Mathilde loved the months she spent here, lucky her… For dinner, we found a cozy little “typical Umbrian” eatery near the Duomo, where we spent a very nice evening…

For Sunday, the plan was to visit Orvieto. Orvieto is mostly known for its cathedral (oh, another one of those…), but also for its underground city and Etruscan remains. We started our visit by checking out the main Etruscan site of the city, the necropolis, located at the bottom of the imposing cliff upon which Orvieto is built (it’s quite a stunning sight, Orvieto, perched on its plateau). The necropolis wasn’t that much to write home about, actually, especially since the audio guide was “out of order indefinitely”.

After booking our tickets for the “Orvieto Underground” tour, we walked around town for a bit. It’s a typically pretty Italian town, but didn’t leave us as impressed as some of the towns we’ve seen so far during out trip. The cathedral is rather stunning, its imposing black/white exterior being quite similar to that of the Siena Duomo. The interior was impressive as well, but didn’t stand out from the other stunning cathedrals we’ve seen so far (we were definitely starting to suffer from a case of “Italian Cathedral Overdose”).

Orvieto underground, on the other had, was really cool. There is actually an extensive complex of tunnels, wells, caverns, stairs quarries, and god knows what, carved into the volcanic rock underneath the city. Some of those caverns are now open to the public (apparently the vast majority of the caverns are actually private property – and often used as cellars and storage space!). Some of the underground city was built during Etruscan times, other parts during the middle ages. Really fascinating stuff…

Having visited another Etruscan necropolis on the way back, we spent the evening walking around Perugia yet more. The more time we spent in Perugia, in fact, the more I liked it. The Duomo (which apparently houses the wedding ring of the Virgin Mary, no less), the Fontana Maggiore, the Corso Vanucci (the wide pedestrian street intersecting the old town, with its cafes, students and buzz), Via Aquedotto (a road built on top of an old aqueduct). Just great… For dinner, we picked a pizzeria, naturally one of Mathilde’s haunts during her student days. Delizioso!

On Monday, it was time to leave Perugia, sadly, and hit the road again… But before that, we had lunch booked with Antoine, a colleague of Mathilde’s who was staying near Perugia at his sister’s house (we already ran into another colleague of Mathilde’s on Saturday – seems to happen every time we go somewhere on holiday!). Before our rendez-vous, we decided on a bit of culture so visited Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria (can’t really spend two weeks in Italy just eating and drinking wine, right? Gotta visit at least one art gallery…). Medieval and renaissance art isn’t really my cup of tea (which is what was mostly on display here), but it was pretty interesting seeing the way the painting style developed over the centuries (I’m not just writing that to fill in the blanks, honest!).

After this rather intensive dose of culture, we felt it was time for some food, so collected Antoine (and his young companion – daughter that is) and hunted down a nice, typical Umbrian restaurant. After a typically filling meal, washed down with some decent Umbrian red, we spent a leisurely afternoon walking around town, having a coffee, shopping at the local pasticceria, you know, the usual drill… After saying our bye byes to Antoine and his lady companion, it was time to carry on our journey…

The next stop was Gubbio, which promised to be yet another pretty medieval town. And pretty it is Gubbio, a cute little town built on the slopes of Mount Ingino. We didn’t have much time to explore town after checking into our hotel, as it was time to eat again. After a quick look on tripadvisor, we decided to go for the 2nd-ranked restaurant in town, a nice little Enoteca on the outskirts of the old town. An excellent choice, I must say! We arguably had our best meal so far during our holiday there (that’s saying something), treating ourselves to a large selection of local specialties (crostini, various hams, some sort of omelet, and other goodies), again washed down with some excellent wine. And at this point I have to make a special mention about the desert - 5 rather generous slices of different cakes for a couple of euros! Now that's good value for money! Pretty much the perfect start to our stay in Gubbio, I would say...

The next day, we got up bright ‘n early, since we were planning on doing another hike again (some would say we are crazy, considering the temperatures are on the steady rise – all the more reason to start early!). The hike took us through the very picturesque old town, up a pedestrian footpath all the way up to the top of the Mount Ingino (we could’ve cheated and taken the funicular, but we why do it the easy way when you can do it the hard way?). And that’s when the actual hike started. And a pleasant hike it was, I would say the best one we’d done so far. It was pretty even going (which was nice considering it was a wee bit hot), with varied terrain. And the views were great, at times stunning. The Umbrian landscapes are reminiscent of Tuscany, but more mountainous. All in all, the four-hour stroll was pretty good exercise.

The rest of the day we spent leisurely exploring Gubbio. There isn’t all that much to see, actually (especially since we were a bit fed up with churches for the moment, so didn’t walk into every one we came across), but Gubbio is pretty much the perfect little medieval town, very beautifully located on its mountain slope, and a great place to just stroll around, and soak in the atmosphere.

For the evening, we decided to go for the 1st-ranked restaurant on Tripadvisor – and naturally expectations were high. Unfortunately, this place didn’t quite live up to expectations. My menu gastronomic didn’t live up to its name (most of the stuff I had was pretty average), but at least it was good value for money. They even tried to cheat me out of one of my deserts! Oh well, you can’t always win.

The next day, it was time to leave Umbria, and carry on towards the Adriatic. Like Tuscany, Umbrian didn’t disappoint. There are perhaps less things to see than in Tuscany, but has the advantage of being a lot less plagued by tourists. And I could very much see myself studying Italian one summer in Perugia, who knows…? ;-)

Under the Tuscan sun

After our two wonderful days in Florence, we wistfully headed south, towards Siena, where we were supposed to stay the next couple of nights.

On the way to Siena, we decided to do a stopover in San Gimignano, a famous Tuscan medieval town. San Gimignano was founded all the way back in Etruscan times, and is these days mostly famous as one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Tuscany (which, considering the amount of medieval towns there are in this corner of the world, is quite a feat), and especially for its numerous towers (14 remain), which adorns its sky-line. We were a bit fearful of being overwhelmed by tourist masses, considering this was august, and Tuscany… The fact that all the car parks next to the town centre itself were full didn’t really alleviate our concerns… Anyway, after a healthy hike up from the out-of-town car park, we finally entered the city, and braved the tourist masses. It’s a real pity, actually, about the mass tourism. For me there is limited pleasure visiting a place like this, when the tourists outnumber the locals about 20:1 (at least Florence is a big city, so the tourists never quite take over). Beautiful though this town is. We pretty quickly left the overcrowded main squares and strolled around the side-streets instead. And did get a great panorama over the tower-dotted skyline from a ruined monastery/manor just above town. I’m sure San Gimignano is a lovely place in the evening (when most of tourists are gone), or off season. But we just didn’t get the most out of it, I’m afraid.

The next stop on the way to Siena was Val d’Elsa, which had been recommended in our guide book. And it was definitely a kind of pleasant experience after San Gimignano and Monteriggioni. It’s not quite as picturesque as either of those places, but picturesque enough, and it has a much more authentic feel to it. Basically, there are no tourists (er, apart from us…). So, a quick panini snack lunch, and a pleasant stroll around the desert streets of Val d’Elsa put us back in good spirits, as we carried on towards Siena.

On the way there, we spotted a rather stunning-seeming village perched on top of a hill, which turned out to be Monteriggioni. It is just the perfect image of a medieval village (with it’s intact city walls, and turrets), in the middle of classic Tuscan landscapes. We obviously had to visit. Compared to the exterior, the interior of the village is a tad disappointing. It’s actually a very small place, the city walls just makes it seem like a more imposing place than it really is. Without the tourists, I’m sure it would be an absolutely lovely place. But alas, the tourists were well present… So, we rather quickly moved on, having checked out the city walls and eaten a slightly disappointing ice cream.

Siena is, after Florence, the other absolutely-must-see place in Tuscany (historically they have always been rivals, with Siena mostly playing second fiddle). I’d not actually heard so much about Siena (as opposed to Florence), so for me the place was a real revelation. After checking in (this time we were located outside the historic centre – turns out there are actually quite few hotels inside the historic centre), we headed out to explore the cobbled streets of Siena. Siena is, for me, almost like the perfect medieval city. Its rather large historic centre is pretty much perfectly preserved (you basically won’t find any moderns building there at all). It has quite a different feel to Florence, actually. Florence to me is quintessentially Italian, colorful and chaotic in that charming, Italian way. Siena seems more restrained, more orderly. The streets are immaculately clean, lined up by the stern townhouses. We naturally headed out to check the most famous square in Siena; the Piazza del Campo. It is rather a stunning square, and rather unusual too, in that it’s half-circular in shape, and slopes down towards the straight edge (where the imposing Palazzo Publico and its Torre di Mangia overlook the square). This is where the famous horse race, Palio di Siena, takes place twice a year (the latter one of them actually took place yesterday!).

We rounded off a pretty much perfect day with a meal at a very nice, rough and tumble kind of restaurant behind the Piazza del Campo. It was quite a big place, and full of tourists (not all of them foreign, though), but we liked the straightforward and friendly service, good and hearty food, and the bill didn’t hurt that badly afterwards.

The next day, we got up bright and early, as we were planning on doing a bit of hiking. The hike we had selected in the book “Walking and Eating in Tuscany” we had acquired (twice, actually, since I had left the one we bought in advance in France, so we had to re-purchase it in Florence) was one around Lamole. Lamole is located in Chianti, the famous wine-making region which I think needs no introduction (it’s handily located between Florence and Siena). The drive up to Lamole was pretty sublime, the views over the rolling hills very much living up to the promise of postcards and pictures we’d seen of Chianti. Lamole itself is a tiny little village, with nothing much of interest apart from a small church and a restaurant, where we planned to lunch later. After booking the table, we headed off… The circular walk took us through some vineyards (once more offering some pretty nice classic Chianti views), but mostly kept us on forested tracks. We walked past Monte San Michele (which is apparently the highest “mountain” in Chianti), and then back to Lamole. All in all, the hike was perhaps a bit disappointing from a scenery point of view (we didn’t really see any of the “stunning views” our guide book talked about – those parts of the path always seemed to be covered by trees and bushes), but of course it’s always nice to get out and about in the nature.

Nothing negative to say about the meal we had in the restaurant back in Lamole, though. In fact, it was pretty sublime. The antipasti, starters, mains, deserts, everything was pretty much perfect. And the Chianti Classico we had with the food was just right, as well. It was also nice to see the chef actually took an interest in his customers, and came over for a chat. We were captivated enough to acquire a couple of bottles of Chianti Classico as well as some vinegar, in the restaurant shop.

Our stomachs filled, we continued our drive through the beautiful scenery, making for Greve in Chianti, the principal town in the Chianti district. We mostly came here since it’s supposed to be a great place to buy some of that famous Chianti Charcuterie, and wine of course. With this in mind, we did what most other tourists do, we went to Antica Macelleria Falorni, the most famous place in town for those tasty Tuscan sausages. Touristy or not, I’ve never seen such a tasty collection of charcuterie in my life – I was well impressed. We naturally purchased some local specialties, and acquired a couple of more bottles of wine as well…

We drove back to Siena, very happy again with our day. We spent the evening walking around Siena – we hadn’t quite seen everything the day before (the historic centre of Siena is actually quite spread out, and the fact that it’s built on a few hills (I can’t remember on how many, now) means a fair bit of descent/ascent is required. The more and more we walked around the place, the more the place grew on me. I guess there are less things to see than in Florence (although there is plenty), but I would say Siena is almost as much of a must-see attraction as Florence. We also noticed that in one particular part of Siena, all the houses had flags out – we figured it was maybe the quarter which had won the Palio which had taken place just two days earlier. Our suspicions were confirmed, as a procession walked past us, carrying the Palio (the Palio is also the name of the race trophy, a kind of piece of silk). Pretty cool, all in all. We finished off the evening eating take-away pizza on the Piazza del Campo, watching the world go by.

After another good nights’ sleep, we got up again for a last visit of Siena, before carrying on towards Perugia. We decided it was finally time to actually go inside some of those magnificent building we’d walked by. The highlight was clearly the Duomo. Unlike the Duomo of Florence, this time the exterior of the Duomo was matched, or even superseded by the stunning interior. The place is simply amazing. Especially the intricate mosaics that cover the floor are really impressive, as is the Piccolomini Library with its frescos.

After a quick snack lunch, we sadly left Siena, heading towards Umbria. We made a brief stop-over in Pienza, another small cute town (which is mostly famous for its “perfect renaissance square), which spelt an end for the Tuscan leg of our journey. I guess we knew one week wouldn’t be enough to do justice to this beautiful part of the world, and this visit confirmed our suspicion. So we will surely be back…

Amazing Florence

The next stop on our journey was Florence. It’s one of the must-see destinations in Europe I’ve never been to, so I was really looking forward to it. Perhaps, in the back of my mind, there was a slight fear that I would be disappointed after all the things I’d heard about it…

We arrived into town, following the rather intricate instructions by our helpful hotel receptionist, who tried to guide us into the historic centre whilst avoiding getting fined by the police (like in many Italian cities, the historic city centre is off-limits to most cars – brilliant idea which should be adopted world-wide if you ask me). The hotel itself was a very positive surprise, located as it was less than 5 minutes walk from the Duomo, right in the heart of the old town.

We headed out for a bit of a stroll whilst waiting for our room to be prepared. And quite a walk it was, starting with a stroll over to the Piazza del Duomo, with the famous cathedral. Of course I’d seen plenty of pictures of it, but seeing it in real life, in all its majesty, still left me very impressed. We figured we might as well visit it whilst we were there, so joined the queue of other tourists. A good 20 minutes later, we were finally allowed entry. The interior of the Duomo was a bit of a letdown actually. It’s imposing, to be sure, but feels quite bare somehow compared to the flamboyant exterior (apparently this was partly intentional, but also some of the artworks have been moved to various museums in Florence). Still, the grandeur of the place, and especially the dome, is undeniable. We obviously also had to climb up the 84.7 meter campanile, standing next to the cathedral. The view from up there was definitely worth the hike – simply stunning. Nice to get an overview of the city before actually setting out to explore it.

Having been overwhelmed by the Duomo square, we then carried on to another masterpiece of a square, the Piazza della Signoria. The jewel of this square is the Palazzo Vecchio, the old town hall of Florence, with a replica of the famous statue of David posing in front of it. Again, I was rather stunned – I was beginning to understand how Mr. Stendhal got his syndrome (and I’d only been in Florence for about 2 hours!). Construction of this renaissance marvel began in 1299, when it was built to house the government of Florence. Over the centuries, the palace’s importance diminished, but it still houses the mayor’s office, and the city council meets here.

Having ticked this "minor site" off the list, we made our way down towards the Arno river, passing by the Uffizi (which these days contains the most famous art gallery in Florence – and that’s saying something!). We were immediately met by the sight of the Ponto Vecchio (and out came the camera, again!) – yet another landmark sight. Crossing the bridge, we walked past the Palazzo Pitti (a vast palace constructed by the Medici family, which now houses yet another museum), and back to the Arno river. After a delicious ice cream, we made our way back across the river to take procession of our rooms.

Before dinner, we decided to go on a bit of a hike to check out the area of Florence around San Marco, taking in a couple of churches on the way, naturally. We also passed by the Galleria Dell’Arte – which was unfortunately (or thankfully – we were getting a bit nackered by now?) closed. By now, it was about time to have dinner, so we headed out to find a decent restaurant.

Mathilde found a nice-seeming pizzeria on tripadvisor (which apparently serves the best pizza in Florence), which we headed for. After a decent hike (it was located on the other side of the Arno, near the Palazzo Pitti), we found the place to be closed, much to our disappointment (august holidays closure, something we would come across rather regularly). We continued to stroll around the Arno, trying to find a place to eat, but alas in vain. So we made our way back across the river, and eventually ended up in a nice little Enoteca (wine bar) on a small street right in the centre of the old town, where we had a simple yet decent enough meal, which we washed down with a bottle of excellent Chianti.

The next day carried on in the same vain, taking in yet more sights in this amazing sights. We started off by checking out a couple of more sublime churches (especially San Croce – which is actually the church that gave Stendhal his famous syndrome – really made an impact), and then carried on to the other side of the Arno, where we hiked up a nice little hill up the San Miniato al Monte. The church just has an amazing location, the views over Florence are really something. And the church itself is pretty amazing as well, even if it’s not perhaps the most famous or large in Florence. The afternoon called for yet more hiking, this time around the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella (located near the train station). One of the cool places near the church is the pharmacy, dating all the way back to the 18th century. Apparently the queen of England is a loyal customer. Obviously not for us then – we were also put off a bit by the fact that there were no prices shown on any of the merchandise on display. But well impressive place indeed. We were suitably overwhelmed by the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella as well – even if we were getting hit quite badly by the Church Saturation Syndrome by now…

We finished our long but rather amazing day with a dinner in a local eatery, actually located just next-doors to our hotel. We naturally decided to go for the local specialties – Mathilde really going big by having a Bistecca Alla Fiorentina – a rather massive T-Bone steak. Mathilde had a Bistecca Lite – only 500 grams. She still struggled a bit – and I was more than happy to help out ;-). All in all, quite a perfect ending for our Florentine visit – as the next day it was sadly time to hit the road again…

All in all, as you have probably gathered from my blog post, Florence certainly didn’t disappoint. In fact, it managed to even exceed my high expectations. And as you may have remarked, dear reader, we didn’t even visit any of the amazing museums which one is supposed to visit. And there are probably about 20 amazing churches/convents we haven’t been to either. So, we just might have to come back one day ;-).

Pisa and Lucca

Finally, time for the much awaited trip to Italy, which we’d been planning over the last couple of months. The plan was to do a bit of a mini roadtrip, crossing Liguria to Tuscany, carrying on to Umbria from there, and coming back via Emilia-Romagna (possibly doing a short stopover at the Adriatic sea).

We set off Saturday morning, a bit worried about the weather after some heavy showers we’d experienced overnight. Crossing Liguria was surprisingly trouble free in terms of traffic, but the weather situation didn’t really improve (we had a fair bit of rain). Things seemed to improve as we approached our first stop, Pisa, as the clouds seemed to lessen and give way to a blue sky. Alas, we were very much mistaken. Barely had we parked our car and made our way to the Piazza dei Miracoli (where the most famous leaning tower in the world is located), before it really started pi**ng it down. We decided it was a good time to grab lunch, and hid ourselves in the nearest tourist trap we could find, where we had ourselves some pizzas. Unfortunately things didn’t really improve after lunch, in fact it got worse.

So, equipped with our “Tuscany sightseeing umbrellas”, we ran like mad through the torrential rain back to our car, and headed for nearby Lucca, where our hotel was located.

Having done our check-in, taken our showers etc, we felt ready to explore town. (thankfully the rain had calmed down by now. We were both immediately taken by the medieval charm of Lucca, and its well-preserved streets and cobble-stoned streets. So we spent the rest of the day quite happily walking around, checking out the sights. After really struggling to find a restaurant with a free table, we eventually found a charming little trattoria where to sate our appetites…

After a night of rather limited sleep (our hotel had its good points, but sound isolation was definitely not one of them), we got up bright ‘n early-ish, and hit the road for Pisa again. This time, the weather was a fair bit nicer, with a blue sky and not a cloud in sight. We started off our visit by checking out the Piazza dei Miracoli, which showcases Pisas main attractions. Apart from the famous tower, there is also the Duomo and the Baptistery.

After contemplating (along with about 1000 other people) the leaning tower for a while, we decided not to pay the 10 euros or whatever to mount the winding staircase. It is certainly a rather pretty tower, but perhaps somewhat overrated as a tourist attraction. It was rather amusing to observe the rows of tourists being photographed “supporting the tower” (I’m not being patronizing here - I would’ve joined the queue straight away but Mathilde refused to take the photo of me ;-). We did visit the duomo and baptistery (which both actually lean as well, although less than the tower), though, and both had rather impressive interiors. Having checked out the “musts”, we strolled around the town centre and along the Arno river… All in all, Pisa is definitely worth a visit, even if the prime sight doesn’t perhaps merit all the fuss…

The afternoon we spent checking out Lucca some more. We started off by a walk around the city walls – apparently an absolute must-do in Lucca. The walls make for a nice enough stroll, but actually the walls aren’t high enough to afford panoramic views. Instead we headed to the Torre Guinigi for the panoramic views. The tower is unusual not only because of the great views it offers, but also for the fact there is an oak tree growing on top of it. We naturally also had to pay visits to a few churches (this is, after all, Tuscany) including the Duomo and the sublime San Michele in Foro. BY now, our stomachs were grumbing. Unfortunately, we hadn’t learnt from last night’s experience, and hadn’t made a reservation, again… So we spent a rather long time walking back and forth across the old town, trying to find a restaurant that would have us. We eventually ended up in a kind of fancy place (border-line pretentious) – which was reflected in the bill, unfortunately.

That brought and end to our stay in Lucca, as we headed off towards Florence the next morning. All in all, Lucca is a very pleasant place for a stop-over, with plenty of things to see. And best of all, it’s not quite been overrun by tourists yet, like for example Pisa.

Tristan's baptism

People sometimes say it’s hard to get to know people well in the South of France. Sandra and Stephane have certainly proven the opposite to us; they have certainly helped us integrate into life in Cagnes-sur-Mer. I was very touched by their invitation to their son Tristan’s baptism on this weekend. Naturally, I gracefully accepted (Mathilde was unable to attend, as she was visiting her dad in Angers).

Proceedings kicked off at the church in downtown Cagnes. After the religious part of the ceremony, Sandra, Stephane and the godparents also had to sign the books – this is after all France (no need to go to the town hall for this part though, as is the case for weddings). As always in France, a good meal followed. Sandra and Stephane had booked a very nice place near Nice for the occasion, in the Var valley off the road leading to the Mercantour national park. A mate of Stephane’s, Merlin, kindly gave me a lift (seemed daft for both of us to take our cars, and he really insisted on driving).

After a very decent aperitif indeed (with both local Nicois and more classic French munchies on offer), it was time to attack the menu. As always in France during these kinds of occasions, the food was great. Things kicked off with some very nice raviolis indeed (I even had a couple of extra helpings), followed by a great steak. In addition to the generous desert, Sandra and Stephane had concocted a real piece of art as a bit of an extra, by fixing some Provencal macaroons on a cone – very presentable and tasty at the same time. One can safely say I walked away with my appetite very much sated… ;-). Good thing Merlin drove me back home to St-Veran as well, since I think I had one or two glasses of wine too many to get behind the steering wheel ;-)

It was really great to meet Sandra’s and Stephane’s families as well. It was quite a mix of nationalities actually, since Sandra is half-Italian and half-Portuguese, and Stephane also has Italian roots (like a lot of people do in this part of France). I do suppose I was conceived as a bit exotic, though ;-)

All in all, a very nice, “authentic local experience”. Thanks again, Sandra and Stephane, if you ever read this!

A week in Copenhagen

After my rather strenuous walk with Stephane, it was time to get up at a rather ridiculously early hour to catch my flight via Munich to Copenhagen, where I was spending the week for work. By early I mean 4:45 in the morning… I got to the airport, checked in, no problem, and waited to board. About 40 minutes before boarding, we got the rather unwelcome message – the flight had been cancelled. Oh well, I thought, that’ll just mean a couple of hours’ delay, no big deal… Yeah right, wishful thinking. To cut a long story short, I queued in various queues at Nice airport for about 5 hours (yes, you read right, dear reader), until I eventually got underway about 7 hours late…

I arrived in Munich, thinking I would just make my connection. Wishful thinking, again… I missed my connecting flight, and got to spend another 4 hours at Munich airport waiting for my flight. Good thing I had brought books… Anyways, needless to say, Monday was a complete write-off as far as work was concerned, as I arrived at the hotel 11 at night. (thankfully, the bar was still open – rarely have I felt the need for beer as much as on that day).

But, anyway, not to be put off, I decided to make the best of my stay in Copenhagen. It is a pretty cool place, actually, especially now that the weather was pretty good. (not quite as good as on the Cote d’Azur but certainly better than during my last visit, in October last year). I had my colleague David from our UK office to keep me company this time.

After a rather productive day at the office (well, for David, in my case IT were “trying to fix” my laptop, but ended up having to re-image it!), we decided to head out to explore town. David had never been to Copenhagen, so I decided to take him down along the Stroget (the famous pedestrian street) down to Nyhavn, for beer. It’s definitely a scenic place (both architecturally, and people-wise; I’m sure David agrees with me on the latter part .-) ) to have a pint, even if it is a bit on the expensive side…

The next day followed pretty much the same pattern. IT were still messing about with my laptop, I was doing the best I could with my loan laptop… After some very quick contemplation, we decided to head into town again with David. This time I took him to a place called Bryggeriet (the brewery) for dinner. It’s a funny place where they temporarily confiscate one of your shoes if you order the one-litre beer (can’t blame them, it’s a damn nice glass!). Except in my case: this time, like the last time, I got to keep my shoe. I must look really trustworthy or something ?

Thursday again followed the same routine, this time we were joined by some locals on our nightly Copenhagen outing though (we’d achieved a fair bit during the week, so figured we had reason to celebrate). Troels had a funny “2 for the price of 1” restaurant/bar guide, which kind of dictated where we ate and drank that night. Which was fine by us, both the Argentinean steaks and the Danish beer we had tasted just great ;-). Me and David stayed out a bit longer, getting to know the locals (especially David, wink wink) and all that.

After another productive day at the office (during which I finally got my laptop back, now in tip-top working condition), it was time to head back to sunny south of France. It had been a nice week (after a rather bad start…), but nice to be back home. No problems with the flights this time ;-)

Cime du Diable

We’ve been planning to do a hike in the Parc Mercantour with Stephane for quite a while now. So after various excuses to put it off, we finally managed to fix a date for a Sunday, which was now upon us.

Guillaume, a colleague of Stephane’s was also supposed to join us. After some deliberation, we ended up going for Stephane’s proposal, which was the Cime du Diable (according to legend, the devil used to live on this summit). The name was rather ominous, I thought, and it did seem kind of challenging (1050 meters height difference, 7 hours). But at least it sounded better than Guillaume’s one – which was basically do a thee day hike in the Alps in one day! Is he mad or what?

In the end, Guillaume didn’t make it (having spent all Saturday rowing, he was feeling a bit too sore), so it was just me and Stephane who set out towards the wilderness at 7AM in the morning my trusty beamer (I was starting to regret having left Nice 1AM in the morning the night before…). The conditions were pretty much perfect – the sky was clear blue, not a cloud in sight, but at the same time there was a refreshing wind, keeping us cool.

The walk took us to some beautiful alpine scenery pas the Pointe des Trois Communes, down to the Baisse de St-Veran, and again up towards the Pas du Diable (rather ominously named). We were also treated to some pretty cool sights on the way – at the beginning of the walk we were treated to the spectacle of a shepherd gathering his sheep down in the adjacent valley with his dogs. And a bit further on, we were treated to the sight of two rather graceful chamois, who were a bit shy unfortunately…

The final descent towards the Cime du Diable was pretty hard work… But we made it in the end, all the way up the lofty altitude of 2685 meters. And the views from up there were truly stunning – with a chain of lakes in plain sight, leading towards the nearby Vallee des Merveilles. Absolutely amazing – well worth the hike, as they say. Quite a nice place to have our sandwiches (and the Rose wine Stephane had been foresightful enough to bring!). I was a bit gutted though, since I forgot to put my charged battery into my camera, and my trusty Nokia camera/phone then decided to run out of battery just before the summit.

The walk back was equally hard work, if not more so… We did come across the chamois we’d seen earlier, and this time at close range. We were treated to a few special moments of observing the graceful movement of these beautiful animals…

After what felt like a very long time, we eventually arrived back at our car. MY knees were definitely feeling the strain by now. I think it’s a good thing we didn’t go for Guillaume’s suggestions, since completing this 7 hour walk already took us 10 hours….