Almost two weeks ago to the day we began to spend our week long visit in Tuscany.
If you love beautiful rolling hills, trees, the odd mountain, flowers, twisty turny roads, grape vines, Fiats, agriculture and views as far as the eye can see... then you will love Tuscany!
Oh... did I mention the food and wine?
All the vineyards and the rolling hills = Tuscany!
What's not to love! (can you hear the song "That's Amore" playing in the background?).
While I can not comment on much of the wine part (I'm hearing awesome things) the food was a knock out almost every where we went. From the morning pastries to the meats to my favorite pastas.
Pictures just do not do the scenery the justice it deserves.
The hardest part to get used to over here is the morning coffee. We love our morning coffee ritual back home. Here you do not even bother to ask for an extra large, a double double or a free refill. However the quantity might not be like it is in North American shops the quality is awesome.
That will be an "Americano" for me, Gratzia!
BRENNA.
Let me set the Tuscany tone and scene for you.
We stayed in Brenna, a small village, in fact it maybe smaller than a village, a hamlet perhaps?
Very small! You could walk it all inside of 15 minutes or so. The population, so small I'm guessing a few hundred. One restaurant (excellent food) and everyone seems to know everyone.
If you see these signs you are close to Brenna! Notice do not go fast they want you to "Slow Dawn"
Our place for the week belonged to her Grandfather she says. Perhaps he is still alive and likley the family has owned it for many generations. It is a 15th century stone and brick type building on the outside but inside it was very modern Italiano! Very nice fixtures/features, modern walk-in shower and a nice kitchen. Complete with a separate dining area, a living room, two bedrooms and a nice patio. When you are inside only the wooden shutters on the windows remind you that this is something special and something very, very old.
The lower windows was our floor. Rustic Tuscany on the outside. Bella!
Our patio, notice the sink in the background.
The view when sitting with my morning coffee on the patio.
The view out our bedroom window.
Another angle - you must see it for your self!
Looking in at our patio.
Guess what Barb is doing!
The roadway in to Brenna, it's very narrow but beautiful!
Steps away was the local (and only) restaurant and a 10-14 minute walk yielded a swimming spot in the local river.
The only restaurant in Brenna steps from our door. The lady who runs it took a real fondness to Barb and gave her the double kiss every time we came over. Excellent meals miles away from the tourists!
TUSCANY HILL TOP VILLAGES.
Borrowed this photo. Bet ya can't pronounce this one!
Well located defence positions. You can see for miles! - Watch out for the enemy coming!
The arch and top were added on later. (See photo below).
I'm hoping you can read this, it details the story of the town gate above it.
Look at how old the stone walls and steps look... They do not lie!
On a clear day they say you can see so far that you can see the back of your own head!
Just a few minutes away from the next town (Rosia) was ample amenities such as groceries. We were also surrounded by the "Hill Towns of Tuscany" which were my personal favorite things to see.
These hill top towns towns are very, very old! Some of them dating back as far as 2500 years! There is no fear of chain stores or fashion malls in these parts of the world. It all comes back to the hardworking family run businesses and agriculture.
The hill top getaways can often be seen from very far away. Proudly sitting up on their perches often with walls built around them for protection. Back in those days there were no countries. Often a town was it's own state and/or country. Often they were attacked by other greedy people groups wanting to expand their empires.
You can stay in these hill top locations but personally I wouldn't. For one thing you need a car to get there. Very rarely are you allowed to drive up and inside the village. A taxi might be the best way?Depending on your luggage the long walk/hike up the hills might get to the best of you?
If you see a tower in one of these villages that doesn't belong to a church it is likely one from a fairly well off family and attached to their home. Under attack... they would seal it off and run up the tower hiding until the attack is over. That's if the bad guys made it past the huge walls around their city.
I often call the people living here the "big thigh people." They must be very fit and have large muscles (thighs) to walk and carry things around these hill top towns. It would be hard living here today but in the days of old it must have been even harder.
Walking the streets and touching the walls really gets the imagination running. What was it really like? We know they had running water as in many places of Italy... taps would be in public areas for all to use. Shops and stores would be along the roads and many many homes passed on from one generation to the other which still happens today.
I can earnestly say the Italian people have been experts at building on cliffs and mountain faces for a very long time. If I had my choice one of them would be building my brick home especially if on a cliff, in roach or on a mountainside.
Certain areas around the city walls allow for viewpoints. From there one can see for miles and miles. I can not think of a place back home that has a similar view (that I am aware of). Often times you can see out over the beautiful rolling hills and vineyards to the next Hill Top community. Unless there was a truce I'm sure they kept an eye on each other. I will leave the rest to your imagination and history books to cover off, it is much too hard to do it all here and we only know such small portions of the stories.
FLORENCE.
The city of Florence was the location of choice for this day. Like many other major metropolitan areas of the day Florence was growing wildly but unlike most it was leading within the arts and sciences as well. Add to that Florence was also the major military stronghold of the region. Florence was often trying to expand it's empire and role as the capital all as they saw fit. As you can imagine the Hill Top towns didn't care for being taken over and taxed!
I don't know the population of Florence but suffice it to say easily over one million and smaller than Rome at 3 + million. It is a beautiful city with some new but like the others with a lot of old! Old churches and plenty of monuments and museums protecting it's past. With famous artists having lived here and so many pieces of work like the "Statue of David" the museums are an attraction of many, many thousands daily!
In fact I do not think I have ever seen more people in one place in my whole life! That includes Times Square in New York City. On some streets (quite wide streets) it was shoulder to shoulder people going both directions. Many of them following their Tour Guides who were holding up their coloured umbrellas or flags for them to follow en masse! The best way to describe this was simply peaceful chaos!
We parked in the outskirts of town and took a train into the city Center.
I couldn't resist taking this picture. Lots of people in Italy enjoy camping in their RV's just like we do!
I don't know for sure what this was or is. Part of it may be a hotel now? Awesome detail in the old buildings of Europe (to them it is an art form) and this is one example.
All done in sidewalk chalk, unbelievable!
This is a seriously quiet street in Florence.
The stairs must have been miles long! :)
Even though I am no longer a big city person by any means cities like this are a must see and I can do it for a day at a time. If you like me, are a "people watcher" then you will love that part too! I can not imagine living and working in places like this. Much like the day on the bus in Rome there are far too many people for one little space!
The locals seem used to it and know how to manage through the mobs. The tourists all have the same looks on their faces... Likely the one that I did! I know I am getting towards the end of my rope when the smaller things start to bug me later on in the day. Things that didn't bother me earlier begin to make me agitated. One such example is when people walking towards you on the wrong side of the road or sidewalk (in Jim's world) stare at you in their approach and refuse to move! Man that bugs me when I'm getting tired! The same feeling I get in the malls while shopping for Christmas presents every year! Ugh! So when that happens I either need to go home or take a leisurely break.
Barb and I put a few miles on during the "Florence Day" and made it all the way up to a famous lookout called Piazza (square) Michaleangelo (one of th cities prior residents - see photos above). From here one could view most of the city. It was a sight to see allowing ones imagination go wild on what it was like during different times throughout it's very long history.
I am often amazed by how many miles Barb and I can still walk. This was one of those days! If you come to Europe make sure you have comfortable walking shoes with good support. If it is off season in the winter make sure they are water proof too.
By the end of our week here in Brenna (Tuscany) it was time to move along. I am sure there was more we could see but change is always good too! So we packed the bags and off we went to the Cinque Terra area.
MONTEROSSO and the CINQUE TERRA
If you love the ocean and small peaceful towns with mountainous rolling hills this is the place to be. Up to not that many years ago (the 50's I think) these five (Cinque, pronounced Chink Kwa) little towns along the ocean were only accessible by boat. No roads and no trains, now they have both. We stayed in the town called Monterosso. This was a good decision.
These photos are all of Monterosso (1 of 5 towns in the Cinque Terre).
We have so many photos already, many of them are not sorted or edited out.
I'm thinking next spring when we do get home for the summer we will have a house party. Any of you who are interested can watch the pictures as they play in a slides how on the TV's. Then we can answer questions and have enough time to properly present them. How's that sound?
Oops I better tell Barb!
I don't know if it happened because of Rick Steves (famous American tour guide) or not but the tourism industry here is very much alive and well. There are people here from around the world and they are here in droves! I can not help to feel sorry for these small towns... but tourism is how they earn their keep. Thankfully they have a down season which is beginning to hit just as we end our stay and leave this beautiful piece of mother earth.
The crowds have been getting less (about half now) over the last couple of days. I don't mind saying I won't miss all these tourists. I don't like crowds normally and being in a beautiful location such as this one tries to learn and deal with it. It's okay for a day at a time but day after day starts to numb my senses. After six days of small narrow streets wall to wall with people from all worlds, it's time to catch one's breath and or move on. We leave in the morning.
One could tell the staff and shop owners in many of the establishments were getting tired of the crowds and tourists too. Some of them were getting testy and short. I don't view this as their fault. They do need tourism but knowing some tourists as we do I'm sure they have had many trying times. One little shop that we frequent for breakfast told me that they (husband and wife) haven't had a day off in five months! They finally got a day off yesterday! They are such a nice couple. They told us they would leave their wifi turned on while they took the day off in case we needed it. They did leave it on and let me say that's how to win over a customer in a town with very little wifi!
I must add the weather has been very pleasant, always hovering in the mid 20's each day. We do have rain today, it's almost a peaceful welcome break in someways. Unlike at home when it rains here it really doesn't change the temperature, it stays about the same.
This area is a sight to see if you are in this region.
Be prepared for a ton of tourists if you come during high season. They come by car, train and some by boat too. However it is worth every minute and every dime. Some of it reminds us of the Amalfi Coast where we stayed in Sorrento a few years back, simply beautiful. Even with the crowds the small town charm is still evident.
We always say that the best way to ruin a small gem of a place is by adding a cruise ship port. I will modify that a bit and say the best way to ruin these gems are by adding too many tourists - period! This location is still charming but the end may be near in a few years, so come soon!
A quick little personal story. As you know we love getting off the beaten path. We don't normally stay in fancy expensive hotels and in fact would rather stay away from them and the the tourist scene as much as we can. However sometimes you have to go where the tourists go just to see the cool things. Well that brings us to our accommodations over the years.
Unless you are loaded financially one needs to find an affordable alternative. Like our other trip to Europe in 2010 (5.5 months long) being frugal is important during a long trip. We like staying in smaller places when we can and eating where the locals eat when we can which helps (cheaper). It also adds to the cultural experience. However sometimes there is a bit of another cost involved. I forgot how much!
This time the cost has been my back and on our lack of sleep. :)
Sometimes the accommodations are on busy streets with the late night bars and eateries, or where the heavy traffic might be. We had that happen last time in Barcelona. Other times the beds may have mattresses or box springs that are less than desireable. That's not a new issue either. So the cost of getting that cultural experience might be financially prudent but it may add up to a less than average sleep or a sore and stiff back.
Haha, you know what... I'm only stating the facts and I'm not complaining. Sometimes you win and other times you... learn to give and take a little. That's sort of like life in general isn't it! I once heard that when travelling if you don't like where you are - change! So that means being flexible! So Barb and I have had to get a little bit flexible but we are good with that, it's all part of the experience!
Like Rick Steve's (the travel guy); we still believe in travel through the back door as the experiences will be richer and more memorable!
We leave tomorrow morning and head just a few minutes up the coast to a wee little spot on the ocean called Dieva Marina (sp to be confirmed). We have booked a place there for 4 nights and are excited to see what it is we have found! Its off of the tourism pathway quite a bit and looks to be another gem! Only time will tell!
EDITORS NOTE:
Wifi couldn't be located to download this update prior to leaving Monterosso.
October 2, 2014. Thursday.
We took the train north along the coast (beautiful) and arrived in our new town: Deiva Marina!"
It's beautiful here!
Clean and oh so very quiet. Seems to be very traditional as a lot of the shops are closed for Siesta this afternoon. A modern Boardwalk lines the beautiful beach!
Our hotel is called Residence Kris.
Very nice boutique style. Has a restaurant, bar, breakfast, large patio out front and lawn chairs with umbrellas for the beach are included!
The room is very clean and modern. Two TV's, a computer, full kitchen and living area. A large patio off both the master bedroom and the kitchen! Bella!
The best part is that the large bed is nice and firm with a good mattress! Heavenly!
There are hardly any people here! The hotel owner says they all go to Cinque Terre by about 9am and come back around 7pm. That's just fine with us! :)
Who knows maybe we will stay here longer?
Ciao for now!
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