Tuscany

This summer has been full of wonderful travels and family. I was lucky enough to get to go to Italy with my mom and Tessa. We toured Pisa, Florence, Lucca and Cinque Terre. It was beautiful and sunny. A welcome change from England where we've continued to have downpours at least once a day.

We started out in Pisa where we got to see the Leaning Tower and the Duomo. They only allow small groups of people up the tower at a time for obvious reasons. The Duono is absolutely beautiful.

From Pisa we headed to Florence where we alternated between food and art. We found an amazing bread shop called Forno near San Lorenzo market. We happily consumed vast amounts of fresh bread, fat ripe figs, cheese and pastas. While in Florence we saw the Maplethorpe exhibit at the Academia. I have a huge admiration for his lighting skills. Books just don't do his work justice. We also enjoyed the Botticelli at the Uffizi, the Boboli Gardens and unnumbered churches. The second afternoon we decided to hike from Fiesole to Settignano in the hills above Florence. It was a beautiful hike although the trail is quite hard to find let alone stay on. All trails in Italy are marked with a red and white stripe. At one point our marks began to be painted out with grey. We began to get quite worried but eventually we met someone who assured us that the town ahead was indeed Settignano. We ended up having one of the best dinners of our trip at this cute little restaurant that looks over Florence. Of course we'd just hiked a few hours and weren't quite dressed appropriately but they let us in anyway.

Settignano Hike

Lucca is a walled medieval city. The walls have now been converted into a walk so that you can ride bike or walk around the entire old city. It is also a city of towers with a half dozen poking up above the buildings. Each one is unique. Our favorite tower had trees growing on top. The old town is a jumble of streets in which we quickly got lost. Hidden squares and courtyards abound. We only spent one night, but we could have easily spent much longer. Lucca also has its fair share of churches. We sheltered in one during a surprise downpour and the little old nun plied us with lots of information on the order.

The last stop on our trip was Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a group of five historic coastal towns linked together with an ancient path. We stayed in Monterosso which is the last town. It is traditional to hike the trail and see each of the five towns. They're all brightly painted and hug the Mediterranean. Until the last century or so, the only means of travel between the cities was this trail which takes about 5 hours to hike. Some parts are very steep as you wind up through the terraced vineyards. The hike was beautiful. The food was amazing. And the water was warm and clear. I actually took a whole day to lay on the beach and read and swim.

Monterosso

Vernazza

Manarola

To sum up the trip, "A day without gelato is a day wasted." Iain Pears