Tuscany - San Gimignano

We arrived in San Gimignano in the late afternoon after our stop in Castellina in Chianti. It's probably the largest of all the towns we visited. It was also the busiest and most touristy.

San Gimignano is about half an hour from Siena, so it's really popular with tour groups coming from there and Florence.

The town is mostly famous for its large towers. It has 14 huge towers still standing, more than any other town in the region, most of the other town's lost theirs during the war.

It has all the things we had come to expect in the Tuscan towns, but also the qualities of a small city. There were heaps of leather and pottery shops, and I'm pretty sure we managed to visit every single one of them.

They also had a torture museum, which was a bit random. We thought about visiting since that's something I'd be really interested in, but it was too expensive, and we didn't want to waste the sun by spending it inside a museum!

What I liked most about San Gimignano was the flags everywhere. They had red and blue flags throughout the town, it was really awesome to wander through the cobbled streets looking at them all.

This seat was really burning my bum!

Tuscany - Castellina in Chianti

To be honest, we never really planned to go to Castellina in Chianti. We stumbled across it after spending an hour and a half driving up winding roads through the mountains, with me getting very car sick and both of us getting very irritable at the GPS for taking us such a long and random route!

We were on our way to San Gimignano, which is actually about 2 hours away from Arezzo. So I knew we had a bit of a drive ahead of us, but then the GPS took us such an odd way, that the drive was turning into over 2 and a half hours! It was not fun to spend a lovely hot day stuck in the car. Plus it's really hard and super scary doing a 3 point turn on very windy roads when you cant see what's coming around the corner. Luckily Italian's are so nice and don't seem to mind waiting while I'm standing in the middle of the road directing Bradley in the car!

So we'd just about reached the end of our rope when we came across this lovely little town in the mountains of Chianti. It's so tiny, you can literally walk from end to end in like 10 minutes. We only stayed for about an hour, but it was a good break from driving and we were able to continue our drive to San Gimignano in a much calmer frame of mind!

Tuscany - Montepulciano

After spending the morning in Cortona, our next stop was Montepulciano. It was about another 45-50 minute drive from Cortona, and we arrived at about 4.30 p.m.

I'm really glad we decided to go in the late afternoon, some of these small towns get overrun with tourists around lunch-time, and then they all get back on the tour buses around 5.00 p.m. and the towns completely empty out. It's fantastic.

Montepulciano was hands down my favourite place in Italy. I loved it from the moment we arrived. We parked in the parking lot outside and walked in. You walk through this big archway and a winding street takes you up into the Piazza Grande.

Montepulciano is actually where they filmed the sequel to the Twilight movie, New Moon. I knew this before we arrived, but I wasn't really prepared for the level of excited fan-girling that overcame me as soon as we approached the Piazza. It looks exactly like the movie. It was awesome. I was all 'And that's where Alice drives in and Bella jumps out of the car!', 'And that's where they built the fountain that Bella runs through!!', 'And that's where Edward stands when he's about to reveal himself!!!!'. It was insane.

There was Twilight themed stuff everywhere, posters in all the stores, some of the cafes had special Twilight menus... though I'm not really sure what made them Twilight menus, they looked the same as any other menu, not even a Rosalie Risotto or Bella Biscotti.

There were lots of wine stores. Montepulciano is famous for it's red Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano. We ended up buying two bottles, two different years. Both were amazing, but I'd have to say the 2004 was the best year. That's right! We're wine snobs now! Haha.

We also brought a huge bag of chocolate and nut biscotti, it was SO yummy I wish we had brought more. We grabbed some cheese, bread and olives and made our own dinner back at the B&B.

All the hill towns in Tuscany are amazing in their own way, but the friendliness of the people, the yummy wine and the New Moon connection was enough to put Montepulciano in the lead.

Tuscany - Cortona

The best part about staying in the Tuscan countryside with our own car, was that we were able to decide where we wanted to go and when, without having to figure out trains and buses in advance.

On Wednesday we drove to Cortona, about a 45 minute drive from where we were staying in Arezzo. We had huge problems with our GPS system, we decided in the end that next time we drive anywhere we'll just use a map. It took us the randomest ways, through rural back roads, when we could see the motorway right next to us! It was also frustrating not being able to tell where we were going, and having to rely on it telling us when to turn right etc.

But when we eventually arrived at the towns we were driving to, they were all so lovely that we forgot about how angry we were at the GPS! Though it would have been much nicer to arrive calm and serene...

So Cortona was the first town in Tuscany we visited, we arrived from the back of the town since the GPS took us that way, so we couldn't see too much at first. Most of the towns we visited were hill towns, making it hard to see anything until you're pretty much right in them. This would have been great for defence, which was the point, but not great when trying to find them.

Since all the towns are on top of a hill, it means that the town centre is always up a long walk from the carpark. We always parked outside the towns, as they all have a driving restriction in the centre and we were keen to avoid a big fine.

We arrived in Cortona just before lunch. It was so nice just to wander around, looking in all the shops and taking in the views from the top. Even though we arrived at lunch it wasn't too crowded, I don't think it's as popular as the towns closer to Siena, which are always packed.

Legend has it that Noah, after the Great Flood, settled in Arezzo preferring it to anywhere else in Italy, and that it was one of his descendants who built Cortona, 273 years later.

All the hilltop towns had this same sense of history and were great to spend the day in, just wandering around. Cortona was our first experience of this, and definitely one of our favourites. Although our actual favourite was Montepulciano, but more on that later!

Tuscany - Arezzo

We caught the train from the Cinque Terre to Siena on Monday. The train journey takes about 3 and a half hours. The italian train system is pretty easy to figure out, except that they are always late.

We picked up our hire car in Siena and drove to Arezzo, on the other side of Tuscany, about an hour from Siena. We hired a GPS also, but we really should have just brought a map of Tuscany. The GPS ended up causing so many arguments and stress it was ridiculous!

Cinque Terre - Final night in Monterosso

We spent our final night in Monterosso at the beach. We were so tired after spending the whole day going between the different towns, we really just wanted to relax. It was too cold for me to swim by the time we got back, but not too cold for Bradley...

Cinque Terre - Day Two - Vernazza

Vernazza is probably the next biggest town after Monterosso. It's a small and charming fishing village, and the only town with a proper port. It also has a small beach right in the centre of the town. There are no cars in the village at all, so really the only way in and out is by train or the trail.

A lot of people choose to stay here as it's known as the most picturesque town, and also has some good restaurants. The town is centred around the main square and the port, where there lots of bars and cafes. It's also where people can swim off the rocks and the tiny sand beach.

There are also lots of lovely shops selling jewellery and Tuscan pottery. There really was amazing pottery in Tuscany, we wanted to bring back heaps of platters and olive oil bottles, but there was no way they'd fit in our suitcase!

Vernazza is also the place that I really needed to go to the bathroom, but all they had was unisex squat toilets! Really just holes in the ground. Hmmm. I decided to hold until we got back to Monterosso! Luckily I can hold for a REALLY long time.

Cinque Terre - Day Two - Corniglia

Corniglia is different to the other towns in the Cinque Terre. It is elevated 100 metres above the sea, and only reachable by climbing the Lardarina, a long flight of 377 stairs. If this is too much, you can also get there by walking up a long and winding road. It takes about 20 minutes to walk up from the train station at the bottom. There is also a bus that goes up and down according to the train schedule.

We chose to take the road, mostly because we were the first off the train and took the wrong turn to get to the stairs. It turns out it was a good choice, the stairs would have been way harder. They're the type of stairs that are very common in Italy, wide and very shallow. Very frustrating to walk up and down! It was a really nice walk, there were no cars and we had a great view of the sea and Manarola. We also got to see all the old Tuscan houses. I love the old houses made of stone, so amazing.

Cinque Terre - Day Two - Manarola

So we returned to Manarola after having to go all the way back to Monterosso. It wasn't too bad, we only lost about an hour overall. But it was frustrating having the camera say it was 3/4 full at 10.00 a.m. then completely die an hour later.

Manarola was my favourite town in the Cinque Terre. It is such a cute, lovely town and has lots of interesting shops and yummy places to eat.

We had lunch at one of the restaurants down by the harbour, we sat on their outside terrace and it was a nice break from the hot sun. They brought us heaps of bread with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar to start, then Bradley and I both had Ravioli. I had Pesto and Bradley had Gorgonzola. They were both so delicious. We chose not to have any wine with lunch, since we still had 2 other towns to visit. I didn't want to be falling asleep after a lunch of pasta and wine in the middle of the day!

Italian's have quite big meals, everyone around us was having a starter and a main, but this is just way too much food for me at lunch. Even at dinner, they expect you to have a starter, entree and a main, plus dessert and coffee. We were lucky if we managed a starter, main and coffee!

All the towns in the Cinque Terre have their churches built in the hills overlooking the town. So we wandered up through the town to see the church and the amazing views overlooking the Mediterranean.

Cinque Terre - Day Two - Riomaggiore

We woke up on Sunday and we had to have breakfast inside, instead of on the terrace at our B&B. The storm the day before had trashed their terrace, and there was floods of water everywhere. I was so disappointed, thinking that we were going to have to visit all the towns in the torrential rain!

Thankfully, by the time we'd finished breakfast and wandered down to get our day passes (you need day passes for the trails and if you want to ride the trains), the rain had stopped and it was lovely and sunny!

Unfortunately, because of the rain the day before, and the rain they'd been having recently, almost all the trails were closed because of land slides. There were other trails you could do, but these were much longer, and required perhaps a much higher level of fitness...

So we decided just to catch the train between each town. The upside is that we got much longer in each town that we would have if we had walked. You can do the whole trail in just over 5 hours, and that wouldn't have included stopping along the way, or stopping in each place.

We managed to do all the towns in one day. I've split them up to individual posts, because I think each town is so lovely it deserves its own!

We caught the train directly to Riomaggiore, which is the furthest from where we were in Monterosso. It's either the first, or the last town depending on what direction you're coming from.



Arrival in the Cinque Terre - Monterosso al Mare

We left Pisa just after 11.30 a.m. and caught the train to the Cinque Terre. We were staying in Monterosso al Mare, which is the largest of the towns in the Cinque Terre. It's also the only town with a proper beach, all the rest have rocks that you can swim off.

The train took about an hour and a half from Pisa. We bought first class tickets because they were only 3 euros more, see how pleased we look below...

First Day in Italy - Morning in Pisa

We flew into Pisa from London Gatwick on Saturday night. Our flight was delayed for over an hour due to what they said was severe thunderstorms. I have a full blown panic attack every time we fly anyway, so hearing we may be flying into some huge storms and have bad turbulence was not good news...

However we managed to fly over them, and had practically no turbulence the whole way. You could see the storm clouds underneath as we flew over, they looked amazing.

We arrived in Pisa at 10.00 p.m. and went straight to the hotel. Not sure where the huge storms were supposed to be, but the weather in Pisa was fine. It was still about 25 degrees even that late.

Pisa was really only a stop off on the way to the Cinque Terre, so we got up early, had breakfast and went straight to the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles). Our hotel was pretty central, so we were able to walk there in less than 15 minutes, including stopping to take photos on the way. 

The Leaning Tower really is amazing. It really is on a big lean! Who knew? It's very surreal approaching it from the centre of Pisa, it just appears as you walk around the corner. The Campo dei Miracoli was pretty full of people, while the rest of Pisa was completely deserted. People obviously go to see the Leaning Tower and then leave. That's what we did! There's not much else to see in Pisa unfortunately..

We had amazing weather, it was about 28 degrees at 9.30 a.m. in the morning, and really sunny. Aside from the Tower, there is the Duomo, Baptistry and the Camposanto. How lovely of them to put all the most interesting parts of Pisa in one place! 

We had to do the obligatory pose, but we chose to push the Tower over instead of holding it up. It is hilarious watching everyone standing with their arms out, or their feet in the air.

After our two hours of Pisa sightseeing, we checked out of the hotel and went to catch the train to our next stop... the Cinque Terre.

Sneak peek of our last day in Florence

We filmed this video at the top of the Campanile next to the Duomo. Have just realised I have spelt it incorrectly in the title. Frustrating, but it took ages to upload!

There are 414 steps up to the top, and you get an amazing view over Florence and of the Duomo. Plus it doesn't have the two hour wait in line like the Duomo does.

Hope you enjoy a sneak peek of the final day of our Italy trip. We'll be updating the blog with the rest of the photos over the next week.

Lazy Bank Holiday Weekend

We had another bank holiday weekend this past weekend. That makes three in May alone. It's awesome. Sadly, the next one isn't until August :(

Because we are going to Italy this weekend, we didn't do too much over the Bank Holiday, plus the weather was pretty awful. London has the most interchangeable weather I have ever seen, like eight seasons in one day. So all four seasons twice!

All 3 days couldn't decide whether they were going to be warm, freezing, rainy or windy! And sometimes they were all at once.

We were hoping to sleep in on Saturday, but the people next door are renovating, and started banging around 8.00 a.m. And then they just stopped at 9.30 a.m., just long enough so we couldn't go back to sleep! Thankfully we had lovely long lie-in's on Sunday and Monday.

We mostly just did some errands and caught up on some TV we were behind on.  We had some yummy breakfast on Saturday at Balan's down the road, I had the huge omelette below, and Bradley had french toast, which we've posted before, so I didn't think we needed another photo!

On Monday it was sunny long enough to venture out and we went for a walk through Holland Park. Holland Park is just down from Notting Hill and is surrounded by huge mansions, like 4 times the size of our house in Chiswick. Chiswick is a pretty flash area, but it's nothing compared to the houses in Notting Hill and Holland Park.

There is a lovely Japanese Garden in the middle, it's probably the nicest part about the park. The rest of it isn't great, certainly not anywhere near as nice as other London parks, like Hyde Park, Regents Park & St James Park. All very pretty.

Never get tired of squirrels! 

We had lunch at Le Pain Quotidien in Westfield. We went last weekend and had amazing scrambled eggs. Am happy to say the prosciutto open sandwiches were delicious too.