We had a long drive from Rome and after a stop to buy provisions as we knew we were on a vineyard in the middle of nowhere, we had some trouble finding our Airbnb. At several places, we had been left a nice bottle of wine and we thought this might happen at the vineyard since they made their own chianti. However, there was no such luck and when we looked it up, their wine was €40 a bottle so we let them off.
After a slow start with a bit of exercise, we went to San Gimignano, which, though touristy, was rather nice. We did a bit of Christmas shopping there, and tried “the worlds best ice cream” (winners 2006-9) which we weren’t best impressed with. Standards have definitely slipped! Next, we went to Siena, which was alright. It didn’t rate highly on the Rossie scale of pretty places. We had an extortionate thimble of coffee in the Piazzo Del Campo and Callum had the smallest salmon roll ever! We headed back to homemade pasta and 3 chiantis. We decided we would taste test different bottles to see if Callum could spot the most expensive from the mid priced one and the tetra pack that cost €1.19 for a litre. Callum did get the blind testing order right but actually really liked the tetra pack! Such a sensitive palate!
The next day, we booked a day on some e-bikes that meant negotiating Florences traffic and parking quite early. We picked them up from a lovely Scottish man who provided us with a route that included a vineyard stop where we would be expected. We had some difficulty with the directions getting out of the city but after that had the best day! The views were amazing- cycling through pine forests, vineyards, olive trees and with spectacular views of Florence as a whole. The bikes were fab and we overtook some very serious, well kitted out, proper cyclists effortlessly up some steep hills. We did feel slightly guilty but it didn’t stop us pressing turbo each time! We stopped at the vineyard and had wine with a meat platter in the sunshine. Just lovely. After cutting Callum off due to safety concerns, I corked the bottle and we moved on. We cycled along a river, clocking over 30km an hour at one point (honestly boys!), stopped at a copy of David and then headed back into the city.
We ended the day with a walk around Florence and our final pizza near the Duomo. We thoroughly enjoyed this day and loved Florence though I did think next time we must get into the art galleries etc even if one of us isn’t keen. We had one more night in Italy after a long drive north. We stayed just north of Verona in a pretty small town Thiene in the best Airbnb yet. It was just like being at home but without our animals!
And that was Italy- at least for the time being! Off to Austria and Germany for beer and bratwurst to replace the wine and pizza!
Rossies Go Roaming 