Italy sweet as gelato: Rest of Tuscany

Tyoical sight at Tuscany. ROLL HILLS ROOLLLLL!!

Harvest Time at Chianti! Did i mention wine is cheaper than coca cola there? A typical table wine is good enough for my palette!


We concluded the alleys in Siena, Sorrento and Lucca are all competing for the 'Most charming alley" award. This was from Siena

Picnic at iL Campo. We feasted on cheese, flat bread (a typical italian bread), antipasi of long beans in tomoato paste, smoked mackeral, canned peaches and the cherry tomatos! oh, they look so tempting, even in the photos!

At iL Campo, i couldn't capture the shell shape design, but can you see that the sq is slanted?



The leaning tower of Pisa and the other leaning building. YEs, i HAD to do the touristy thing. *roll eyes*

The rest of Tuscany, in Chianti, Siena and Pisa i shall combine in one post.

Chianti- About 30 mins car ride from Florence. We managed to make our way there (and visit a wine cum olive oil factory too!) at Chianti, through a Tuscany bike tour we signed up. Well, all i knew from the biking part is the confirmation that i will not be participating in any biathlon soon. The sights were however, WOOOO! feels like the sound of music :)

Siena - I loved Siena, especially iL Campo, the shell-shaped slanting square, enough space for people to take a quick rest, a long picnic lunch, read a book. Hillside, fresh air, lovely alleys, quaint town. What else can i ask for?

Pisa - Besides the obvious architecture wrong that is so correct economically, actually, i never knew that Pisa is also a University town. Besides the main school structure, the different schools are also situated among the city, making the entire city a University compound. We also went in to the University's Physics compound. Guess who was especially excited? "Galileo Galilei once taught here!", i quote.

Italy sweet as gelato: Florence

At Ponte Santa Trinita looking over Ponte Vecchio. For the record, we sat there for 2 hours for sunset!

On Ponte Vecchio itself. This is the bridge that was so pretty, it was spared the fate of being bombed during the war.

David overlooking the city at Pizzale Michelangelo. AND David at Piazza de Signoria (which was the original location of THE original David, but the statue has been shifted indoors for preservation, and no, we didn't visit the hunk at Galleria dell'Accademia)

Most (if not all) Italian cities have their own city Duomo. Besides the historical background to this, this Duomo stands out simply by its grandeur. It gleams like a chunk of gem, especially at night. So lovely we initially thought that it was a fancy modern artwork projected on screen! (hey, we survived a 5 hr train ride, 2hr train breakdown and then were traumatized by the address incident ok!) The impressive, 94m height Duomo is actually 2 concentric domes built with a 463 steps passageway in between. Talk about creativity and engineering skills!

The paintings inside the Duomo is equally impressive, not an inch uncovered. Visible after climbing all 463 steps.

il Fratellini. A small snadwhich shop that serves big in taste and about 20 types of sandwiches. We rushed here to tabao 2 sandwich to-go when we stopped by Florence from Pisa enroute to Rome!
Another noteworthy meal we had at Florence was at Teotro Del Sale. For 20 Euros + 5 Euros 'membership fee (it's like a theatrical association concept, so....) we got to eat so much wonder Tuscany fare we didn't stop (and neither did any of the lunch-goers there) eating from 12:30-3pm. Oops...

Have not been updating as fast as i wish i could. So, here they are (some of them anyways).

Florence got on a bad start, well, not exactly bad, but less than ideal because we could not find our hotel. Sent us on a wild goose chase because of their too unique way of addressing the apartment units. We couldn't locate our hotel at No.12 which is clearly NOT beside the unit called No.11. Try No.17 besides No.12? AND the reception is on the 3rd floor, serviced by a half-manual elevator. DUH?

Anyways, that was an almost comical hiccup. The beauty of Florence (and the glorious glorious food) made it hard for us not to smile and just wanting to take in as much sights, sounds, tastes, feel as we could.

Florence is a city that is visually and emotionally outstanding. It is a centerpiece for the Renaissance, home to icons from Michelangelo to Guccio Gucci (yes, THE Gucci). Florence exudes a charm, somehow, and makes her presence known in the bustling pulse of city life.

It just gets to you. It is hard not to be in awe of the River Arno jogging past the lovely riversides, admire the splashes of colors on the lovely Ponte Vecchio at dusk, witness the white and green marble-made Duomo gleaming and playing peek-a-boo as you walk towards it, sit down at Piazza della Signoria people watching and munching on a goat's cheese and fennel sandwich on sun dried tomato bread.

Italy, sweet as gelato : Lucca

One of the abundent sculptures available in Italy. This one shines.

On the 4.2km fortress walls that protects Lucca, a slow evening walk is a graceful way to witness Lucca's daily life from here. The pathway was so scenic, zzz and myself had to jog both of the days we were there. The beauty of a changing season carried out by the swaying trees in the cool climate helped too :)

Sunlight pouring down the sleepy streets of Via Fillungo

The mention of Tuscany brings back wonderful sights and smells. There are lush greenary (the pitures we see on postcards are not fakes!), fragrant vineyards and thick olive trees, whole-hearted Tuscany food, wonderful hospitality.

We spent almost half of our 12 days trip in this charming part of Italy We landed in Florence (Firenze) stayed there for 3 days and went on other towns in the region. Here, i am going to jumble the sequence a little because i want to highlight a little town called Lucca, the last stop before we went back to Rome.

For anyone of you interested, the town is not directly connected to the main towns. One could take the train to Pisa and take a tranfser to Lucca or similar to us, opt for the regional bus from Florence (mini-drama - we went through an interesting episode of Italian bus-driver vs. 40 English speaking tourists boarded on the wrong bus. but anyways, back to Lucca.)

Lucca is one of those Italian small towns that enjoys less stardust than it's more glamorous cousins of Rome, Florence or even the neighboring Pisa. It's probably understandable, tourists on a tight schedule may no reason (tourist sites) to visit Lucca at all. But what Lucca lacks in the Pantheon, River Amo or Leaning Tower, it makes up in its serenity,calm beauty that one will probably dismiss at first glance but will grow to love it once you allow yourself to get closer to her.

Italy, sweet as gelato: Napoli & Sorrento

Naples (Napoli) was a stop over for us. We were supposed to proceed to Sorrento but zzz planned a short lunch interlude and we stopped by Napoli (together with our huge backpacks) for some seriously droolicious fire-wood pizzas at Da Michele. They served only 2 kinds of pizzas, Neapolitan or Magherita, it doesn't look pretty but trust us, they are so good and fresh that we are probably never going to be satisfied with the pizzas here (its the flour and water!)


A shop that sells pasta (what else?), olive oil, lemoncillo and other food products of Italy. Typical in Sorrento, a hilly town with the prettiest alleys we have seen. First of the many small quaint towns we are going to stay at.


Whee!....Italians love their motorbikes, not hard to see many cute vespas in even small towns like Sorrento

Snapshots along the sometimes steep streets of Sorrento


View from our dinner place


And....dinner! Gnocchi, Ravioli, grilled calamari (which needs no other garnishing except for a squish of lemon juice, olive oil and fresh herbs

Even though we were at Naples for only a few hours, we could quickly sense the hurried pace of the city life with people hawking goods every 2 meters of the pathway. So, when we reached Sorrento, it was a big difference from Naples and a huge welcome change for us, to stay in a town so laid-back, complete with sea view and fresh air (not forgetting the fresh seafood!)

Italy, sweet as gelato: Roma

Roman Ruins, a sight so spectacular even now

The Pantheon a 2,000 year old dome -shaped structure built without any known support. The huge structure is illuminated only by natural daylight squeezed in from the "centerpiece' of the dome

A fairy tale image, walking along one of the riversides in Rome

Trevi Fountain, where many lovers, students, tourists gather at all times of the day

The Colosseo. Initially just to take in the sights from outside but decided to go in anyways, for the sake of history

The Vatican City, its so hard to get any pictures of the art pieces. The Sistine Chapel is off camera limits, but i don't think we will forget that image any time soon.

Magnificent.
Long standing monuments in Rome, lush green scenery in Tuscany, quaint towns that breathes history. Many times, these are so breathtakingly beautiful that it is almost impossible to take a picture good enough to justify. We tried to get whatever we could and concluded that the best way is to just appreciate them as they were.

Rome was our first stop, we then went over to Naples (for the pizza, nothing else!), Sorrento, Pompeii, Siena, San Giminano, Pisa and Lucca.

More pictures and updates to come later. Good night for now :)

Italy Days 1-4

Ciao! We are now in Sorrento, a small quaint town about 1.5hrs away from Naples by train.
Returned from a nice dinner by the sea had the Sorrento local speciality of gnocchi (potato filled pasta) in tomato sauce and mozerella cheese, ravioli stuffed with cheese and grilled calamari (so soft and succulent). Sorrento also specialises in Limoncillo (lemon flavoured alcohol), zzz should be grinning from ear to ear, but well, we probably cannot 'import' any over....:p

Spent the day in Pompeii, stayed and walked the ancient town in 5.5hrs and we are all zonked out. The archeological sites are amazing, some of our buildings are a reflection of those that were alreay standing 2,ooo years ago, like the 20,000 capacity grand amphitheatre, the sports staduim, common baths etc. In a way, is a strike off to one of the sites on my travel list, ever since i read the passage about the buried city during the O Level English paper, strange way of being attracted to a place but well.....

The past 2 days in Rome were spent walking around the city's famous momuments. The Trevi fountain, Pantheon (another 2,000 year old administration building), the Colosseo , Spanish steps, Palatine, Roman Forum. We were simply awestruck by the Sistine chapel and the Vatican city in all. How on earth could anyone (even if that someone IS Michaelangelo) paint the entire chapel in such striking paintings without leaving an inch untouched?

Oh! we also stopped over in Naples for THE original Napolitean pizza!! Place serves only 2 kinds of pizza, either magherita or marinara, guaranteed one of the best in Naples, we know judging from the Q snaking in front of the small shop (formed mostly by locals). The best thing about ths pizza is the simplicity of it all, just plain pizza dough and fresh ingredients.

Will be off to Florence (Firenze in Italian) tomorrow, where we will remain there for 3 days including a tuscany bike tour in between, then to Siena, Lucca, back to Rome and finally home.

More when we are back, Ciao (which means hello & goodbye) for now!!