This will be a fairly short article, at least for me. In 2016 my sister and I took a walking tour of Tuscany (see Thoughts on choosing a tour group, airline or place to stay, Montecatini Terme and Siena to St. Gimignano posts,) that covered a number of towns from Montecatini Terme, to Siena and Cortona. Our walking tour […]
Read MoreThe Towns of Chianti
Bella Toscana The region of Tuscany (Toscana) has an amazing degree of diversity in terms of the landscapes and towns. From Lucca and Pisa in the northwest (see Lucca and the Garfagnana post) to Montalcino in the south (see Five Days in Southern Tuscany and Montalcino and Southern Tuscany posts) as well as Siena and San Gimignano, […]
Read MoreSiena to St. Gimignano
Between Siena and San Gimignano The cities in this post—Siena, San Gimignano, Monterrigioni and Colle di Val d’Elsa—are within a relatively short distance of each other; e. g. 47 km from Siena to San Gimignano. If you’re staying in the Tuscan countryside, as we usually do, (Hotel Belvedere di San Leonino), you can drive south […]
Read MoreFlorence and Fiesole
It’s difficult to know where to start when writing about Florence (Firenze) and Fiesole. I fell in love with the city the first time I came, following a bike trip, and have returned 10 times since then. One of my favorite memories from that trip was walking down a narrow street from my hotel on […]
Read MoreCathedrals and Abbeys
Prologue I dedicate this article to my mother, Shirley Marguerite McNeil Wright, 1920 to 2009, who lived by the principle of leaving the world a better place. She was a staunch Methodist but loved going to the St. Cecilia Cathedral flower show (Omaha, NE). I went this past January 2017 for the first time since […]
Read MoreMontalcino and Southern Tuscany
I have been fortunate to visit Montalcino and surrounding towns five times between 2000 and 2021; staying, all but one of those times, for 2-4 days. I’ve divided this post by towns (borghi) and then by years with separate sections on Where to Eat and Where to Stay. Montalcino 2000 Bike Trip I first saw […]
Read MoreWhere to stay in Italy
Apartments or hotels? Before I write about some of my favorite hotels, I want to comment on the growing trend to stay in apartments typically through VRBO or Air BnB. During our 2015 trip in France and Italy we met several people who were staying in apartments and they were all enthusiastic about the experience. […]
Read MoreVineyards, wineries and enotecas
On my first trip to Europe– the bike trip in Provence–we were constantly stopping at small vineyards and cavés which was my first real introduction to wine; and as an aside biking and wine tasting can be challenging. There were several people on the trip who were quite knowledgeable about wine and treated us novices […]
Read MoreMuseums, monuments and interesting sights
The first few museums I’m writing about are some of my favorites in Florence and Fiesole. While entire books have been written about these Renaissance icons, I hope to show them in a slightly different light with both my photos and my personal observations. 2022 update: After seeing several new sights in the fall of 2021, […]
Read MoreFour days in St. Raphael
When my sister asked me to take her to Provence (see Provence, Provence, wherefore art thou Provence? post), the original itinerary was a few days in Paris and then Provence, seeing the towns and sights I had seen on my first bike trip. But in looking at my guide book, which included the Cote d’Azur, […]
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