To Florence

Wall to wall sunshine!  Quick coffee and croissant with Dot.  She related to me her experiences last night with her Nepalese family.  “They took me to that special mountain – it was amazing!”  I’m so glad she was able to do that and to enjoy an Italian meal with the locals.  It makes all the difference.

Back on the bus with Kerri, the guide, and George, the Portuguese  driver.   I sit with Dom as there are no free seats left.  Good to catch up with her Rome experiences.

We are now heading into the hills of Tuscany.  I imagine Marie is by now heading up the M40 to Birmingham.

I am now at Orvietto.  The bus parked up then we took a vernicular to the hilltop city.  This is where I say goodbye to Dom who is staying a couple of nights here.  I was in Orvietto some 8 years ago with my cousin and her family from Ireland.  I remembered the cobbled streets and the unusual striped cathedral so well.  Here they make some of the most delicious wine and I often buy it in Waitrose at home.  While at the cathedral there was a huge religious festival happening with families through the generations represented in different colours as they marched throughout the town and right through the Cathedral.  Mass was even broadcast throughout the town – amazing and so colourful.

While waiting for the bus I got chatting to Mike and Elizabeth from Melbourne, who are basically doing what I am and enjoying their health traveling the world.  We are now back on the road….. next  stop Siena!

Good soppy love story movie based in Tuscany – what could be better!  Kerri  told us all on the bus about a walking tour this evening `ending in a full four course Italian meal with wine.  However, it’s only for Busabout people so I asked her if there was maybe a wine tasting tour tomorrow,  She said she would check it out.

Well the Siena stop was a disappointment.  I was hoping to see a bit of the town but it was just a pit stop at the hostel for changeover and we didn’t get anywhere near the town and the beautiful cathedral and the high walls Kerri described.  Apparently the very first bank in the world was here in Siena and that’s why they were very rich and built a cathedral.  However they ran out of money and the cathedral never got finished.  I certainly hope to come back here perhaps on a wine tasting tour tomorrow and have a good look at the old town.

All signs now point to Firenze!  Journey fairly uneventful, plenty of hilltop towns and Cyprus trees.  We expect to arrive on time, around 3.30.  In fact we arrived about 4 as there was a delay getting the permission for the bus to enter the city.  It also took a good half an hour to check in…. always a delay with so many backpackers.  Marie arrived very soon after and before very long we were walking the cobbled streets of Florence in the warm evening sunshine.  I found a nice brown leather purse to replace the one that was stolen in Rome in a leather street market.  Marie seemed impressed by my haggling but I only got 3 euros off it!  
We stopped in a small cafe nearby for our first spritz in Florence.  That went down so well as we were by now quite parched after a day’s traveling (from Banbury and from Rome!)  We then walked further to the centre of the city and were suddenly in awe of the incredible sight before us which was the Cathedral.  I just loved the colours of jade green and dusky pink on white with ornate embellishments everywhere you looked.  It is just about the biggest cathedral I have ever seen and with so many angles to it.  Unfortunately it was closed this evening but we will be back tomorrow.  We liked the look of the menu outside a small restaurant nearby and we didn’t argue with the waiter as he encouraged us to sit down.  By this time we were very hungry. Although sitting under a gazebo outside, the air-conditioning was puffing out to keep us cool….. crazy!  We enjoyed a delicious meal of lasagna for Marie and pork for me with a large glass each of vino rosso.  Afterwards we gently sauntered back to our hostel with the sound of screaming swifts overhead.