Sleep in??? What is this?? Me no understand! (Another early morning.... slightly delirious from lack of sleep, too much food - food baby stomach growing - and too much wine...)
Today we headed to Pisa, prior
to arriving in Florence (lovely Florence!). Our bus trip in the morning took us back into the
tunnels in the mountains and south, following the coast of Italy. It was very pretty
countryside with mountains to the left and sunflower fields to the right.
Stunning. Our travel director, Chris, continued to discuss the history of the
area, and point out important towns and landmarks. Although the countryside was
full of beauty, there were some sad sights along the way, including a reminder
of mans inhumanity to man with huge fortresses built in medieval times to
protect the cities, and the old WWI German hideouts that are scattered across
the countryside. We also saw the mountains (or what’s left of them) where
Carrara marble is cut out. The beautiful mountain landscape has been completely
destroyed, leaving white scars across the mountainsides. Along the side of the road
are the shipping areas, where large blocks of marble are waiting to be shipped
across the globe. Although the marble produced in this area is beautiful,
it was so sad to see these large blocks simply sitting there, and the scarred
mountains behind them, where the blocks once sat. Chris discussed how you never used to be able to see the mountains that we were seeing as a larger mountain obscured them, but this has long been lost to the marble trade. It was devastating to see. Just something to contemplate next time you wish to get
a Carrara marble bathtub or bench top…
After a couple of hours in the bus we arrived in the town of
Pisa, to see the great Leaning Tower of Pisa. Unfortunately, to get to see the
tower we had to go through the onslaught of people trying to sell you CRAPOLA
(including mini leaning towers, and “Rolex” watches – sure they are!), not to
mention the herds of tourists. Hav eto say it was the low point of cultural tourism! After walking past the truly authentic Italian
souvenirs (carved wooden bongo drums and tribal masks- the Italians must be descended
from Africans!??!) we finally got to see the tower. It is really beautiful to
see, and amazing that it is still standing! It certainly is great
engineering, despite the obvious curve. The church and baptistery next to the tower is also
lovely, and altogether they look like iced wedding cake toppers. Lovely! As
long as you don’t look to the left at the stalls selling yet more crapola! We
walked back towards where the bus had dropped us and stopped into a small café
to grab lunch and watch the craziness of the tourist trade go by. The food was ok,
much like a lot of the food we have eaten so far, except the Pirate dinner last
night! Very thick, and slightly stale focaccia with proscuito and limp
lettuce…. Not exactly what I thought Italian food would be like! Oh well,
thankfully I will be doing a cooking class in Florence where I can eat true
Italian! 
Thankfully, after about an hour we all climbed back on the
bus and skedaddle out of there! We
travelled again south, following the coast into Florence. This lovely city was
a welcomed relief, with clean streets and nice people, compared with the craziness of
Pisa. After getting our room key (hotel = Croce
di Malta) and checking out the room (small but functional!), we went down to the
lobby to meet Chris who took us to an old Farmacia (pharmacy) that was hidden
behind a boring door and down a small passage. When you walked through the door
you could smell an amazing perfume wafting from the end of the corridor. At the
end of the corridor there were three large rooms, beautifully decorated with
dark timber, ornate ceiling roses and stained glass windows. If you didn't know it was there, you would walk straight past this fascinating and beautiful shop. The first room was
full of perfumes and cosmetics (moisturisers, make up, oils etc) which released
heady scents, filling the room with a fantastic aroma of florals and woody musks, while the other two rooms had herbal teas and things
for your home (soaps, scents etc). Everything in this shop is handmade from
natural ingredients (no additives!), using traditional techniques that have
been used here since the first monks started the trade. It was lovely just
walking around looking and smelling all the beautiful products! I bought some
perfume (Angels of Florence) and a moisturiser that is citrusy and relaxing.
Fantastic and a true local find! J 
After a few minutes to freshen up in our rooms (with our new smelly stuff), everyone
boarded our Trafalgar bus and travelled out of Florence to a farmhouse in the
countryside of Lucca, Il
Poggio. It was here that we had a fantastic Tuscan dinner (soooo
much food!) in a cantina surrounded by the large barrels of wine made on the
property. Our host, Elena, a crazy lady passionate about her home town of Lucca, (heaven help you if you were from Pisa!) discussed the wine and food selected for us for the meal this evening. It was lovely and I had an amazing spelt soup, which I found in their
recipe book (which I bought, both the English AND Italian- I guess it’s one way to learn Italian, right?!). The food was fantastic with matching wines made on the premises and we finished the night off by watching people dance to the dj in the garden. Another fantastic night to end a busy day! On the way back to the hotel Michele (our driver) pumped up the disco music and even though we were all exhausted we jammed to the classics – YMCA, mambo No.5 etc. It’s off to bed with me before my face hits the key board and I enter a food/wine/grappa/exhaustion coma.... Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment