The Never Ending Journey

 It took a 20 minute walk to Lucca train station, a 90 minute train ride to Pisa , a 6 minute shuttle train to Pisa airport, a 1 hour delayed, 90 minute RyanAir flight to Catania airport, a 30 minute shuttle bus to Catania Historical District and a two minute walk to get us to our B&B. A pass code got us into a lockbox with our keys to a decent size room with a comfortable bed, bar bridge set up with beer water and snacks and a balcony with a stately noisy street view We wasted no time in packing our backpacks for a two day trip while leaving our suitcases to be stored until our return. It was close to midnight by the time we crashed for the night after a gourmet meal of packaged ramen noodles obtained from a local mini mart.  Waking around 7 am we enjoyed a decent breakfast of cappuccino, ham and cheese and sweet pastries before we set off in search of the bus terminal.  Within 50 meters of our B&B we found ourselves in the centre of a street market that seemed t...

 As a preface to my comments on Lucca, I’ll just include a few words on our visit to San Gimignano.  If you are considering it as part of any future holiday plans, take my word- don’t bother. Yes it has amazingly tall medieval towers that can be seen from miles away, but so do most other towns in the area. The only difference is that San Gimmy has more of them. Other than that, it is no different to any of the other hill towns in the area- with one exception. It has bugger all for parking, and what IS available is usual full, overpriced and a good 800 meters from the town centre. In retrospect I should have scrapped it altogether. The guide books offer a somewhat more diplomatic rating but after multiple years of travelling I would put it very close to the top of my shit list!  NUF said!  The drive back to Siena took less than an hour to return the rental car. The train to Lucca required a change in Florence but, amazingly the two trains shared the same platform (We’...

 After 2 days in Volterra one thing has become very noticeable about the food options available in local restaurants. There are very few. It is almost as if every restaurant has the same basic menu with only a few slight variations on the same theme. Starting with Antipasti, they follow with Piatti Primi followed by Secundi. While the odd one might throw in a couple of risotto dishes, it is basically pici or tagliatelle with the same sauce. The only real variable is the price of the dish and the portion size. Ditto the secundi- usually wild boar, some form of beef dish, the obligatory Florentine steak, grilled lamb chops, tripe and occasionally a baked fish dish, Chicken is rarely seen. The various review sites like TripAdvisor list virtually every restaurant as Italian or Tuscan. A few will offer pizza or sandwiches but again, more of the same. Rarely one will come across places offering pizza Bianca- but for the rest, it’s tomato sauce alone There is no attempt at Greek food, or ...

 After a light Italian breakfast of toast, ham, boiled egg, yoghurt, a Cappuccino, 2 Americano’s and a couple of slices of torte, we hit the road for the return journey to Siena and then on to Volterra. Thinking the direct route seemed a bit boring we opted for a detour through Pienza and over to Montalcino, home of the famous Brunello wine. Arriving in town we found a parking lot a few steps below the town centre which had a few open spots. I’d researched it the night before and read a few reviews “ the place was just a few steps away from the city centre” posted by a European. “The place was far away from the city centre up a massive flight of stairs”-American! It was about 20 stairs to the top and 200 yards to the first part of the old city.  Our first stop was the Duomo, which was actually the Cathedral of San Salvatore, dating back some 1200 years. Continuing on we found a second church, the Chiesa di San Agostino, the cloister area of which was home to a bike rental shop...

 We spent the better part of the morning visiting Montepulciano, some 5km from our hotel. The town seems to be comprised of 50% wine shops and 50% everything else.  Like almost every other town we’ve seen, it is located high above the valley floor, offering amazing views in all directions, It’s is also home to several churches, two of which were open for viewing while a third appeared to be under renovations- it’s front doorway blocked by construction vehicles. We spent a couple of hours wandering the streets before we decided there wasn’t much on offer besides wine so we headed out into the countryside to check out a hot spring location known as Bagni San Filippo.  Not wanting to scare the natives by stripping off in public we paddled in the soothing waters for an hour before we followed a circuitous route back to our hotel

 The town of Cortona was some 30km from our hotel along a series of narrow winding roads. Thus giving me the opportunity to practice the ancient art of shifting gears. The workout got more intense approaching the town as it seemed to be glued to the verticals  faces of various cliffs. There is nothing like a stop sign at the top of a 40% slope as you wait as cross traffic clears. Luckily I was able to proceed (without rolling back) as I felt the remaining blood in my brake foot slowly draining towards my hip.  Climbing up several S bends for what seemed an eternity the ground levelled out into a flat parking lot, located about 200 feet below the main old town. Taking advantage of a series of escalators we found ourselves in a main square with walkways spreading out in all directions. The view from the square extended for several miles in all directions , even revealing the Lago Trasimeno, some 15 km away in Umbria. The tourist population seemed to comprise of a few younge...