Day on the Lake (Thursday 10/29)

On Thursday, after a lazy breakfast at the hotel, we took a bus (which was a hair-raising 15 minute ride!) to another little village along the lake, Menaggio, to meet the ferry. Two other guests from the hotel, Paul and Catherine were also doing the ferry rides that day, so it was fun to keep meeting up along the way. They are from Australia and travel all over the world each year...really interesting people.


Having a coffee with Paul and Catherine while we waited for the ferry in Menaggio


Harbor in Menaggio


The big car and passenger ferry we took around the Lake



From Menaggio we took the ferry across the lake to Verenna where we spent about 2 hours exploring.


Coming into Verenna


Someone's private garden


Streets and buildings in Verenna



From Verenna, we took another ferry across to Bellagio, which is also gorgeous and has lots of wonderful shops. They are famous for their silk (apparently the silkworms feed off the mulberry trees that grow well on the Lombardy Plain, near Milan and so the Lake district has plenty of silk). Andre bought me a beautiful raspberry colored silk scarf which I love!


Bellagio


Enjoying a panini in Bellagio!

From Bellagio we took the ferry back to our side of the lake and then drove back up to the hotel.
We had a really lovely day there and enjoyed our explorations very much. Everything is so beautiful, you can see why George Clooney bought a house there!


Sunset from Bellagio


The ride home

That night, our hosts were cooking dinner for whomever wanted it, so most of us staying there decided to eat in, after a long day of explorations. Julio cooked an amazing three course meal with lasagna as the main dish...it was incredible!


Julio cooking


Dinnertime


Everyone enjoying dinner in the great room

We had a really fantastic time there and would definitely recommend that place to anyone who wants to visit the lake. It's in a quieter part of the lake and the actual bed and breakfast is so comfortable and picturesque with gorgeous views, a gym, sauna, Turkish bath (whatever that is!) and massages available. We loved it!

Off to Lake Como (Wednesday 10/28)

On the Wednesday morning, we left Tuscany and the old farmhouse behind and drove up towards Milan, across the Lombardy Plain and along Lake Como. We were staying all the way at the northern end of the lake, near Switzerland and so were able to see wonderful scenery all the way along. We skirted Milan on their ring road, just like I-285, only with smaller cars and faster drivers! The whole plain was full of smog/haze so we didn't see much going through there. Once we got to the lake is cleared alot, although it remained quite hazy while we were there, which is often the case apparently. But we had gorgeous weather the whole time and loved our time there.


Driving up the west side of the lake


Fascinating old buildings along the way





We arrived late afternoon and settled into the wonderful bed and breakfast Andre had chosen. Fabulous choice and we had a great experience there. It's run by Dani, an English woman, and her husband Julio who is Italian. There were about 7 other people staying there and we actually all really enjoyed each others' company at breakfasts and dinners!


Villa Tres Jolie, the bed and breakfast we stayed at (highly recommend it if you're going to Lake Como!)


Our beautiful room (it had two balconies!)


View from our room


View from one of our balconies


Breakfast patio


Me chatting to Dani, our hostess, over breakfast

Sovigliano: night at a farmhouse (Tuesday 10/27)

On the Tuesday, we checked out of our Florence hotel and spent the day exploring little side roads in Tuscany. We didn't have a place booked to stay that night and so thought we'd find something appealing along the way. Which is exactly what happened! We ran across this beautiful old farmhouse quite by mistake and when we found it had plenty of free rooms for the night, we settled in there. The original building, where the main guest rooms are, was built in the 1300s but the outbuilding that we stayed in, which has been converted into small apartments, is "much newer" said our hostess, as it was built in the 1600s!!!

We absolutely loved staying here! They have their own small vineyard and olive grove, from which they produce and sell delicious wine and olive oil.


Original farmhouse





Our apartment (it even had it's own tiny built in kitchen)


Outside of our apartment


View from our bedroom window


Sunset




Enjoying a glass of wine




Enjoying my book!




View we woke up to the next morning...so stunning everywhere we looked!



Out of our bedroom window



Our wonderfully sweet hosts, Claudio and Patrizia

Our hosts were absolutely precious and although Claudio didn't speak English, his wife did and we had some lovely chats with her, learning all about their farm and guesthouse. They even gave us a bottle of their wine and made us promise to come back to introduce our baby to them when he's bigger!


Walking the vineyards

That morning we explored the grounds and were really sad to say goodbye. We would certainly go back there if we're ever in Tuscany again.

Monteriggioni

On the drive back to Florence, from Sienna, we found this tiny, medieval walled town and had great fun exploring it from end to end (it was so small you could have yelled from one side to the other!). This actually turned out to be one of our favorite places we experienced on our trip and we went back the next day to see it again. I think the real reason was because we wanted to buy more of the AMAZING local cheese they sell there!


The church


Andre and me up on the walls of the town


Me in a little olive grove


Shops that sell all local produce, like cheese, wine, gelato, and baked goods...YUM!


View from up on the walls of the surrounding countryside



Buildings in the town

Sienna (Monday 10/26)

Last Monday we set off to begin our explorations of Tuscany, and spent the day in Sienna, an ancient walled city about 35 minutes south of Florence. It was full of fascinating old buildings, streets and shops.












Evening walk


Views driving out of Sienna

Florence (Sunday 10/25)

We spent three nights just outside Florence, in this lovely hotel (despite it not having a bath!). This was our room and the view from it





We were staying about 30 minutes outside the center of Florence and so caught the train in on Sunday to see the sights. Since we drove almost everywhere, it was fun to take a European train ride!


Waiting at the train station


Old streets of Florence

The city was easy to get around on foot and we explored all over. We had really wanted to see the Duomo, the beautiful old cathedral, but apparently we didn't have much luck with churches in Europe, as it was closed for a private tour the day we went! There were hundreds of tourists milling around, disappointed! Oh, well.


Duomo in Florence




Me and the Bump overlooking the Piazza del Duomo :)

At the Accedemia, the museum which houses Michelangelo's statue of David, you aren't allowed to take photos. Well, of course, who do you think was surreptitiously snapping away?! He was so proud of himself!


David

Next we spent some time in the Florence Markets, which fill several streets with booths selling mostly souvenirs, leather bags and jackets, and silk and wool scarves.


Market booths

We then walked over to the the Ponte Vecchio, which is the oldest surviving bridge in Florence and spans the River Arno. It was built in 1345!


Andre and me with the Ponte Vecchio behind us


Bridges of Florence at sunset


Restaurant where we had dinner

The restaurant where we had dinner was recommended by our guide book and it was indeed, very nice. The highlight (which I feel Rick Steves should certainly include in his otherwise very comprehensive book) was the "hot chocolate". It was a cup of the most heavenly drink you chocolate lovers can imagine, thick (like eat it with a spoon thick!) and rich and fabulous. We loved it and would have each happily had another cup if they didn't cost 6 euros each!


On the train back to our hotel

Venice (Saturday 10/24)

Last Saturday we left Austria and drove down through the mountains into Italy, towards Venice. Unfortunately we didn't give ourselves much time in the city itself, and we got lost trying to get there (!) but we got a good taste of it.


Driving through the Alps down to Italy

Italian countryside


Driving across the bridge towards Venice


Views from the water ferry boat we took




There were many huge cruise ships leaving Venice to cruise the Mediterranean


Andre and some gondolas


One of the ferry boats like we took to reach the city

The main thing I wanted to see in Venice was St. Mark's Basilica, the famous cathedral there. However, we arrived to find it had just closed for the day! Needless to say, I was most upset!! However, we tried to enjoy the beautiful outside of the building and the square where it sits.


St. Mark's Basilica



The Square, which was packed with people, restaurants and shops




Leaving Venice that night

We explored the canal/streets until it got dark, ate pizza and then caught the ferry boat back to the parking deck where we had left the car. By then we were really tired, but still had two hours to drive over to Florence to our next hotel. Then we happened to get lost again in Florence trying to find the hotel...NOT. A. GOOD. DAY. Can you tell that I don't have fond memories of that particular "adventure"?! I was so tired when we finally found the hotel at 11:30 pm, that I promptly burst into tears when I saw our room didn't have a bathtub, only a shower! Andre was very sweet and phoned down to the front desk to ask if they had any rooms with "a bath". The guy at the desk said in broken English, "Yes sir, we have bar, what drink you want?" Andre just looked at the phone, hung up and we both burst out laughing!

At least we ended the no good, very bad day with giggles!