…and Away We Go!

It shouldn’t have surprised us that Florence is very packed with people–even in mid-October.

We arrived Saturday afternoon a bit frazzled from a very bumpy bus ride from Siena. Happily, our budget-y hotel the Mia Cara was a short walk from the bus station.

A view of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Flore and the Duomo are spectacular sights.

Especially at night…

We didn’t plan ahead so we weren’t able to get tickets for the Uffizi Gallery. Instead, we visited the Galileo Museum with globes, maps and early scientific instruments. It’s a great museum!

Nor did we score tickets for the Accademia Gallery so we settled for a view of this copy of Michelangelo’s David.

We’ve explored both sides of the Arno River and all around town. Florence is a great city and easily walkable.

Pizza for dinner…a fitting end to a wonderful few weeks in Italy!

Home soon!

Ciao!

Sharon and Larry

Today we went inside the Siena’s cathedral–shown below in a nighttime photo that rather looks like a model of the cathedral rather than the actual structure. Inside, the facade is striped black and white, the dome decorated with stars, the floors covered with inlaid art, and all around are statues of popes. It’s quite something to see.

Around town today we’re checking out unique door knockers,

delicious-looking bakery items which includes fruit bread,

and biscotti best enjoyed when dipped in Vin Santo, a sweet wine.

Shop windows around town display the latest, not so colorful, fall styles.

Tomorrow we’ll be boarding a bus to head for a short stay in Florence. We are looking forward to seeing a city that we haven’t visited in fifteen years!

We had a nice stay in Lucca! There are monuments all around town–even high in the sky. We were fortunate to have a couple of blue sky days while here.

A highlight of the town is a walking trail that’s on top of the old city walls. It’s takes about one hour to complete the loop. It’s beautiful–if I lived in Lucca, I’d walk it every day!

But…we’ve moved on. We arrived in Siena yesterday and dropped off the rental car. It’s a relief to return it without too much damage. I am constantly impressed by Larry’s fearless driving skills.

Siena is unique. During the day it’s crowded with tour groups but at night when it’s less busy, it’s magical. This is Piazza del Campo--a large semi-circular piazza in the center of town. The big event here is a horse race (The Palio) around The Campo. We’ll miss it by a couple of days.

Every alleyway is intriguing and it’s easy to imagine what it was like to have lived here in Medieval times (though Larry reminds me that it would be better to live here now.)😊

We can hardly imagine riding a Vespa or other motorized vehicle around these winding streets! Bet it would be thrilling!

Cooler temps have arrived…fall is in the air and in the shops.

More Siena to explore tomorrow! Just a few more days and we’ll be heading home!

The night before we left Camogli we had the most delicious seafood dinner at a tiny restaurant with only 4 tables. It’s called O’Magazin di Camogli and the entrance is here.

The chefs specialty is perfectly prepared tidbits of tuna and other local fish. This taco was colorful and delicious.

We took one more walk along the shore in Camogli before departing. It’s a great destination.

And our hotel Albergo La Camoliese a comfortable place to stay.

We decided to spend our two unplanned nights in Lucca, a walled city in Tuscany. Our Hotel San Martino serves a delicious breakfast which includes this Apple Cake!

Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca and we visited his home which now houses the Puccini Museum. There is a bronze statue of Puccini in the piazza just outside the museum

We also visited the Lucca Contemporary Art Museum with a wonderful exhibition of photography titled “Henri Cartier-Bresson. In America.” This is a photo (of a photo) that he took at Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

There are many shopping opportunities here–especially if you’re a bride-to-be…

We like Lucca and are happy with our decision to stop here but tomorrow it’s time to move to our next Tuscan stop–Siena.

There is a rail station on the hillside above Camogli. It’s a handy way to leave the rental car parked while we visit nearby towns. Parking in these villages is nearly impossible so once we find a spot in a free space we stay put.

Saturday we took the train to Genoa. We’d heard mixed reviews about the city but we found this old port town to be really interesting! With more time we’d visit some of the museums and spend more time wandering around the alleyways.

The buildings are elegant and the shops are upscale. Our first stop after our train arrived was the Marcato Oriental a huge market packed with Italian fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, pastries, pasta and more! Genoa is famous for pesto and the photo below shows how it’s sold at the market.

We found another landmark, Duomo di San Lorenzo. It’s black and white facade make it distinctive.

We learned that Renzo Piano was born in Genoa and responsible for the renovation of Porto Antico (the old port). There is as Aquarium here and many shops including the specialty Italian food market Eataly!

Our Sunday rail excursion took us on a 4 minute ride to the next coastal village Santa Margherita Ligure. Our rail tickets cost 2,20 Euros each.

From here, we took a short bus ride to Portofino. Huge crowds and even bigger yachts (neither shown in the photo below) parked in the small harbor, caused us to turn quickly around to get back on the bus. The town is in a lovely setting but it’s one place we wouldn’t return to.

Focaccia is another regional specialty and it makes a perfect light lunch.

There aren’t many signs of fall but we did see these miniature pumpkins displayed at the small market in Santa Margherita.

We’ve had a fine stay in Camogli.

The village has a rich nautical history and the small Maritime Museum is filled with artifacts, ship models and paintings. There is a beautifully restored theater (Teatro Sociale) and we attended a delightful concert of Beatles (and other pop music) by young Italian musicians.

So, we’re just about to end our stay on the Ligurian Coast. Tomorrow we’ll retrieve the car from our coveted parking spot and drive to our next stop–in Tuscany–Lucca.

It’s pretty here in Camogli as the town is located very near the sea. Today we walked to the next village, Recco, and this is the view of Camogli from our trail.

We visited a basic seafood restaurant last evening and enjoyed delicious fried seafood, French fries, and eggplant fries.

Just so we weren’t eating all fried foods, we ordered Tuna Caponata–tuna with olives, anchovies, basil and tomatoes. Simple but totally delicious.

There is a a wood shop in town that sells unique wooden items at highly inflated prices. Still, the woodworker in the shop is charming and the shop unique.

The main streets of Camogli are lined with buildings like these. It’s lovely!

Locals gather in the town square to watch the sunset. As soon as the sun dips below the horizon, everyone disperses–perhaps to prepare dinner! It’s a nice tradition!

Maybe I like Noli a little better than Larry does but it’s a cute, sleepy fishing village–with a population of 2,861.

For a different scene, today we drove the coastal route to Alassio–a larger city with more glitz than Noli. It’s warm today and everyone was on the beach, in bathing suits absorbing lots of rays.

We ate another traditional Ligurian meal last night. These crackers made with chickpea flour and rosemary were a nice appetizer.

The restaurant was cozy inside…and quickly filled to capacity.

The name, Bucun du Preve means “morsel of the priest.”

Tomorrow we’ll move on to our next stop Camogli. But first, we’ll have breakfast at our hotel…the breakfast choices include cereal, cakes, croissants, crostata, yogurt and fruit. It’s quite a spread and it’s all good!

We arrived in the seaside village of Noli on Monday afternoon. The narrow lanes, towers, and tall houses make this an interesting destination.

We learned that Christopher Columbus stopped in Noli on his way to Portugal! Today we walked to the hilltop castle for a great view of the harbor where Columbus might have landed.

We have a nice room at Villa Salvarezza. It’s spacious and reasonably-priced.

We watched the chefs at Restaurant L’Alice Innamarorata carefully create this large and delicious cheese board which was our appetizer before dinner last night. They used a variety of local cheeses with jams, honey, hazelnuts, pear, and more…it’s a work of art!

It was chilly and rainy last evening–this was the view from inside the city wall looking out towards the sea.

We’ll be here one more day before we move to our next stop Camogli.

We left our apartment this morning without a plan. Sometimes that makes for a really interesting day and today was a bit unusual. We drove to Borolo but on a Sunday, the town was clogged with people visiting the famous wine town. The photo above shows one of the many Borolo vineyards. The countryside is beautiful and today many people were out hiking, biking, and motorcycling.

We drove on to our next destination Cherasco. To our surprise, they were having a Snail Festival!!

We tried a couple of interesting tidbits. Here’s Larry with his snail snack. Larry describes this as the ultimate slow food!

The town itself is charming with an arched entryway at each end of the Main Street.

Our next stop was the town of Bra. Bra was also festive with wine stops and dancing around town. We watched these Swing Dancers near the main square.

They invited us to join them and we followed along making our way to a hilltop venue.

They are part of a dance club called Swing Juice. They were very kind and even danced a couple of dances with us oldsters. Below is a photo of a couple dancing the Lindy Hop!

So, it’s been a very fun Sunday! Tomorrow we’ll pack up and head for Noli on the Ligurian Coast!

We drove about 30 minutes this morning to go to a huge outdoor market in the nearby larger town of Alba. In addition to peppers, we bought a roasted chicken and zucchini for dinner in our apartment this evening.

I bought Larry a scarf–it’s called a foucol–and is the type worn by Italian truffle hunters. This region is known for white truffles and now Lar is prepared for the hunt!

I’m back from a walk around town. The late afternoon sun lighting the inside of this church in La Morra was stunning.

We’re enjoying a couple of relaxed days here. We’ll be in La Morra at least two more nights.