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Short trip to Tuscany

Holiday Ideas & Foreign Travel
GrandOiseau
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Short trip to Tuscany

#82611

Postby GrandOiseau » September 22nd, 2017, 12:02 am

Will be there late May/early June. We have a wedding weekend (yeah, I know) to attend. But will have 3 other days to travel.

We are flying in and out of Pisa. Wedding is half way between Florence and Siena.

There will be me, the wife, children of 10 and 13, and grandma. We want to see some of the cities but not a whole 3 days of tramping around sites.

So folks, recommendations, ideas... thoughts?

77ss
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Re: Short trip to Tuscany

#82633

Postby 77ss » September 22nd, 2017, 8:27 am

GrandOiseau wrote:Will be there late May/early June. We have a wedding weekend (yeah, I know) to attend. But will have 3 other days to travel.

We are flying in and out of Pisa. Wedding is half way between Florence and Siena.

There will be me, the wife, children of 10 and 13, and grandma. We want to see some of the cities but not a whole 3 days of tramping around sites.

So folks, recommendations, ideas... thoughts?


Depends where you have already been of course, but Siena is lovely - well worth a couple of days itself, and within easy reach of as many hill towns as you care to visit (Volterra, San Gimignano.....). You'll miss the Palio though (2nd July).

redsturgeon
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Re: Short trip to Tuscany

#82668

Postby redsturgeon » September 22nd, 2017, 10:32 am

77ss wrote:
GrandOiseau wrote:Will be there late May/early June. We have a wedding weekend (yeah, I know) to attend. But will have 3 other days to travel.

We are flying in and out of Pisa. Wedding is half way between Florence and Siena.

There will be me, the wife, children of 10 and 13, and grandma. We want to see some of the cities but not a whole 3 days of tramping around sites.

So folks, recommendations, ideas... thoughts?


Depends where you have already been of course, but Siena is lovely - well worth a couple of days itself, and within easy reach of as many hill towns as you care to visit (Volterra, San Gimignano.....). You'll miss the Palio though (2nd July).


Sienna and San Gimignano are great. The main square in Sienna is beautiful and probably best seen when the Palio is not on.
If you are flying into Pisa then Lucca is also worth seeing, a really pleasant walk around the walls.

John

Dod1010
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Re: Short trip to Tuscany

#82691

Postby Dod1010 » September 22nd, 2017, 11:56 am

You are actually spoilt for choice. Hiring a car? If so go off into the countryside, to any of the main towns but do not forget Vinci(of Leonardo fame) which has a nice museum on the great man and then carry on to Certaldo Alto a bit further south. If using the train, there is a good service from Pisa to the coast or the other way to Florence, passing places like Lucca, Monetcatini and so on.

Less crowded than Lucca is Montecatini, a spa town with good hotels and a hilltop village, Montecatini Alto but you could easily do both.

I love the area.

Dod

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Re: Short trip to Tuscany

#82788

Postby Gaggsy » September 22nd, 2017, 5:29 pm

We liked Arezzo which is where they filmed Life Is Beautiful. It's been a few years but I remember it being fairly quiet and calm and a nice gentle ambience.

Siena - a must - go to the top of the tower and look down on the square from above.

San Gimignano - I mostly remember the ice cream shop and crowds of tourists.

Florence - so much to see here but again full of tourists. Totally worth it though.
My best memories - the view of the Ponte Vecchio from the next bridge along; The Baptistery of St John when you come around the corner into the square; the view of the city from the hills outside at Fort Belvedere. The Statue of David - meh.

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Short trip to Tuscany

#82825

Postby UncleEbenezer » September 22nd, 2017, 8:00 pm

One nearby place definitely worth a visit: Vinci, the home town of Leonardo. Halfway between Florence and Pisa. There's a museum to its famous son, and it has a lot more than just the really famous stuff. You have to pinch yourself to realise it's centuries older than the English industrial revolution - which is where you'd place most of Leonardo's stuff if you just saw it unlabelled. A much more interesting few hours than a session of bog-standard Renaissance art.

Oh, and the renaissance art is much better in its context - typically a church or palazzo - than taken out of context in a gallery or museum. From memory, the museum at Siena was particularly awful: far better just to wander around the old town.

GrandOiseau
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Re: Short trip to Tuscany

#82866

Postby GrandOiseau » September 23rd, 2017, 12:49 am

Thanks all.

I did Pisa, Florence and Siena when I was inter-railing many many years ago but I can't remember too much and the wife, my mum and kids have never been to the area.

As much as I like travelling by train I think hire car is going to be the way to go.

I will have a look at your suggestions over the coming weeks and formulate a plan. Will report back after the event.

Clitheroekid
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Re: Short trip to Tuscany

#83067

Postby Clitheroekid » September 23rd, 2017, 11:43 pm

Well firstly I'd recommend reading this thread, which I found very helpful - viewtopic.php?f=38&t=6524

We changed our minds about trying to see the Italian Lakes as well - that's for another trip. We managed to visit Pisa itself, and then went to Lucca, which we loved. It's a walled city, and you can walk round the walls, which is delightful. But don't try getting a taxi, it's a nightmare!

Next stop was Florence. I'd been before, but it was many years ago, and we saw a lot more on this trip. If you want to visit the Uffizi it's advisable to book before you leave. When we were there the next available slots were two days ahead. But to be honest I wasn't remotely bothered. As I get older I find my main enjoyment is derived from the simpler aspects of visiting a city - just sitting in a medieval square having a drink and a chat and watching the world go by is often as pleasurable to me as traipsing round a crowded museum / gallery shuffling along amongst groups of tourists, all pointing their iPads at everything in sight and waving bloody selfie-sticks around.

Although it's obviously a very `touristy' thing to do we found the open top hop on hop off buses were brilliant for getting around. We'd decided not to bother with a car, as we were visiting towns that were easily accessible by public transport and we didn't want the hassle of parking (not to mention the ever present fear of being over the limit - it's very difficult to resist that extra glass of Brunello!) The bus allowed us to visit the little town of Fiesole, which has great views down over the city, and also took us to the Piazza di Michelangelo. More great views, and a very pleasant walk back down into the city.

We then went to Siena, which was certainly beautiful, but very crowded. For some strange reason I found it vaguely sinister at night. Although there’s no water there it somehow reminded me of Venice with its narrow, winding, minimally lit streets, and I was probably thinking of that great film `Don't Look Now'.

There was then something of a deviation. Just before we left I'd read something about Castiglione del Lago, and it took my fancy, so I persuaded / bullied my fellow travellers to go there. It was quite delightful. We stayed in a small hotel right next to the lake and went for a most enjoyable boat trip (I'm a huge fan of boat trips) on Lake Trasimeno, visiting one of the islands, Isola Maggiore. The only downside was the mozzies, but I'm pleased to say that my 50% DEET (as recommended by fellow Fools - many thanks) did a sterling job.

We also decided to make another diversion out of Tuscany and visit Bologna. This was because we all love our food and Bologna's reputation for food made it irresistible. We certainly weren't disappointed. We were staying in an excellent apartment on the Via del Pratello, which was a perfect location, just 5 minutes walk from the centre of town. I swear that every other building was a trattoria / bar, and the atmosphere was wonderful. Even on a weekday they were doing a good trade till well after midnight.

It's a university city, and I assume many of the customers were from the University, but it was interesting - and a bit depressing - to contrast how lively it was late at night with a similar sized provincial town in the UK. Mind you, evening temperatures in the 20's certainly makes a difference! ;) Another interesting difference was that we saw no drunkenness or loutish behaviour at all there, which was a welcome contrast with dear old Blighty.

I had the best pasta I’ve ever tasted in Bologna, and it was at a very modest local trattoria. It’s a place that I could very easily imagine living, and all the better for not being a `tourist’ town.

I really enjoy travelling by public transport, and we never regretted the decision not to hire a car. The local trains and buses are cheap, and to my delight I discovered that I could open the windows on the trains and stick my head out, just like when we used to have `proper’ trains in the UK. Having said that, we caught the Frecciarossa train back from Bologna to Florence, which was travelling at 270 km/h in almost total silence - very impressive.

And finally we were extremely lucky with the weather, which does make such a difference. It was sunny and in the late 20’s nearly all of the time, but everyone was telling us that up until just a couple of days before we arrived it had been in the high 30’s and over 40 at times, which is way beyond my melting point.

And now for the Italian Lakes!


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