We spent just over a week in Tuscany during June with Fi's Mum & Dad & Emma, her sister. We flew into Pisa & it would have been a shame not to see the local sights, so we stayed over night. We arrived earlier on the Friday than the others & spent the afternoon wandering the streets & giggling at all the people in silly poses near the leaning tower.
We had done some research back home & found a restaurant on the Italian Coeliac Society's website & decided to give it a go in the evening. I'm so glad we did! They had a separate gluten free menu which had pasta & pizza on it. There were 4 or 5 choices for every course & they had gluten free bread to go with it too. We were both stuffed after four courses, but hey! It's not every day we can eat out without it being a stressful event.
So after a late night pick up from the airport & some sleep, all five of us went for a wander. The weather was a bit mixed but it was a nice morning's wander.
After lunch & the 1st ice-cream of the holiday (very important!) we decided to head off to our base for the rest of the week. It was in the middle of the Chianti region of Tuscany in a small villa complex in the middle of lots of vineyards & olive groves. We stopped on route to do some essential grocery shopping (even finding GF stuff in the little supermarket) in Radda in Chianti.
Montiflouri (the hamlet) really was in the middle of nowhere but it was so beautiful. Really lush & green & the views were so expansive.
Sunday morning, after a lazy start & a leisurely breakfast, was spent by the pool. During the afternoon we went for a walk to the local village, Lecchi. The booklet claimed it was 20-30mins away...we're not so sure!
On Monday we headed out to Florence for the day. The road signage isn't great in Florence but we didn't get lost too many times...we saw all the main touristy bits &
Tuesday was another local day, lazed by the pool in the morning, went to Radda in the afternoon & then it rained really heavily all evening & over night. That must have cleared the air because on Wednesday - the sun came out properly! We went to Siena for the day.
Thursday was spent by the pool & we went for walk around the vineyard followed by a yummy bbq. Friday - by the pool again and then off to Radda to pick up a few mementos. We took a different scenic drive back finding a small walled village on a hilltop that was strongly perfumed with jasmine that was growing all over the place.
Saturday meant very early start...we had to get back to Pisa for our flight home (the airport seemed completely in chaos as they had just had a power cut as we arrived & nothing was working. This & then baggage handlers strike meant a 2 hr delay). Mum, Dad & Emma left us waiting for our flight & head off on the train to Rome for a few days.
It was a lovely holiday - just a shame it wasn't longer...
2018-12-20
6 years ago
