Thanks to double glazing and the shutters in our windows we slept a bit later this morning and thus arrived at the breakfast room at peak hour, it’s the first time we’ve had to wait a little for a table but the bacon and scrambled eggs were worth the wait.…
Despite a comfy bed, I had a shocking night last night. I woke almost every 2 hours, a combination of cigarette smoke drifting in the open window, an early morning coughing fit, an overdose of breakfast prunes having an explosive result in the middle of the night (!), an inconsiderate…
I don’t think I mentioned our head waiter at dinner last night, he was quite a character with a very superior manner but perfectly correct and polite. This morning he greeted us by name at breakfast and directed us to our table with a flourish before snapping his fingers and…
We’ve had all four seasons today. We woke to low cloud and grey skies again in Lake Como which followed us all the way along our drive north along the lakes edge. The drive alternated between pretty views our across the lake and long stretches in tunnels that whipped us…
It’s not hard to see why the lakes are so popular, even on a damp grey morning , the view across the water is just lovely. I’m sorry we have not seen it in better weather but I’m still very happy we came. Heading out on the lake ferry. We…
A modest home Today was our big driving day. We bid a reluctant goodbye to lovely San Gimignano and headed off on winding regional roads north. The pretty vineyard covered hills gave way to flat, more urban regions as we drove through the Empoli area but them rose again as…
Breakfast under the vines The sun came out today, which was such a nice change after the last few grey days and it dappled the ground under the vines as we sat in the courtyard to eat our breakfast. It was nice to have a slower, lazier start to our…
Is it possible to fall in love with a landscape? I hope so because that’s how I feel about Tuscany. I know it sounds corny and I know we’ve all heard the stories about people bragging about staying in a villa in Tuscany….but now I really get it! This whole…
Manarola If you’re hoping to visit the quaint and unspoiled Cinque Terre, you’re 10 years too late! If you’re happy to visit the Cinque Terre with hundreds of other tourists then you’re in luck. At 8am this morning we arrived promptly outside the Cafe Paskowski in the Piazza Della Republica…
Breakfast in a ballroom Florence is a nice place to feel crook. My cold has been making things a little tough but the historical centre of town is so small that we haven’t had to walk far to see the sights, and its been easy to pop back to the…
A comfortable ride Roma Termini station was buzzing when we arrived to catch our train to Florence. The high speed Frecciargento train was wonderful, definitely the most comfortable train trip we’ve ever had in Europe. We watched the Tuscan countryside flash past as at 245 km per hour it only…
Albergo Cesari – our hotel We had to skip breakfast on the terrace this morning as our tour to Pompei & the Amalfi coast was due to start very early. However being ready so early gave me an opportunity to take a photo of the hotel without the usual crowd…