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| 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 we climbed past olive groves up to the tiny town of Vinci.
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| Birthplace of genius |
I had to give my limited Italian a spin at a road block just outside of the town. The carabinieri had their car blocking the road and were speaking to everyone that wanted to past. They had a sign that seemed to indicate road closures for bike races but once I let them know we only wanted to go as far as Leonardo da Vinci’s birthplace they were happy to let us through.
The house is a very simple stone cottage set high on the hill overlooking the olive groves. Inside there are some displays and an impressive theatre production with a holographic Leonardo describing his life. As we parked the car we saw the first of the rain that has stayed with us ever since.
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| The Field of Miracles |
From Vinci it was another hour to Pisa, at one point we went through a thunderstorm that would have felt quite at home in the tropics. The rain was so heavy I was terrified that Neil would plough into the cars in front but he steered us safely through and we shortly after pulled into the car park close to the Field of Miracles. We didn’t even get out of the car before we were pestered by the hawkers who were desperate to sell us an umbrella. We both had raincoats and I had my umbrella but they were really keen for Neil to buy one with pictures of Pisa and Florence plastered all over it. Neil didnt cooperate , he preferred to get his head wet!
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| Propping up the Leaning Tower |
The rain was steady as we walked past the Duomo and I took the obligatory photo of Neil holding up the tower. It really does lean a lot! Can’t help but be amazed that it hasn’t tumbled over already. We found a restaurant nearby with a nice dry spot inside where we ate bruschetta and pizza for lunch. The restaurants were doing a roaring trade as the option of a picnic lunch was very unappealing today. The TV was on and the Italian chap sitting next to us was totally engrossed by the soccer match. I think Torino were winning.
We had a 3 and a 1/2 hour drive from there, initially winding up over hills and through tunnels over the mountains on the A15 but then on much flatter ground from Parma to Milan on the fast A1. We made a pitstop at an “Autogrill” one of the many road services stops that line the Autostrada and were very impressed, these places were huge, stocked with a huge range of food and groceries and looked like they’d fit in very well on the freeways in the USA, but the coffee would taste better than anything similar in the States!
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| A gorgeous spot for a pre dinner drink |
It was close to 6 when we had our first glimpse of Lake Como, looking beautiful and dreamy under a grey misty sky. The hotel is set right on the lake at Lenno, with a fine view across the water to Bellagio. We sat on the terrace and enjoyed a couple of glasses of Prosecco, admiring the view and counting the number of German guests. (Lots of them!) Dinner was easy and tasty in the hotels restaurant and as I sit here typing this I’m listening to the waves lap the shore of the lake just outside our window.
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| Lake Como from our balcony |