Just Sayin'
  • Home
  • Canada
  • Cruising
    • River Cruise 2018 >
      • River Cruise 2018 Blog
    • KDam Transatlantic 2017 >
      • Transatlantic 2017 Blog
    • Koningsdam 2016 >
      • Mediterranean 2016
    • Transatlantic 2015 >
      • Transatlantic Blog
      • Delft
    • Canary Islands 2013-14 >
      • Amsterdam
      • Rotterdam
      • Le Havre
      • Madeira
      • Las Palmas
      • Tenerife
      • Casablanca/Rabat
      • Cadiz/Seville
    • Mediterranean & Baltic 2012 >
      • Photos
    • Alaska 2011
    • Panama Canal 2010
    • Caribbean 2009
  • China
    • China Blog
  • Blog
  • Finding the Beauty

spring in the med

Is it the wine or is that tower leaning?

4/4/2016

1 Comment

 

Another spectacular day! We started with breakfast at our hotel and we were off at 8.30 for San Gimignano. San Gimignano is a wonderful hilltop town with towers...and lots of shops. As an aside, there are 8,000 hilltop towns in Italy all from medieval times - after the fall of the Roman Empire and before the Renaissance. I am happy to support the Italian economy by purchasing leather goods - especially when you can meet the people who create it. We learned that Italy has produces the highest quality toothpicks. We didn't find any toothpicks to buy. We didn't look that hard.

San Gimignano is so cute and the area surrounding it is stunning. Tuscany is so beautiful - even the air has a rustic camp fire smells to it. Tuscany has strict rules protecting the landscape - new construction is not allowed. Apparently you can't even add or take down a tree. 

We learned that only 8% of Italy's economy is tourism. 70% is from small family businesses. With that in mind we went to visit a family farm and vineyard in the Chianti region for wine tasting and snacks. The farm is called Tavernelle Val di Pesa. The business has been run by the family for three generations and they grow grapes, olives and grain. We did a short tour and sat down outside on the patio for tasting. It wasn't really tasting because the 12 of us has 8 bottles of wine. That's a lot more than a taste! Sitting outside at a Tuscan farm/vineyard with the sun shining, drinking wine and eating delicious meats, cheeses, bread olives and bruschetta...it doesn't get any better! Locals drop by to fill their jugs with wine for 1.50€ per litre. Crazy!

After drinking and purchasing ( how can you go wrong at 3-9€ /bottle?) a lot of wine we headed to Pisa. The four marble buildings in piazza dei miracoli (square of miracles) are amazing but of course we are all there to see the leaning tower. The most known monument in the world according to our guide. I've seen a lot of photos of the tower but it is different in person. It's brilliant white marble that looks so spectacular and strong - except for the whole leaning thing. We did the obligatory holding up the tower photos.

Oh, both James and his mom are on the hunt for deodorant. Lyn thought she found some in a store...but it turned out that what she picked up was only shaped like deodorant and was for something entirely different. Something a little more intimate. I had to stop her before it got to the till. No one wants arm pits that are lubricated and may warm or tingle. We did have a good laugh!

We are in La Spezia tonight. We are having a great time on this tour. There are only 12 of us and it's such a great group of people.

On the serious side there is a higher police presence at tourist attractions since Paris and Brussels. I guess that's a good thing.

Off to dinner soon. Ciao!

Picture
Wishing well in San Gimignano - James and Lyn
Picture
Picture
Perfect lunch!
Picture
So delicious! The olive oil the family makes is divine.
Picture
Wine purchases
Picture
Picture
Lyn, dad, our new Aussie friend Robert, James and mom
Picture
Some Italian leather - it smells so good!
Picture
It takes work holding up a marble tower!
1 Comment
PT
4/4/2016 11:03:44 am

Looks wonderful...8 bottles of wine🍷🍷🍷🍷 Lynn do you want me to bring Canadian deodorant 😀

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Hi! Thanks for stopping by.
    For a different view of our travels visit James' site

    Archives

    February 2017
    December 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Canada
  • Cruising
    • River Cruise 2018 >
      • River Cruise 2018 Blog
    • KDam Transatlantic 2017 >
      • Transatlantic 2017 Blog
    • Koningsdam 2016 >
      • Mediterranean 2016
    • Transatlantic 2015 >
      • Transatlantic Blog
      • Delft
    • Canary Islands 2013-14 >
      • Amsterdam
      • Rotterdam
      • Le Havre
      • Madeira
      • Las Palmas
      • Tenerife
      • Casablanca/Rabat
      • Cadiz/Seville
    • Mediterranean & Baltic 2012 >
      • Photos
    • Alaska 2011
    • Panama Canal 2010
    • Caribbean 2009
  • China
    • China Blog
  • Blog
  • Finding the Beauty