Tag: shopping

2023)

We hit the ground crawling for much of our first week back. Rather than striking out for new towns, we favoured spending time more slowly within the town of Volterra, leaving the latter half of the week for visiting a friend and a new town.

Day 1
Chill time. Of course breakfast was followed by gelato, what fool wouldn’t do that?! By the evening time, the cloud breakup was just right for the sunset and there were God-rays aplenty to be seen at the viewpoint at Fornelli. Afterwards, we had a colourful and tasty meal at La Vecchia Lira.

Day 2
The next day began with a morning explore and coffee, and a wander to the main square (Piazza dei Priori). We bought some salumi and cheese at this newish store on Via Gramsci (Bottega Toscana), and found it to be about 10-15% cheaper than the cheese store just around the corner from it. We had our coffee (in my case a hot chocolate) and pastry, and found something peculiar in the square when we went there afterwards.

There was a little TV crew there standing by a table with local produce. They were there to promote Volterra’s DOP pecorino cheese, which is notable because it’s made from a vegetable rennet, rather than the rennet from the stomach of an animal. I am not sure I have ever had this DOP cheese, but I looked for some in cheese shops in 2024, but to no avail. I suspect it might be expensive. Side question: if cheese is frequently made with animal rennet, what do you vegetarians do about that? Ignore it? Answers in the comments, please!

Additionally, they had an art exhibition – mostly sculptures, and many were absolutely wonderful. In fact, I’m kicking myself I didn’t take the names of the sculptors. They frequently have exhibitions in Volterra, many of which are completely free to enter.

Afterwards, we had a little walk around the town.

I love this shot looking back up Via Porta all’Arco

That night we rocked up to La Taverna della Terra di Mezzo for dinner, and a little calorie-burning walk after.

Day 3
Well we packed quite a bit in today! We actually got in the car and escaped Volterra for a bit. But first, of course, I had a little walk.

We had never visited Palaia before, and so took a trip there to check it out. Like many towns, especially just out of season, it was very quiet – but its main square is lovely, and there are some fantastic views of the hills around its edges.

I loved this little church, and these small scultures.

The best part, though, is the square and the bell tower is wonderful.

We skipped around a park which I regret not going in. There is a restaurant there which gets good reviews, but it was closed on the day for us. We did something that we very rarely do for lunch: grab a sandwich. We went into a minimarket in the main square and shared a lovely ham, cheese and mayo… and honestly it really was delicious! Sometimes the simpler things in life is all you need.

We skipped town and, solely for our visual delight, drove into the best parts of the Val d’Era. And it is so lovely – it’s comparable to Val d’Orcia on a good day. That day, given the time of the year it was, the sky was cloudy, but the viewing distance was good. The problem with ambient light and no shadows is that you really don’t get the true shape of the hills or, sometimes, the depth of the vista. Plus I spoiled these shots by putting myself in them. But here they are anyway.

Rather than heading towards Volterra, though, we took an unfamiliar route towards Montaione. We had been in touch a virtual load with Tutto Torna Antique’s Emma. We arrived while she was closed for riposo, so we had a drink and nibbles in L’Antica Vineria Vanni. Nice place – I was complimented on my Italian, which always both mortifies and butters me up!

Anyway, we soon caught her, and we had one of those chats where it seemed like we’d known each other for ages – we were so comfortable in each other’s company, and our senses of humour were not too different (or to put it another way – mine was tolerated!). Two hours flew by, and it was just a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

We left in fine fettle. The only other thing to report on that day was the food we had that evening in Don Beta:

Day 4
The only thing of note we did this day, apart from

…was to drive all the way to Ponsacco, to an Asian-fusion place called Haru Sushi, which had been recommended by a pair of friends. Additionally, we had heard that you could get served by a robot waiter here, and so were intrigued.

The restaurant wasn’t in the sexier part of town, but there was ample parking immediately outside which we were happy about. We were sat down, and as is usual in these places now, used a fixed tablet to make our order (it’s either that a paper checkbox menu on which you write the numbers of the dishes you want ordered).

We ordered our stuff, and Lo! Along it came, bearing gifts… it wheeled slowly towards our table and we were thanked by the thing. The effect was somewhat spoiled by the human attendant who faithfully trotted after it, and set it to reset to it’s station as soon as we took our food. A cute gimmick!

In fairness, the food wasn’t half-bad, with the meat quality being among the better of those we’d been to previously. A particular standout was salt and chili cauliflower!

We devoured the dumplings before we could snap them!

Below is a youtube video of the above. Have fun watching it!

We were going to do something special the next day, and it turned out to be a fun one, despite the weather, but more on that next time!

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Venice Day 1 (12/04/2024)

Sorry about the long break, but I’ve been a busy bunny. Anyway, here is a break from the current timeline to something more recent: our 3-day trip to Venice.

We are part of the problem. Of course we know this. It would be hypocritical of us to deny that and yet take part in what is assuredly a slow degradation of a proud and beautiful city. And this is why I left Venice with a tinge of sadness, but with a bittersweet longing for return.

First things first… why Venice and not Volterra? Well it was a significant birthday for Niamh, and she shopped around for the holiday and chose Venice as her destination. We had been there for about 7 hours in 2010, and watching live walks in it during the pandemic whetted our appetites, particularly those uploaded by the YouTube channel ‘I Love You Venice’.

We flew Ryanair, but didn’t opt for FastTrack. We had regretted that at first, as the queue snaked back all the way to its opening, but it actually moved quite nicely and we were only in it for maybe 15 minutes. There was a slight delay to takeoff, which was made-up during flight time, and when we landed… ahhh, the temperatures. It was 22-23, whereas Ireland hadn’t gotten higher than 14 and was still frequently in single digits. I was feeling the jacket I was wearing.

Anyway, we navigated our way past the first vaporetto ticket booth to the docks, where the booth was empty. We bought tickets for the vaporetto, went to dock 12, and then queued… and queued… and queued. A larger vaporetto was boarded by the waiting in the dock next to ours, and they too seemed to be going to Rialto, so I was beginning to get squirmy. The vaporetto filled and left. Then a few minutes later, a smaller version came to our dock and our queue started moving – but it took two further boats to enable us to get on board. All part of the process, I guess. In fairness, they weren’t long in coming. We boarded and had to wrestle our handheld luggage down the stairs. I stupidly chose a row of seats beside a life preserver, so I had nowhere to put my case, save between my legs for the hourlong ride.

Ten minutes in, I realised that at times we were banking a lot. It was due to the fact that there are actual lanes demarked in the bay and traffic rules to be obeyed. I guess it makes total sense, given the amount of water craft in the area. We breezed past a few islands, only making a stop at one, I think, before making it to the grand canal. We had our first wow moments there. The weather was perfect – the best weekend they’d had to date that year – and everywhere you turned was a Canaletto painting. It’s a remarkable-looking place. We hit our stop at Rialto bridge, and set about finding our hotel.

There were plenty of people about, but crowds were not the foremost thing on our mind. We were keen on finding our place, dumping our bags, finding a light bite and going on an explore. I have heard many people in videos say “don’t bother with Google maps”. Maybe this was down to their provider. We only had occasional signal issues, with our location darting about the map as a result, but by and large, we found Maps to be reasonably useable under Vodafone (not sponsored). We found our hotel (me noting a couple of gelaterie on the way) without much fuss in less then 10 minutes. We stayed in the Rosa Salva, a small boutique hotel not too far from St. Mark’s Square, on a quiet enough laneway. Note, that everything we mention by name will have a link to it in the description box below. This hotel is associated with a small chain of pasticcierie and gelaterie in Venice. There was no breakfast, but we had some free food and drink in the room fridge and a discount voucher for their stores – one of which was right next door!

Anyway, once we’d checked-in, we ran out and came across a really cute little cichetteria – Il Salotto di San Marco – and stopped for a drink and those little tasty Venetian morsels. I tried the famed creamed cod. Atfter my first bite, I had regretted all my life’s decisions up to the point they took me up to that very moment and caused me to put this substance in my mouth. It was terribly fishy, even to the point of it being ammonic. I took a second bite, and then it didn’t seem quite so bad – and the 3^rd and 4^th were actually quite pleasant. Give it a go – but push past that first mouthful! I had a fancy version of it again in Burano, but more on that later.

We had a wander and of course Venice blew our minds. Let me get one thing straight: Venice is an explorer’s dream. There’s always an excitement of reaching another junction, which involved a canal, and you just knew that all 360 degrees would be Instagrammable. Wander down narrow laneways, away from the main arteries, and if you’re lucky you’ll find a secluded square with a bar or restaurant with few tourists, and surprisingly low prices.

Then there are the main Corso on the way to Canereggio, the grand canal walks and, God help us all, the Rialto bridge. We had a gelato on the southeast side of the bridge (meh), and then, girding our loins, crossed the bridge. We hit the Rialto bridge once during this stay (well, twice – we had to cross back), and avoided it for the rest of the trip. It was teeming, and even then it wasn’t high season. I shudder to think what it’s like then. It’s really the only way to cross the grand canal, unless you hire a traghetto. Actually, if you do hire a traghetto, you also get the gondola experience for about €2 per person – albeit for a much shorter duration – it just ferries you across the canal.

We hit the grand canal walkways a bit, checking out the bridge in profile. Look, it’s gorgeous from that angle, and a must-see when you’re in Venice. In fact, I’d find it difficult to believe that any visitor, particularly a first-time one, never went near it. Then it was off to the piazza at the far end of the fish market for a sit-down drink. The market was being hosed down, and the drinks were fine – the smell of fish assailed our nostrils from time to time – not necessarily a good companion to Aperol!

We went back to the hotel to have a bit of a rest. On the way back, we stopped off at an off-the-beaten-track Carnavale mask maker. Niamh picked one out to add to our mask collection in Volterra. We had begun gung-ho, with plans to stay out ‘til dinner time – but the early start got the better of us, and we headed back up. The room was warm, and we actually didn’t ask the receptionist to reduce the heat until the next day. In fact, it was the best spell of weather Venice had so far this year – there was a mini heat-wave over much of Italy that weekend – so we were very lucky.

We had gotten a recommendation for a restaurant from a sommelier, and walked out to walk in that evening… more than a bit naively… but when we found it, it was booked out. We managed to book it for the next night, which was Niamh’s birthday – so it all worked out beautifully! Anyway, there were a couple of other places nearby… and this takes me to a little tips section on selecting restaurants in Venice (and in much of Italy, to be honest), if you’re a foodie… If you’re happy to chuck any old muck into you (no judgement, honest), then you can ignore them:

Generally, don’t go for ‘does-it-all’ restaurants unless you have a family with you. If you want a chance at good pizza, go to a pizzeria, if you want good pasta and mains, go to a regular restaurant.
A menu with 200 things on it. Sometimes they can surprise you, but quality is inevitably going to suffer here.
A menu in the window translated into 5 languages
A menu in the window with photos that are supposed to represent the food on the menu
Restaurants which have people hired specifically to entice you into the restaurant. Yuck. I hate this.

Go for smaller, family-run places – if you can find a hand-written menu of the day, then you’ve probably hit the jackpot if you’re after local specialities.

All that said, we broke one of these rules and went to Il Calice, a pizzeria with a small menu with other plates. They had some really lovely looking pizza-by-the-slice squares, but we weren’t in the mood for pizza and so opted to go upstairs to the café-style restaurant and ordered from the menu instead. We had a fab salumi plate to share, with a delicious chunky piccalilli. So far, so good. Sadly, the pasta dishes weren’t great. Niamh had a pasta amatriciana and I had gnocchi in a white ragu. Niamh’s pasta was undercooked, but the sauce wasn’t bad. My gnocchi were definitely overcooked, and while the sauce was ok, it was very soupy. In fact, had it been served as a soup, I wouldn’t have minded.

After the meal, we wound our way to St. Mark’s square though the little local maze and sat opposite the Doge’s Palace and people watched. Of course we had to dodge the rose sellers, and the hawkers of those helicopter kids toys thingies.

When we’d had enough, we walked along the grand canal and, quite by accident, found Harry’s Bar – the birthplace of beef carpaccio and the Bellini cocktail. We had to do the touristy thing – it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience… yes, we paid €22 per teeny Bellini. Peaches were not yet in season, but it was fresh pulp nonetheless… however, to me, it tasked a little like cardboard box. They were serving food there that did smell quite yummy, though. We were fed enough, though, and instead headed back to the hotel as we knew we’d have a day of being on our feet tomorrow.

Part 2 here!

From a Morning Walk to an Evening Meal (30/03/2023)

I’m expecting this to be a short one.

Well, the morning started off super-well! I went on an enormous walk: all the way out of the walls through San Giusto and on to the cliffs. The path that I thought took you to the base of the cliffs was actually reopened after a couple of years being closed.

After I’d gotten to the campsite near San Giusto and breezed past the old Etruscan walls, I decided to walk the narrow track to see if I could get a good shot of the Balze – the cliffs surrounding the northern part of the the town. I passed by the super-sized stile (steps really), leading down towards the valley below. They had been closed for 2 years previously, so I was eager to give the route a go. I wasn’t wearing sensible footwear for a strenuous hike, but it turns out that was ok.

The pathways and steps inexorably down, down… towards the road. Hmmm. I thought it was going to eventually lead all the way down past the valley to the base of the cliffs where old Etruscan village ruins are rumoured to be found. But no – it led to farther on down the road that just leads back to Volterra. Although, more positively, it leaves you within a much safer walking distance of the abandoned abbey of Badia Camaldolese and the hamlet of Montebradoni, neither of which I have yet visited. I see lengthy walks in my future this year!

However, I walked back towards town. You can see some of the photos of the view above. When past the Conad supermarket, I paused at the studio of the ‘dreamwalker’, Nico Lopez Bruchi – a mural-painter here in Volterra.

Once home, I shaved and showered and prepared myself for the trip of the day: to Ikea in Pisa. Ok, not particularly glamorous, so I didn’t document it really. Our friend was moving apartment, so we said we’d help out by bringing her there to shop for knick-knacks, and doo-dads. Oh yeah, and see if any furniture grabbed her attention. On the way to pick up our friend, I grabbed a gelato (what else is new?) and papped the wonderful Vicolo delle Prigioni, which flanks part of our apartment.

We had a little lunch there in Ikea, and while our friend got some joy in finding what she wanted, Niamh and I ended up buying THE WORLD’S GREATEST CHAIR™. Our sofa is annoying us somewhat, so we wanted another comfy chair we could sit in, and actually point towards the telly, rather than contorting ourselves into all sorts of unnatural poses. It’s sort of a balancing light-rocker that’s only enhanced by an accompanying footrest. We didn’t buy the accompanying footrest, as we have a couple of blow-up poofs in the apartment at the right height.

In case you want one in your life – I think the cushions come separately

On the way home, our friend said she wanted to take us out to dinner and asked us to recommend a place. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I suggested Trattoria Albana in the lovely hamlet of Mazzolla – a 15 or so minute drive outside Volterra. I phoned them up and booked a table. Me! Alone(ish)! Yay for improved Italian skills!

So, later that evening, we prettied ourselves up and I was designated driver. On the way, we experienced a little bit of magic, as we got caught behind a herd of sheep who were being moved to another field. It was golden hour, and it was amazing to see the golden light kiss their woolly hides.

I WAS DRIVING! Cut me some slack… you can find slightly better footage in the video below.

We parked, walked about the panoramic perimeter of the town, suitably going ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’.

We were the only people for a while in the back of the restaurant/bar. The food here is always great. Don’t expect haute, but flavourful, well-cooked, rustic Tuscan food.

Afterwards, we went home, and I squashed a poor hedgehog on the road. I still feel sad about that nearly 9 months later. Poor scrap. We ended up in Antica Velathri Café for digestivi and cocktails. Pietro attended another couple and we got a fantastic demo of him making a very fancy cocktail for them, which you can see in the video below.

It was off to bed, then – via testing of the WORLD’S GREATEST CHAIR™. We went to bed happy!

Below is the link to the video of the day. Enjoy!

Nearly Choking to Death on Pistacchio Cream in Siena (27/03/2023)

To Siena, then, to continue our guests’ intial foray into Italy. I prefer Siena to Florence, but acknowledge that I have not explored it fully enough. We frequently end up doing the same cycle when we visit: same car park, up tons of escalators to the Basilica di San Francesco, a game of spot-the-peek-a-boobies, circular or back-and-forth around the shopping streets until we hit the Piazza del Campo, a trip around the Cathedral square, a spot of lunch, gelato and maybe on the way back stop in Cannoleria Ke Cassata to grab some arancine for a light evening snack.

We pretty much did that, but skipped Ke Cassata this time around – they may have been closed, or moved to their main shop indicated by the link above (do try them if you’re in the mood for a snack, though).

We had to get there first, and so we stopped off to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at the amazing countryside surrounding Staccioli’s ‘O’, just outside the town.

We didn’t walk down to the sculpture itself, because we made that mistake already in wettish weather in April 2019. Now, I know it doesn’t look wet in the above picture, but the above soil is super-loose, potentially damp (yes, it rains seasonally in Tuscany!) and you stand a chance of destroying your footwear. If you really want to ‘gram the ‘O’, do call later in the year, when the soil is far dryer. If you’re visiting before May, then you can still park near it as we did and admire the incredible views.

Anyhoo, we got to Siena, and once up and past the Basilica, we started shopping for a handbag. I can’t remember the specific brand, but I remember it being important to the ladies. We popped into one bag shop, had a quick look-about and asked the owner if he knew of a place which sold <BAG-BRAND>. He said he didn’t, so our long search came to an end. Instead, we spent 30 or so minutes in a make-up store. I can’t say I was in my element, but was happy that the ladies seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Once done, and with a growing sense of pride, we led the guests to the Piazza del Campo, all ready to show them what, in my opinion, is Italy’s greatest square. Others think of St. Peter’s in Rome or St. Mark’s in Venice, but they were designed to make you feel small and insignificant – Piazza del Campo is more secular, warm and welcoming. ”So, here we go! Ta-daaaaah…. uhh…?” Except that today, the lighting was flat for that little while we were there, and the place looked like a building site. Shit.

Ugh. You did me dirty, Siena. Can I ever forgive you?

Lunch was next on the cards, and we knew of a place at the bottom of the hill down from Siena’s Cathedral – past the catacombs. We brought the ladies to the main Cathedral square, so they could have a look at its incredible facade.

At last they were suitably impressed. We were just giving them a taster of the town, so we didn’t go inside – but in the square you can go to the ticket office to buy tickets for the catacombs and to enable you to explore the roof – definitely worth a bash if you’re in town and have some spare time. Anyway, we hunted for the restaurant, and for the life of us couldn’t find it. We instead found a place (Ristorante Osteria Bonelli). There were a couple of other groups in, so the service was a little… weird… at times – I think we had to change one of the plates. In fairness, it might have been one of the first days of the season for them. Some of the food was nice enough, though.

We successfully negotiated our payment, as a large gaggle of students kindly stepped aside to let us go first. Each one was only paying for their own food, so I’m glad we dodged that.

We decided to head back to the car, but taking a slow route. We passed by one of the steep and stepped lanes to the Piazza del Campo, and I cast a wary glance at it, having already considered it a bit of a traitor this visit. And I gasped. And took one of the best photos I’ve ever taken. Lookit! It’s like a Canaletto painting!

All was well with the world once more, until the guests spotted Siena’s branch of Nino and Friends, which is a confectioner with branches scattered throughout the regions of Tuscany and Campania – with stores also in Venice and Taormina (Sicily). They’re are instantly recognisable, with their chocolate ‘waterfalls’ in the shop windows. Now, I don’t have a general problem with Nino and Friends. Their products are good, and you’ll have a fun time with the salespeople there, most of whom, I am convinced, popped out of the womb being able to smooth-talk the Inuit into buying ice. Anyway, our interaction went something like follows (I have taken some artistic license – also, apologies – I have no idea this will read on a mobile phone!):

I ALMOST DIED, a drama

Cast of Characters
HAPLESS IDIOT: An overweight middle-aged man, with pattern baldness, Irish
WIFE: HAPLESS IDIOT’s long-suffering wife, Irish
FRIEND: A friend of WIFE for many years. Irish, but having lived in Scotland for many years
TEENAGER: The daughter of FRIEND, current champion of the universe in 8-ball pool on the XBox, very definitely Scottish
SALESMAN: The salesman in a confectioner’s shop, very definitely Italian

EXT. STREET IN SIENA, TUSCANY – DAY
It’s bustling in the streets with the sounds of many accents and languages mixing in an excited babble. HAPLESS IDIOT is filming a sweeping shot on is iPhone, while WIFE, FRIEND and TEENAGER look excitedly towards a store.

TEENAGER
Ooh, look – a sweetie shop!

WIFE and FRIEND (together, longingly)
Chocolate… waterfall…

TEENAGER, WIFE and FRIEND walk into the shop, as if spellbound. HAPLESS IDIOT finishes his sweeping shot, spins around some more looking for the three ladies who have seemingly vanished into thin air. He then spots them in the store, and spends the next half-minute trying to turn off his phone, muttering curses under his breath. HAPLESS IDIOT then walks into the shop.

INT. NINO AND FRIENDS, A CONFECTIONARY STORE, SIENA, TUSCANY – DAY

SALESMAN (seeing HAPLESS IDIOT and indicating TEENAGER)
…and we can try some. Ah! Is this the Pappa?

HAPLESS IDIOT (incredulously, indicating TEENAGER)
Of her?! Have you seen her? She’s gorgeous.

SALESMAN gives HAPLESS IDIOT a quick appraising look up and down.

SALESMAN
Ah, yes – perhaps not.

Quick cut to to HAPLESS IDIOT, frowning.

Cut back to SALESMAN producing a tray of several types of spherical candies.

SALESMAN (indicating a pile of yellow candies)
So, maybe we start with this one.

Everyone takes a candy, places in their mouth and bites down.

FRIEND
Gosh, there’s quite a bit of booze in that, isn’t there?

TEENAGER (puzzled look on her face)
What is it?

WIFE
Ah, Limoncello!

HAPLESS IDIOT
Yummo!

SALESMAN
Yes, Limoncello. Nice, huh? Try this one.

SALESMAN proffers another corner of the try. All 4 take a sample and bite down. The 3 adults look a little more disappointed with it.

SALESMAN
This one – just lemon, no alcohol.

TEENAGER
Yum!

There is a beat.

FRIEND
Do you have any more with booze?

SALESMAN looks thoughtful, before reaching towards sample bottles of liquour.

SALESMAN
These are cream liquours. Like limoncello, but creamy. Maybe you
like to try melon?

SALESMAN pours pours out samples of the creamy orange liquour into 4 tiny paper cups. (Screenwriter’s note – due to my upcoming trauma, I can’t remember if TEENAGER partook in these samples, but for the sake of added comedy value and given her Scottish heritage, I am assuming she did. When in Rome, etc.). All 4 grab a cup and sip the liquid back. There are murmurs of appreciation from all 4.

HAPLESS IDIOT
Wow! It really tastes like melon!

SALESMAN
Yes. It is made from melon.

HAPLESS IDIOT
Yeah.

SALESMAN
Yes.

There is another beat.

SALESMAN (excitedly)
Pistacchio! Let us try pistacchio!

The process begins again. The SALESMAN fills the same 4 tiny paper cups with a creamy green liquid. Again, the cups are raised, but the faces are different after the first sip.

WIFE
I like pistacchio, but I don’t like this.

FRIEND
Yes, it’s not great is it?

TEENAGER
…

HAPLESS IDIOT
I prefer melon.

SALESMAN
You like pistacchio! Un attimo. Eh, moment, please!

SALESMAN dashes off for a moment, while the 4 take a casual look at the goods in the shop. SALESMAN returns quickly with a short, wide jar of something.

SALESMAN
Crema di pistacchio! Very delicious. Like Nutella, you spread it, but it’s pistacchio.

HAPLESS IDIOT
So, it’s pistacchio, then.

SALESMAN
Yes.

HAPLESS IDIOT
Yeah.

WIFE
Yes, we’ll try some.

SALESMAN gets 4 little tasting sticks and opens the jar. One by one, he places a generous topping on the green cream onto each stick, offers it to the ladies first, before ending up with HAPLESS IDIOT. Each person tries it and indicates through sounds of approval how yummy it is.

HAPLESS IDIOT
Wow! That’s delicious! I really…

There is a gagging sound, as the cream slides down HAPLESS IDIOT’s throat, and gets caught there, seemingly blocking his airway. He is still breathing, but his larynx feels like it has just been sandblasted, and breaths come in gasps. His voice turns into Brando’s Godfather’s.

SALESMAN
Sir, are you alright!

HAPLESS IDIOT (in Godfather voice)
I’ll be ok in a minute.

Tears are streaming down HAPLESS IDIOT’s face while he simultaneously coughs as he fights for breath. SALESMAN grabs a fresh mini paper cup and adds creamy meloncello. FRIEND and TEENAGER have grabbed a few more limoncello candies from the sample tray while SALESMAN is distracted. SALESMAN hands the cup to HAPLESS IDIOT who knocks it back between gasps. It does not have the desired immediate effect.

HAPLESS IDIOT (in Godfather voice)
Need… water…

HAPLESS IDIOT turns away from SALESMAN, and is quickly joined by FRIEND and TEENAGER, leaving WIFE standing by SALESMAN. Quick cut to WIFE looking thoughtfully at the jar, and back again to the other 3, who are standing in a row. HAPLESS IDIOT fumbles for a bottle of water in his manbag while FRIEND and TEENAGER are popping limoncello candies. HAPLESS IDIOT finds the water and unscrews the cap, while looking at FRIEND and TEENAGER. He seems FRIEND and TEENAGER red-faced and shaking with laughter, tears also streaking down their face – but not in sympathy. Oh no.

TEENAGER
We’re walkin’ oota here pished!

Cut to a close up of SALESMAN and WIFE. Coarse coughing and hacking and squeaks of feminine laughter can bear heard in the background. WIFE hands the jar to the SALESMAN.

WIFE
I’ll take one of these.

Cut closer to WIFE, who is now uplit from below, giving her a sinister appearance.

WIFE (sotto voce)
Yes, that ought to be enough.

FADE OUT

THE END

I hope you enjoyed that. I certainly didn’t.

We walked out of the store with some sweets and a jar of death-cream in the end. In fairness, this was an unfortunate fluke – their pistacchio cream is absolutely delish. But our taste for sweet treats didn’t end there. Oh no! We passed by a very tourist-choked gelateria. I had a fair idea that it was not going to be the best, but I also didn’t want to argue, as I thought any gelato would soothe my throat. The gelato was piled high in troughs – almost always a bad sign. I got a couple of flavours, and it was incredibly sweet. Too sweet, in fact. For the first time ever I didn’t finish off a helping of gelato, but chucked about a third of it in the bin.

We got back to the car, and I felt that we had enough time to have a quick tour of the nearby tiny walled village of Monteriggione. We just missed grabbing a free carpark spot. We didn’t spend too long there, as we also missed being able to walk the walls. Sure, any one of Volterra’s panoramic views beats those!

You can trot it from end-to-end in 30 seconds, but it’s so lovely in the sunshine, that’s it’s really worth the visit! There was a brief(ish) stop in a jewellers; little knick-knacks were bought. Sadly, the Pratesi store there wasn’t open yet.

Home for some much-needed relaxation.

Later that evening, we had a little bit of hunger on us, and so I was sent forth on a quest for pizza we could share. I went to La Mangiatoia and the chef there was working on a larger order (I opted for a burger and fries instead of pizza), so I made ours and sat down to have a beer and a chat to kill the time. They’re so nice in there.

Wearing my jacket. It can get chilly in Tuscany!

Afterwards, we relaxed and before bed I was once again soundly thrashed by TEENAGER in pool.

She has the socks of a baby angel, but the eyes of a ravenous hawk

Cheerio for now – I hope you enjoyed this read. Let me know what you think!

A Quiet Couple of Days (23/03 and 24/03)

It isn’t all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows in Tuscany. Even when you’re on holiday. As we have long-term plans here, we have learn to actually live in Volterra, not simply be in holiday mode all the time. Secondly, as our social lives have expanded, we also have to accept that we will take days off from recording every little thing for social media.

These next couple of days represented a little bit of that life.

The first one, was a more casual trip to Vicopisano to meet up with Marie and Lorenzo, who maintain a series of properties you can rent to experience your own adventures in Tuscany (Authentic Tuscany), whilst at the same time live in their own killer medieval tower. The one problem with living in old buildings is that their walls are incredibly thick. Great for insulation in summer and winter, not so good for wifi signal. They had been missing signal in a guest bedroom and their back garden, so Niamh and I took along a reasonably powerful Wifi Extender. We use it ourselves for our own apartment and we can now get wifi coverage from the guest bedroom, all the way out to the terrace. Nifty. In fact, we now also have one in our house in Kilcullen too!

Anyway, I appreciate that it’s probably not the warmest (although it is to the touch!), or the prettiest house gift ever, but it is practical and works well. We found a place for it in the house, but some wiring work would have to be done. Outside, a socket would have to be set facing the garden, but once there, they were getting good speeds!

For once it wasn’t collectors’ market day when we visited!

I didn’t take many shots for reasons of privacy, and relaxation. Lorenzo cooked up a magnificent artichoke carbonara. While we waited in the kitchen for that, we gorged on cheese and wine. There was a huge sprig of rosemary there too, so I showed them the little trick of spiking a bit of pecorino cheese with a needle of rosemary to create a little flavour-bomb. When lunch was ready, we headed out to the back garden and talked for several hours during and after we ate. It was a fabulous and fun day. Except for one little issue: I hadn’t brought a protected hat for my bald head. Volterra was at least 5-6 degrees cooler than Vicopisano when we left it, so I didn’t think I’d get sunburned. But I did… However, it was a small price to pay for good food and even better company!

We only thought to grab one snap in the carpark. It’s just me Niamh and Marie, as poor Lorenzo had to go to work.

When we got home we went to L’Antica Velathri Café for a quick drinkie, which I matched against a Disaronno back at the apartment. No more big food for us that evening!

The next day we had a couple of shopping missions. I did go out for a good long walk. The number of photos belies the length of the walk. I walked around the walls a bit, then down to the CoOp and finally took the long way back up. Why so few photos? Because I was filming, silly! You can see the video below.

Niamh wanted to buy some plaster so we (i.e. she) could shore up the a hole that formed due to a little leak from our neighbour’s balcony. The leak was fixed, thankfully. We had been given a large amount on a voucher by our company to compensate us for losing the staff canteen for a few years, while they carry on renovations – so I thought I’d treat myself to an XBox. We arrived in Poggibonsi and went to Trony – they had a stack of S-Series… I wanted an X-Series, so we hit up a local game store and got an X-Series there. Yay! Now we have a Sky TV server (miles better quality than the laptop I was using) and gaming machine.

Brico was shut for riposo, and we were hungry – so it was off to Insoo Sushi. I think the name/management of the place changed. It was ok before, but the food this day was merely so-so.

The fried rice and dumplings were ok, but the quality of the meats wasn’t great. Not the best meal… our search for a decent Asian continues. Aside: At the time of writing this, we have eaten in Haru Sushi in Ponsacco, which isn’t too bad at all and you get served by a little robot there.

Anyway, once done we went to Brico, but felt we needed to do more research in the type of stuff we needed, and so left without paint or plaster.

Here’s the video!

Back home again… patched up the XBox and tried out the ‘free’ game Forza 4… not my bag. We had a single course out for dinner. A single course includes dessert, am I right?

Tuscany’s Classiest Dump (21/03/2023)

Gah! I know! It’s been another awfully long time since the last blog. Sorry about that. I was enjoying myself working and holidaying in Volterra for a couple of weeks. On the plus side, it means plenty more content on the way… at some stage.

First things first – I got out on a walk this morning – all the way down to the bus car park. The views from there are lovely. In fact, if you hiked for 3 minutes, you’d be in the middle of the countryside.

The countryside beckoned, but I was unsure of the trail and I didn’t have hiking boots on. I wonder how many use this trail, and if it goes far.

The trail is out of the picture here, but it carries down into the valley towards the hills

Niamh had wanted to go to the mercato dell’usato (2nd hand market) in Capannoli for while to see if we could find a little table or even stool on which we could place drinks/food etc. while sitting. It was closed for riposo, so we decided to make a drive of it, rather than going directly.

So, we decided to head out of town and make for a village in Volterra’s comune we’d never been to before: Villamagna. From there, we’d go to Legoli via a curiosity in the countryside: Triangolo Verde. I may have mentioned before, but the comune of Peccioli has made itself relatively weathly by creating a facility which handles much of Tuscany’s non-recyclable waste, and from that to energy production. The villiage itself is an outdoor art museum, and there are some curiosities in the area, not least of which are the ‘Peccioli Giants’, which represent the power of Peccioli coming from the earth. There is one squatting (a man, quite naked and anatomically accurate) over a building a little way outside the main part of town, and another visible from a modern terrace on one side of the old town, and there are a couple more in Trinagolo Verde. Now, I wasn’t too sure what this place was, other than the home of a couple of these giants – but we’d find out. But first, the drive!

We headed east, past Staccioli’s red ‘Ring’ and took a left at Roncolla, taking a looong route to the village. I’d read in Facebook posts that the inhabitants of Villamagna (who won the last tug-of-war palio, if memory serves me correctly) knew how to have a better time at night than the Volterrans. I wouldn’t get a chance to try that theory out this time, as it was shortly after lunch. Well… it was quiet. In fairness, it was riposo and those that weren’t resting or lunching were working. We stopped briefly so I could grab some video footage (more on that later) and a couple of snaps of the countryside.

I just love the way the land undulates and rolls

We took a route out of town along a road that topped a gentle ridge. It got narrower and narrower. We had to slow down to overtake a couple of young ladies on horseback. On either side of us, though, were some of the loveliest views of the Val d’Era. At one point it became too much, and we stopped a couple of hundred meters from a lone farming hamlet, one chimney of which was streaming pale smoke into the hazy sky. In the distance, a double lake shone like a jewel in the rolling green hills. Tuscany (sadly) isn’t known for its lakes, so these were eye-catching.

We found ourselves a little way outside Legoli at a closed automatic gate – the gate to Triangolo Verde. In front of a gate a huge shaggy dog lay in the sun. When our car approached, it slowly got up and ambled away, just outside of reach. I got out, and buzzed the intercom at the gate. I explained in broken Italian, and then broken English that we would like to come inside if it was open. The nice man inside the intercom said yes, and after registering us (names, addresses) pressed something to make the gate slide open. I raced back to the car, and we followed a curving path downwards towards a building, past an open air circular theatre and a place where we could park.

We got out and were very nearly blown over by the wind. But sure enough, there were two of the Peccioli Giants waiting for us to pose beside. The welcome centre (which is what I assme the building was, as well as perhaps being a bar) was closed, as were were out of season. In the distance some heavy bull-dozing-like machinery were busy doing something. It looked like they were operating near layered stone, and we thought that this place was a quarry of some kind. I was taking video, so there aren’t many photos. When I zoomed in at the machinery, it seemed that it was mostly bulldozing, and there were small flocks of birds everywhere the vehicles were working. Then it hit me: this was a landfill area – this must be one of the places in the comune of Peccioli where the trash is kept – the unburnable stuff maybe? Please correct me if I’m wrong!

Only in Italy, can you go to a dump and find sculptures of birds, giant humans, massive colourful art installations and an outdoor mini arena where events take place!

The sculptures are very impressive. That’s all I have to say about that.

We headed back out. Pressed the red button to open the gate, and I took a couple of of photos of the landscape on the far side of the ridge.

Actually, this was a vew from the ‘dump’

We got back in the car and decided to make more of a bee-line towards Capannoli. We drove through Legoli – considered stopping for a moment when we saw a couple of men setting up seating outside a bar – but carried on. We got through Legoli, but then Google threw us for a literal loop and took us away from Capannoli and back towards Legoli. We caught it early enough and chose out own route (following signposts) to Capannoli, until Google righted itself and chose the correct way.

We got there eventually, and just after opening time, except that it wasn’t. Because the thing closes on Tuesdays – this was *not* in Google. We instead made straight for La Rosa, to Biscottini. We spotted a little stool-like thing, but didn’t buy it (we went back for it another day though!). It’s an interesting store though – all sorts of house decorating stuff in it. Once done there, we went shoe-shopping – at the outlet store there – the one with the enormous boot outside – you can’t miss it! From there, it was across the road to the bar for gelato – and very good gelato it was too!

We got home and chilled before heading to L’Incontro for aperitivi and L’Antica Taverna for dinner. It was a nice enough meal.

It was chill-time again, then bed… but as an extra, here is a video of the day’s action!

Thanks for reading – let me know what you think, or if you have any questions about the area!

Shopping in Empoli, eating at Del Duca (26/08/2022)

Glad to say we got out of the town today, and explored somewhere we’d never been before! Equally gladly, I got out for a walk that morning too. I left the town via the Porta Fiorentina (the gate nearest us) and walked anti-clockwise around the walls a bit.

The views across the road from San Felice were nice too.

I carried on, and avoided the temptation of cutting the walk short at Porta all’Arco.

The Chiesa di Sant’Alessandro down from the Porta all’Arco ramp. Outside the walls, but still a lovely area.

I carried walking around the walls – taking fewer snaps, chickened-out of taking the steps at Docciola and re-entered the same way I came out, a full circuit of the walls complete! A gold star for Eoin!

A year previously, we had a wine-tasting session in Marcampo, and met a British couple there. We were talking about places to shop, and they told us to give Empoli a go. Empoli is a moderately large town just off the FI-PI-LI motorway, and with a train station, so it’s easy to get to. We decided to give it a go.

It took us a little over an hour, and we drove through some suburban areas before we got to the town proper. We had aimed towards a large car park in the middle of town – here. It was a pay carpark, but if I remember correctly, it was quite inexpensive. The town seemed quiet to us. Then, of course, we remembered that we were still in August. Moreover, it had just hit lunchtime, so maybe we wouldn’t be doing much shopping after all!

We still had an initial explore of the town:

We were too hungry to do anything extensive before we got food in our bellies.

As we were in a large town, we decided to continue our quest for good Asian food, and found Ravioli Dong. We wanted something a little lighter, and steamed dumplings over in Italy are usually pretty good. It’s just their stir-fry dishes suck. We just went for some spring rolls, fried rice (or Cantonese rice, as it’s known over here) and a collection of mixed dumplings. For some reason, I didn’t take any pics of the dumplings, but at least you get the rice and the menu.

It was nice – we would definitely come here again next time we’re in Empoli. Even their bathroom made us smile!

To the shops! Except… most of them were closed. This didn’t come as a huge surprise to us. While we searched for some open stores, we had a little explore.

We did stop in a household store and Niamh bought… long grater/zester. I remember the young lady behind the being very nice and giving us a discount we had missed. We also checked out a clothes store, but we didn’t find anything that suited us (read: fit us). We had another nose around the town:

We still wanted to do something shop-wise, but too little was open here. Make no mistake, there are still things for us to do in Empoli – explore the rest of the town, the park, dine in a kick-ass Indian restaurant, enjoy a nice river walk along the Arno. We skipped the centre and drove towards Centro Emploli, a decent-sized mall on the outskirts. Getting there was easy and parking was also simple – plenty of spots available at the time of year and day.

Anyway, we wandered around there until we found an OVS. Niamh bought herself a nice blue puffer-jacket, and we explored a bit more. Not being inspired to shop-til-we-dropped, we went to the food court. I was going to get some gelato, but the place we stopped at had mass-made stuff, and I was happy with having an ice-cold coke.

I didn’t take shots of the mall, as although it was nice and clean, there was little interesting in it, by way of design – except for this cool installation outside the gym.

What I would say about it, is that it’s a fab one-stop for most of your shopping needs: clothes, electronics & gadgets, bars, household goods and a big CoOp to boot. It’s also easy-in, easy-out if you fancy skipping town-shopping and stress about parking.

A good, relaxing time was had, so we headed home, satisfied. We chilled a while, and made our way to the second highlight of our day: dinner at Del Duca! We sat outside and unsurprisingly, had delicious food!

Afterwards, Niamh had a coffee, and I had an amaro – a digestiv – one of the most famous examples of something like an amaro is the much-maligned Jaeger. Amari can be hit and miss, sometimes tasting medicinal, but my favourites are ones that have a hint of chocolate in them. This one did! The last time I found an excellent amaro, I forgot to take a snap of the bottle. This time I did!

On the way out the door, we had a quick chat with Ivana, the Del Duca matriarch, and she slipped me a glass of her famous limoncello. It’s usually very strong, but this was more typical of the drink and was delish!

Afterwards, a short walk to help burn away the calories, then telly/music and bed. What else is new?

Thanks for reading. Let us know if you have any queries or comments. We’d love to hear from you!

A Manbag, A Manbag, My Kingdom for a Manbag (24/08/2022)

Not much writing in this one!

It was our guests’ last day, but they weren’t leaving until the early evening. It gave them a chance to pick up some souvenirs before they left, including an elusive boar-themed t-shirt.

But first, I had a walk on my own that morning, to and from the archaeological dig site, back and around the town a bit.

Then back to town and the rest of the walk!

After I had tidied myself up and eaten, then we wandered out and did some shopping. We split up into multiple ranks and went hunting.

We met up with our guests at a souvenir store on Via dei Sarti, where, if I recall correctly, a t-shirt of a boar on a motorbike was finally bought by our guests. Both couples bought also walked away with a pro corkscrew – one with a double-flanged lever that we’ve seen all the waiters use here… by touristy themed!

Oh yeah, and this happened:

They are super-handy, especially for lugging around water and my filming tools (gimbal, microphones). Would I wear it anywhere? Absolutely not. If I were to attempt to wear this bag at home, especially, near where I work, I would have seven shades of snot beaten out of me. Dublin is fun!

Afterwards, we had time for lunch in Torre del Porcellino, because they rock!

The Cacio e Pepe is especially class here

We then had the sad task of bring our guests back to the airport. Never a fun time, not least because we’ve travelled that road a few dozen times already! But really, we enjoy showing people about the region. A short enough visit, but plenty of scope for a re-visit!

Bye for now to this place, from our guests.

Unsurprisingly, I took no photos of the airport. You only have 10 minutes to get in and get out of the drop-off carpark without charge. This leads to us looking like we’re giving our guests the bum’s rush. Which is pretty much what’s happening. “Bye, then!”, “Buh-bye… bye-b-b-byebyebye!”. Cue validating our card and running for the exit.

What *IS* surprising is that we finally stopped at a store in La Rosa we had been threatening to stop in for 4 years. It has a huge hiking boot outside it and, to our embarassment, spent almost all of those 4 years wondering what the shop sold. Shoes. It sells shoes. In fact, it is a shoe outlet store, and a pretty damn big one at that!

The less we have to pack going over, the better – so I wanted to build a small stock of footwear so one day, all I’d have to bring over is my laptop bag! There is about a half a column of men’s shoes, a half a column of kids’ and 2 columns of ladies’. ‘Twas ever thus. Anyway, Niamh found flip-flops and other shoes for herself, and I found a nice pair for Bugatti’s for myself. I had found another pair too, but what they have on the floor is what they have in stock, and sadly they didn’t have them in my size. Still, I’d put a hole in my goal and was happy enough.

We carried on towards home, rested and then went to Ristorante Etruria for a slightly windy meal outdoors.

And that was that for the day. We were alone again, naturally.

Lunch in the Middle of Nowhere and Exploring Poggibonsi (12/05/2022)

I stayed in bed a little while longer this morning, but still got up and did my walk. I could have been a lazy so-and-so, but I did it, so yay me! I had a short walk in mind, just around the block to walk up the stairs at Docciola. Short, but challenging. However, from there I just went on and on, past Piazza XX Settembre, up to the park, and from there to the panoramic viewpoint. The photos speak for themselves. I was in need of a wash at the end of it, so that’s good enough for me!

I also busted out my macro lens and took some nice floral shots.

After eating and making ourselves beautiful, we refreshed some toiletries and bought some cleaning and painting supplies, as there were a few jobs Niamh wanted to do before we headed home. We didn’t quite find the paint we wanted – so we thought we’d head out to Navacchio or Pontadera to grab some. We changed our minds later on, though – more below.

I thought I’d check in on the framers to see how he was getting on with the drawing we bought. It wouldn’t be ready until the next day. No worries – we’d pick it up then.

Once done, Niamh went to a Bancomat (ATM) got some money out, while I grabbed the goodies and brought them upstairs. Three quarters of the way down, I realised I’d forgotten to bring the bag Niamh asked me not to forget, so back up I went. At least I was getting some exercise in.

We’d driven the SP4 road a bunch of times before, especially to go to Florence, Florence and Florence, and that time when we checked out Gambassi Terme and Montaione. We passed by a couple of restaurants that were in the middle of nowhere. We’d pass them by and swear that one day we’d try them. I think you can guess what’s coming next. We decided to do lunch at one of them, called Osteria del Castagno, especially since it had a large, easily accessible carpark. It was only 30 mins away, so we walked slowly to the car to build up a hunger.

When we got to the carpark, we saw that it would be closed tomorrow, so we’d have to park elsewhere overnight tonight. Bummer. Small price to live in paradise, though.

I drove to the restaurant. As promised, it had plenty of parking and lovely surroundings. We decided to sit outside, but in shade. It had lots of lovely outdoor nooks and crannies where you could enjoy your meal.

The food was nice and the service very friendly. We played a guessing game with the waitress while she guessed what nationality we were. We even threw in a few random languages to throw her off the scent. In the end, she was pleasantly surprised to discover we were Irish. A subsequent conversation saw her recommending us places to visit, and being amazed again at how we had visited not only all her recommendations (“Have you heard of San Gimignano?” we had a chuckle at that one), but tons of other less well-known towns besides all over central, west and south-west Tuscany. We had a small chats with one of the male waiters too. Everyone was disarmingly lovely.

The food was very nice, but we felt that the prices were extraordinarily high. Here are the food pics:

Coloured tortellini… tasty, but looking suspiciously like cow-anuses (don’t ask how I can make that comparison)

I think the tortellini may have cost €24 (please correct me if I’m wrong, if anyone from the restuarant ends up reading this). I have had pasta dishes with truffle for 2/3 of that price. I would recommend the place, though, if you’re flush. The food is good and the service is friendly. I imagine that the setting in the evening would be amazing; very romantic – so maybe try it then.

As we were so far from Navacchio, and the route would be a little annoying, we decided to check out Poggibonsi for the first time. We knew it had a huge shopping/industrial area to its north, and we were sure we could pick up the paint and odds and ends we needed there. So off we went. Little did we know, this is also a route to San Gimignano, and on the way we had a jaw-trolley moment when we saw said Tuscan Manhattan in the distance, the centre-point of one of those Tuscany-in-a-bottle scenes that you have to pull over for. We did just that, and took a few snaps.

And there she is on the hill in the middle of the photo

We skirted around San Gimignano, and were then taken along an unfamiliar road into Poggibonsi. We got some easy and free parking at Parcheggio Vallone – some Saturdays it’s closed though, so be careful. The old town was quiet, but we both really liked it. It has a few really chill piazze, and we sat a while after our explore to wait for the shops to reopen after riposo.

There were curious little sculptures of figures made of cuboids scattered throughout some of the piazzas. We made friends with them.

We wandered some more and I kinda fell a little in love with old Poggibonsi. It was very sleepy when we visited it, but there were places to eat and drink and I’d say it turns into a lively enough place during the evening. We found more alleys, another cubic friend and then a lovely circular piazza. All the benches in the shade were taken, and at one stage we had a little race with a local to grab a recently vacated seat – we lost; probably for the best.

We got back to the car, and drove north to the ‘Industrial Zone’ which is a large series of mini-malls and strip-malls in which you can find just about anything. It’s not the most salubrious of areas, so I didn’t take shots, but from a practical standpoint it will be a fabulous place to source holdhold and hardware stuff, and get food shopping into the bargain, should we be lacking in that department too. We also noted what could be a cool Sushi place to go to should we have a mind – we’ll go there some day. We stopped off in Casa and Brico and got what we wanted – terracotta paint for Niamh’s little job, and then got back in the car for home. I really enjoyed driving that day. We avoided a mini sports-car rally at a roundabout coming out of the town, and noticed a big frantoio, should we ever decide to grow olives!

Upon getting home, we screenwatched, edited, wrote a bit, and we had a rare moment of not going out to eat again! Niamh cooked up a pork-chop dinner (yum!) and after that we headed out for gelato!

I hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know what you think. Have you ever visited Poggibonsi?

A Wet Florence and another Farewell (26 & 27/12/2021)

It was St. Stephen’s/Boxing Day, and I was tasked with driving to Florence. We had a mission: the ladies wanted to buy some gloves. I went with our usual idea of going the country route there, and parking in the Coop Carpark, and then going back via mostly the autostrada. I was thinking to myself “Gosh, wouldn’t it be great to be able to show Lily and Mark (Niamh’s sister and her husband) some of the wonderful countryside, in particular between Volterra and Montaione!” Three unfortunate things occurred, which somewhat spoiled the journey:

The weather. It was foggy in Volterra, then we got further down to a corner of the Val d’Era where it was relatively clear, but the climb began again into more fog. Well…. dang! Then came the rain, which further reduced visibility. It’s a shame, as some of the countryside is beautiful – so reserve it for a sunnier day if you ever wish to explore.
I was perhaps driving a little too quickly. Niamh and I are usually so used to both the road and having no people in the back seats, but about 20-25 minutes into the drive, I was informed that the ladies in the back were feeling queasy, so I had to slow down (sorry, ladies!).
I joined a much busier road a little after we passed Montaione. I took a left onto the route, and saw a huge puddle in the road – a lane wide, which chunks of asphalt aroud the rim of it. I had no doubt that if I had driven into the puddle, I’d have probably hit a hidden pothole – a bad one. I swerved to avoid it, but didn’t properly notice a mini-cooper coming up behind me in the other lane. He was still a little away from me, but made a show of his anger by blasting me out of it with his horn. Almost a kilometer down the road at a roundabout, he blasted me again as we parted ways. I can never get over the fact that Italians are so chill, but put a good number of them behind a steering wheel they can turn into demons!

We got to the Coop carpark in the end, and from there hopped onto a tram into the centre. We were hungry, and somehow all had a simulataneous hankering for pizza, not having had any while Lily and Mark were with us. I tend to lean away from restaurants where the staff are selling seats outside the door, much preferring to let the food do the talking. However, we were ravenous, and the establishment into which we were being ushered had some pretty good reviews (Lorenzo di Medici), so in we went and had our pizzas. They were delicious! In fairness, the service was good and the staff friendly too.

It was damp when we got out, and getting damper. Fortunately, we dressed for the occasion! We wended our way towards the Duomo, passing a few landmarks on the way, both old and new.

Cappelle Medicee – spectacular inside – haven’t been in it yet…

On the outside of the Basilica, at its north-eastern an alternative presepe (nativity scene) had been set up, but instead of a stable, it was a medical facility where doctors and nurses working to exhaustion in surgical PPE. This was a wonderful mark of respect to them during these past couple of years when the pandemic had put us, and them in particular, to the sword.

This is not my photo – it belongs to Firenze Today.

We reached the Piazza del Duomo, and wandered about the front of the cathedral. We had never seen the presepe there, nor the Christmas Tree, so it we covered off visiting Florence in yet another season. You’ll see that the town was pretty busy!

We then wandered to the Piazza delle Signoria. The city still looked great in the rain, and there were no complaints about the weather. I’ve seen videos of Florence’s Christmas lights in the evening, and they look amazing, so some of the following photos don’t really do them justice.

On the way to the Ponte Vecchio, Lily pointed out a shop where they were selling what looked like artisanal gelato. I checked the window briefly, and saw that they were serving the creamy goodness from little sunken tins (I forget what they’re called). I hopped straight in, without checking the awning on the store. I’d made my order when I noticed that it was a well-known brand of coffee (and despite trawling the map, I’m having difficulty locating the brand), who just so happened to be selling gelato in their store ‘on the side’. Too proud to cancel my order, took a goodly sized cup of it away. It was ok – not really artisanal, but ok – but it was still ok gelato, right? Yay!

We wandered over the bridge, all the way over to Palazzo Pitti, and guess what? Well if you’ve been following these blogs for a while, you’ll be pleased(?) to know that we kept up our habit of not actually going in! One of these days, I swear!

Wow – the banks of the Arno were not looking their best!

We were happy walking around and exploring though. Staying on the Altr’Arno, we headed over to the Piazza Santa Spirito. We were overdue a coffee (me, a hot chocolate), and found a place with indoor seating (Café Cabiria), and were promptly greeted by a lady with a Dublin accent! The world is too small. She sounded pretty fluent when she was talking to Italian customers, and had been over here a while. We had a 20 minute pause for refreshment, to chat with the Irish lady and to use the facilities.

Once finished, we had one more errand before the trip back home: the ladies needed to buy some gloves at Martelli on Via Por Santa Maria. It was only a trip of a few hours, but we really wanted to limit the time we would be driving in the dark. Anyway, we re-crossed at the Ponte Santa Trinita and made our way there. The ladies went in. Mark and I waited outside. And waited. And we waited a little more, a little more impatiently. It began to rain again, so Mark waited across the road, by the awning of a fancy men’s shop while I stood outside Martelli.

Then I was accosted by one of those African doo-dad sellers. Listen, I agree that every person needs to make a living, but the hucksterism some of these guys pull-off really try my patience. It began well, and we fist-bumped and chatted for a minute. Then out of nowhere he held out his hand to shake. This is where you back off, or move on etc. What happens here is that they attempt to pull and bracelet over onto your wrist and get aggressive when you refuse to buy it. I refused the handshake and immediately moved away, despite some weak protestations from him. He wandered off, while I joined Mark on the other side of the road to wait some more.

The ladies certainly spent way more time in that shop than we did in th café… not much fun, I have to say, when it’s grey and drizzling. But we bucked-up (glove-buying was our #1 mission after all), and waited stoically. They came out eventually, mission accomplished and very happy – and even a little apologetic. Satisfied, we walked back towards the tram.

We had a couple of unscheduled stops on the way. First, we paused briefly at Piazza di Santa Trinita to admire the conical Christmas tree there.

The one thing I regret this trip (no, not not Palazzo Pitti!) is not going to check out the lights at Piazza delle Republica. I saw videos of them afterwards and they are spectacular! Anyway, we instead continued farther north, and stopped in the vestibule of the Strozzi Palace to check out Jeff Koons’ balloon bunny. We didn’t go into the exhibition proper, as it was beginning to get dark.

Just a peek into Piazza della Republica!

Time for one final touristy photo-op before we boarded the tram. Yet another visit to Florence with too much time spent outdoors. We really have to pop inside some of these landmarks!

Piazza di Santa Maria Novella. Nope, not been inside it either… still so much left to do in Florence!

Mark had to drive home in the dark and rain… not the most pleasant of drives, but we got through it! We didn’t head out that night, but instead we had antipasti bought at La Bottega and the market a couple of days previously. Then Lily made a wonderful risotto with the blue cheese and kale, topped by a parmesan crisp (we picked up everything for this at the market). It was absolutely delish. Below is a photo of an adulterated one: Niamh doesn’t like blue cheese.

Unfortunately, the next morning it was time for us to once again leave Volterra. At the time of writing this blog we haven’t been back yet since, but are looking forward to going some time in May. Our guests were staying another couple of nights on their own, so we were more than a little jealous – but we had to head home to get our booster shots, which was more important in the grand scheme of things.

It was actually quite a nice day in Pisa itself, and Mark and Lily joined Niamh and I for one last cup of something hot and a slice of cheap pizza before we headed into the airport for the flight home. It was at a circular kiosk outside. The coffee and pizza were ok, but the hot chocolate I almost spat out. I had taken one watery mouthful that was barely tepid and left it at that. In hindsight, I should have taken it back to complain, but at the time I didn’t want to end the holiday on a downer.

So, this wraps-up this series of blogs until some time in May. I will have another one or two in the offing, in particular about Volterra being Tuscany’s inaugural capital of culture, so keep an eye out for that!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and admiring Florence’s beauty, even in the rain. Please leave a like and a comment to let me know, and please ask any questions. I’d love to hear from you.