Loving Italy, European Vacation, Concluded

Picking up here after an unexpected one night stayover in Milan.

The magnificent duomo (cathedral) in old town Milano

Sunday, October 2, 2016 -  Fortunately Addison was able to get a suitable vehicle, a VW Passat (European Edition) at Europcar, another nearby company, on this morning; and we were soon off to  Tuscany region, with all aboard, including our big bags.  Our route took us on the Italian Freeways, the Autostradas, to Bologna, then on to Florence, Addison driving.  We were all surprised at how big the hills were in Tuscany, some bordering on being small mountains; and the Autostrada took us through a number of tunnels burrowing right through the hills.  Approaching Florence, the built in GPS in the rental car routed us through the North suburbs of Florence, a slow route given that we later learned we could have stayed on the Autostrada as it looped to the left (East)  below Florence, with an exit just a few kilometers from our resort.  But we took the backroads instead, and then couldn’t find our resort, which was a few kilometers outside of the little town of Rignano sul Arno, which sat alongside the Arno River. 

Our Resort at Rignano Sul Arno, near Florence

After several unsuccessful attempts to locate the resort on our own (GPS failed us again here), Addison flagged down a couple out walking in Rignano sul Arno; and they very graciously offered to take us there; walking back to their nearby house, hopping in their car, and leading us there. After having a guy at the Milan station who helped us briefly by walking us out to the main square and pointing to where the rental car company would be, then demanding a big tip for doing so; we gratefully offered this kind couple a 10 Euro tip; which they refused to take.  So finally we were at the resort, Villa I’ll Palagio, unpacking in a two bedroom, two bath, suite.  We wandered around again, looking unsuccessfully for a restaurant the hotel desk lady recommended before settling for dinner at the Villa Palagio on-site restaurant.

Vineyards stretching up the hills in Chianti wine region

Monday, October 3,2016 -  This day was spent driving into the Chianti wine region just south of Florence, where we wine tasted at a couple wineries, and had lunch at a very nice family run restaurant in a charming little town called Greve.  This area is very nice, rolling hills filled with vineyards, and centuries old small towns.  Lanie and I would have liked to spend more time exploring the small towns in this region; but we had arrived in Florence a day late, and had other visits planned for the week to Venice, Florence and Pisa.

Chianti on the vine!

Tuesday, October 4, 2016 – This was Venice day.  I took the wheel for the first time as we headed NE through the rolling hills toward the Aegean Seacoast.   By distance, this looked like maybe a 3 to 4 hour trip; it actually took 5 as the hills got higher and the roads going up and down very “switchbacky”.  Fortunately, Connie, in the right front seat, and who suffers from motion sickness, dozed through much of the windiest portion.  Once we reached the coast, near Ravenna, it was a straighter highway, but clogged by a lot of truck traffic chugging north toward Venice. 
 

Grand Canal in Venezia

 But we made Venice fine, and spent most of the day there along the Grand Canal, enjoying good wine, food and company.  In the evening we headed back, via Autostradas this time, to Bologna, and then down to Florence.  This trip took less than 3 hours.  I drove most of the way, turning it over to Addison for the last 30 miles or so.

Gondola crusing up the canals of Venezia

Wednesday, October 5, 2016 -  On this day we had a tour scheduled in Florence; so we drove the short distance to  Rignano sul Arno rail station, managed to get on the right train and headed to the big town.  There we had a scheduled tour/viewing of Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture, which was truly stunning; and also a Hop on/Hop off tour of this ancient Tuscan city. 
 

The David!

  Getting back to Villa I’ll Palagio was again a bit of an adventure.  A young local woman at the Florence train station “helped” us find a train going in that direction, for tips of course; but it turned out this was a train with a final destination of Rome to the South, and no stop at Rignano sul Arno station.  We all began to wonder about the routing when we entered a long tunnel not far out of Florence; we did not do tunnels on the way into Florence.  Anyhow, we started to pull into a train stop at a little town called Fignine; and a quick look at the map told us we were already past (South of) Rignano sul Arno. We beat a hasty retreat out of that train, scrambled around for a bit, finding out that a train going the opposite direction (North) and scheduled to stop at Rignano sul Arno was due into the Fignine station in a matter of just a few minutes.  Addison and I were at the small rail station office at the time we figured out the train schedule, and we literally ran back to the platform where Connie and Lanie had already placed themselves; and we were soon on board for the short trip back to Rignano sul Arno.

Florence from an overlooking hillside

Thursday, October 6, 2016 -  We were off to Pisa on the Mediterranean Coast this day, where we had two  Leaning Tower tour tickets which Addison and I were going to use to climb the tower.  Addison kind of drove past the turnoff to Pisa, and we were 10 or 15 miles north of Florence and the turnoff before we could get off the Autostrada and reverse course.  But after that little detour, we were soon back on track and in Pisa, which was teeming with tourists at the Leaning Tower area, which was actually an enclave of buildings; the tower of course, and also a cathedral and several other beautiful old buildings.  And we discovered that the Tower really did lean, a LOT, more than I think any of us had imagined. 
 

The Leaning Tower of "You Know Where"!

 While Lanie and Connie planted themselves at a nearby open air café/restaurant, Addison and I showed up at the tour time, got a short history lesson inside the hollow tower, and on a definitely slanted floor, before climbing the 250 or so marble steps to the top of the tower.  Nice views from there.  We took our pics, waved at the women, then headed down.  At lunch at the same café, we sat next to a nice couple from Denmark who were well familiar with Western Oregon since the guy, who was in the Christmas tree business, had made several trips to Tree Farms in Oregon over the years.

At a sidewalk cafe in Pisa

On the way back to our resort that afternoon, we took a side trip into a quaint little walled town called Lucca.  There was only one road into/out the walled town one each side; and we seemed to be one of only a few cars actually driving down the small cobblestone roads, many of them clogged with pedestrians.  We figured out later (see San Gimignano on following day) that probably inside the wall driving was only for business and local resident vehicles.  But no police pulled us over while there.

San Gimignano, my favorite of all the Italian towns we visited!

San Gimignano, a City of Towers!

Friday, October 7, 2016 -  On our final full day in Rignano sul Arno and Tuscany, we drove to the charming Medieval town of San Gimignano. This was probably my favorite town of the whole Italy tour, a quaint walled city dating back 500 years or more, unique for its dozen or so high stone towers.  You could see the towers from miles away on certain approaches to the town.  Anyhow, we had a nice walking tour (only locals and business vehicles can drive inside the walls); and Addison and I did a little more climbing up to the top of one tower which was probably higher than the Leaning Tower in Pisa; all in all a very nice way to end our week long visit to Tuscany.

View from the top on one of the Towers

Always took time for good wine and food in Italy!

Saturday, October 8, 2016 -  We checked out of Villa I’ll Palagio mid-morning after breakfast and headed back to the Mediterranean Coast enroute to Genoa.  We stopped at LaSpieza rail station south of the Cinque Terre region, and caught a local train to the Southernmost Cinque Terre town of Riomaggiore, where we ate lunch and toured the town a bit. We then took another train back (South) to LaSpieza and continued driving up the coast to Genoa.  Our hotel, Best Western Moderno Verdi was right across the street from the Rail Station; and had its own tiny, tight parking garage beneath the hotel.  We turned the parking over to the Hotel Attendant, telling him we wouldn’t need the car again until we checked out on Monday.  Lanie and I had room service dinner that night while Connie and Addison walked a short distance to a local restaurant.

Cinque Terre

Sunday, October 9, 2016 -  On this day, we headed back to Cinque Terre, taking another local train South to Riomaggiore, then hopping on/off various trains as we worked our way north, to Manarola, then Vernazza (skipping one of the Cinque Terre towns in the middle) and finally the northernmost town of Monterossa.  All were nice enough, ancient town buildings clinging to rocky cliffs along the Sea; but Lanie and I figured it would probably have been better to either walk along the sea or hill paths in an among the little towns OR view the Cinque Terre towns from a Sea Ferry/Taxi. In late afternoon we caught one more local train from Monterossa back to Genoa and our hotel there.

Cruising the narrow streets of Cinque Terre

Monday, October 10, 2016-  We drove up the Coast to Monaco and its capital city of Monte Carlo this day, spending the time there walking in and among the expensive cars and yachts of this playground of the rich and famous.  Interesting but a little out of our price range were we to entertain thoughts of staying longer.  One interesting tidbit was that the approximately 80 miles of Autostrada between Monte Carlo and Genoa had something like 115 tunnels as it wound its way along the rugged, hilly Mediterranean coastline. 

I think we must be in Monte Carlo!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016 – Off to Milan on this day, where we had a walking tour of the old town, which included a visit to the church where Da Vinci’s Last Supper (circa late 1400’s) was located.  Our previous short visit at the start of our Italy tour was largely in the newer section of Milan.  This day was spent entirely in the Old Town, which was quite charming, with lovely old buildings and one stunning Gothic Cathedral (Duomo).  We had parked the car in a lot near the last Supper church, and on our way back to that area stopped in at a local restaurant, enjoying a wonderful meal, and, of course, good Italian wine. We stayed that night at the Holiday Inn Express at Malpensa airport, which was about 25 miles out (NW) of Milan.

Alps towering over beautiful Lake Como

Wednesday, October 12, 2016- This was our last full day in Italy/Europe, and also Connie’s birthday.  We spent most of the day on Lake Como North of Milan.  This a beautiful, long, winding lake framed by the Italian Alps.  We enjoyed refreshments lakeside in the town of Como, among other things, watching Float Planes land and takeoff.  Then we drove up the lake further, having lunch along the narrow road bordering the lake before heading back to our hotel at Malpensa.

Thursday, October 13, 2016 – We flew home on this day after a wonderful 3 weeks in Europe; Connie and Addison leaving before us, returning to Eugene via NYC, SLC on Delta, while we flew British Airways to London Heathrow, and then non-stop from there via the polar route over Iceland and Greenland to Phoenix, a long, long trip of over 10 hours flying time.