Lynn to Win

It’s a bright, sunny day, and we are on our way to Cinque Terre! Last night we were not so sure. First of all, one of the hikes between towns that our tour leader had planned for us is now closed due to heavy rains a couple of days ago. (Tip: Some trails are still closed from a major landslide a few years ago, and things change all the time – always check current status on http://www.parconazionale5terre.it). And if that wasn’t enough, railway workers gave notice of an impending strike. This could affect the trains we planned to take to the villages and in between them. Today only. But, they…

Pisa On the way to our next stay, we spent a few hours in Pisa to of course check out the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. Construction on the tower started in the 12th century. I climbed to the top of this tower the last time I was here many years ago. I remember the worn slippery steps to get to the top. Before the current trip, I checked back to my (film!) pics from last time and found this one I took of a friend at the top of the tower. Shortly after I climbed the tower, it was closed for almost 12 years to restabilize it, and lessen…

We took a day trip from Florence to nearby Siena, by bus. Siena is a medieval city centered by a clam-shaped square at the base of its sloping cobbled streets. Every summer, this square is home to a horse race called the Palio, pitting the different contradas (groups within the city) against each other. The winner is the horse who crosses the finish line first, even if it has no rider! It’s a huge event here. At the top of the slope, there is a huge church dedicated to St. Catherine, an influencer in the 14th century. Her head is enshrined here, since stealing and preserving body parts was the…

As in Rome, the museums and galleries must be booked. I chose to first visit the Uffizi gallery on our free day in Florence. On my first trip to Italy many years ago, one of the my most vivid memories is seeing the statue of David, by Michelangelo, the most famous sculpture in the world. He is a perfect massive statue made from a single block of marble, and he stands in the Accademia gallery. I remember gazing at him in awe. So, since I have already seen him, I decided I should see the equally famous Uffizi gallery first. Very near the Uffizi is Piazza della Signorio, a square…

We had to say arrividerci to Montepulciano the next morning. Some of us stopped at an elegant coffee house on the way down to see the amazing view from its terrace. From the bottom of the hill we took a bus to Chiusi, then train to Florence. Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance, the rebirth of culture in the 15th and 16th centuries. It’s home to world renowned art and architecture. And leather markets! Those markets were one of the things I remembered most from my last time here many years ago, and our hotel is nearby for convenient shopping. But, those markets seem really cheap compared to the…

So much more to see in Rome, but we have to move on. We took a tram to the Termini station, where internal and external trains and metro all meet. Trains go nearly everywhere in Italy, which makes it so easy to move around. Imagine if we had them in Canada, or the US, how much easier travelling would be! The train took us to a small city, where we got on a bus taking us to Montepulciano. This extra step is probably what makes the town a bit of a hidden gem. The medieval town (built in the 6th century) is set in the heart of the Tuscan countryside,…

I could have gone to see the pope in St. Peter’s Square but I wasn’t up for that. Instead, I took the metro train to the Trevi Fountain station. I had seen the fountain briefly on my Vespa tour, but just wanted to see it again on this beautiful sunny day. I decided to follow the crowds from the station, and ended up at the Spanish steps instead. The Spanish steps aren’t Spanish, they just used to lead to the Spanish embassy. At the base of the steps is the Via Condosi, a famous street full of mostly high-end shops. Some of the shops had lineups outside due to covid…

Getting There I arrived in Rome around 9 am with very little sleep – the flight attendants woke us up for breakfast around the time I would normally have been going to bed due to the 8 hour time difference. There is a regular train from the Rome Fiumicino airport to the Termini station in the city centre where my hotel is located. There you can connect to the metro, then you would walk about 15 minutes to the hotel – that might have been too much for me on no sleep! But knowing now what I didn’t know then, it would have been fairly easy and cheaper of course.…

Why Italy? I finally made it to Italy in October of 2021! How did I get there? Here’s my story….. I had booked a trip to Chile and Argentina in April of 2020 with G Adventures, a Canadian small group adventure travel company.  I’ve travelled with G Adventures many times and highly recommend their trips.  I had booked flights through Air Canada (which is my only choice for international travel from Regina).   Then covid came.  Just a few weeks before I was to leave, G Adventures and Air Canada informed me that the trip was off.  Both companies gave me credits.  This made sense to me, since if travel companies…