On Wednesday we returned from nine stunning, charming, delicious, fragrant and tiring days throughout Tuscany…. Tuscany is truly beautiful, the landscapes, the villages, the towns, the roads, the vineyards, the hills, the food and wine of course, the people, everything. It broadens the heart and opens the soul… 9 days with 3 truly stunning places to stay, but the roads there are winding, going up and down between the hills and we walked a lot every day, a lot, all in easy… Still recovering 🙂
We had 2 bonus tickets from El Al that we had to use by the end of June and the snow fell on Tuscany. We booked the tickets on the last day available, at the end of April, and hoped for the best… The flight was scheduled for at something like six in the morning, the taxi was booked for two and a half in the morning and what happened on Sunday night? Of course, an attack on Iran, missiles from Iran and Yemen, cancellation of classes and total uncertainty… To pack or not? Around midnight we decided to pack, we arrived at Ben Gurion Airport, ready, boarding began, the plane was full, everyone was seated, it was 5:50 AM and suddenly the cell phones were screaming, a deafening alarm at Ben Gurion Airport and the entire plane, like other nearby planes in the sleeves next to it, was evacuating back to the gate… A nightmare, a movie, not really a protected space, but at least not on the plane…. We were on our cell phones, worried about the kids, everyone was fine… 50 minutes later we took off, hoping for the best, hoping mainly that it would be quiet in Israel and that they wouldn’t close Ben Gurion Airport again…
We started from southern Tuscany, the classic and picturesque Val d’Orcia region with 2 nights in the Montefelciano area. On the way there we stopped twice, in the towns of Sant’Angelo with its painted houses and Civita di Beniorgio, a medieval castle town in a beautiful location on top of a hill and can only be reached by a pedestrian bridge of 100 meters. 300 meters. Great opening day 🥳
We visited stunning towns such as Montepulciano, Monticello, Banu Viani, Pienza, walked along the river in Colle di Val Este and of course stunning Siena… We drove along the beautiful roads with cypresses and all kinds of beautiful monasteries and beautiful viewpoints between all the vineyards and orchards… Really? Like moving inside a picturesque postcard 😊
From there we moved to the Chianti Road, settled in the Greba di Chianti area and walked through the various towns along the Chianti Road – Greba in Chianti, the beautiful little Montefiorala, Radda in Chianti, Limola, Castellina, Panzano… We visited the city of towers San Gimignano and of course Florence… It was a lot of fun, but our pace was not fast and there were stops for food, drinks, shops, galleries, museums, wineries, absorbing the views and surrounding viewpoints, etc. And of course the Saturday market in Greve.
From Chianti, full of hills, vineyards and wineries and winding roads, we headed north to Lucca… We visited a stunning villa, Villa Reale, which was not on the plan and we decided to include it just the night before and it was one of the gems of the trip, we walked around Lucca itself, a beautiful and pleasant city, the Leaning Tower of Pisa which, to our surprise, really has a wow factor and we also arrived earlier to see the beautiful Devil’s Bridge…
It was great fun, from a culinary perspective we spared no effort to taste and eat everything 😂😂… Of course with wine, cocktails, ice cream and desserts 🥂… We walked a lot every day, so it offset a bit… Bella Italia 🥰
These are the three excellent places to stay during the trip
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CUGUSI B&B:
Corte Di Valle:
Villa La Preziosa:
