TUSCANY
ASSISI - CARRARA - FLORENCE
As we travel towardsTuscany
from Venice , the
countryside is very hilly and grape vines cover every bit of land possible. The
beaches which look like white sand from a distance are full of people sitting
under umbrellas on the white stones, fishing platforms jut out into the sea. It is very hot with very little wind but we
are heading towards the mountains in the west.
ASSISI - CARRARA - FLORENCE
As we travel towards
We stopped the night along the way then went west stopping
to visit Assisi .
There is a new motorway being built but it isn’t complete so we follow smaller
routes up and down, through tunnels and small villages. Finally we find the
highway from the south going to Assisi .
It is interesting to see the solar panels used in the
service stations on the highway to shelter the cars from the sun.
Coming out the car park we walk up about 100 metres and
through the gate then it is up up up.
It is a really beautiful town and the buildings have been
looked after.
I am not sure of how many churches there are,
they must be close to 15 we passed looking for the Basilica of St Francis.
Along the way we came across this beautiful small church.
Everywhere we go there are souvenirs of St Francis of Assisi .
It is a lovely town to walk through with lots of small lanes and stairs leading to more lanes and stairs.
The crowds are increasing fast and by the time we got back
in the car park there were 17 tourist buses parked.
We travelled west 60 k across to the North South Motorway via
Florence towards the north Tuscany
mountains to meet up with Paul and Christina who are staying in a mountain
village north of Lucca .
Our sat nav sent us past the famous marble quarries of Carrara . Michelangelo
created David from the beautiful white Carrara
marble.
On our way up and over the mountain we saw many trucks
loading up giant blocks of marble.
The road was very narrow as we went up up and over the
mountain hoping we wouldn't meet a big truck or a crazy Italian driver.
Harry performed well and I am glad that Kevin is such a good driver.
The tunnels have been hewn by hand many years go.
The clouds were coming down to meet us and seeing the
landslide area was a bit nailbiting.
I was very pleased to be up and over. Our sat
nav girl was having trouble pronouncing the town when we finally got there.
We had a very pleasant few days at Angela and Marks place,
swimming in the pool and trying the local pizza.
This is our view back to the mountains. The green is the
head of an old man who lay down and died of a broken heart and is part of the
village stories.
We caught the train down to Florence with Paul and Christine. Coming out
of the station there were people everywhere, horses drawn carriages and
rickshaw bikes waiting for customers, tourists checking out maps, all milling
around on the street. Shunning the horse drawn carriages (50 euros for 30
minutes) we walked around the corner and were soon mesmerised with the sights
in the Piazza del Duomo.
Our first site is wonderful, in front of us is Brunelleschi’s Dome on the Cathedral Santa
Maria del Fiore, Giotti’s Bell
Tower
The mosaic floor is amazing.
The painting of the Last Judgement.
From here
we walked through the city to see David and on the way we pass statues of David
everywhere.
The real
one.He is a bit bigger than I thought he would be.
Then onto
the Ponte
Vecchio the oldest and most famous
bridge over the Arno .
The bridge is lined with shops, traditionally mostly jewellers since the days of the Medici.
It survived WW2 but I think the weight of tourists may eventually sink it.
The bridge is lined with shops, traditionally mostly jewellers since the days of the Medici.
It survived WW2 but I think the weight of tourists may eventually sink it.
After all this history we walked back through the leather
shops and markets Florence
is well known .
Soon it was back on the train to the mountain top.
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