Peccioli

Finally added and placed the photos in this one!

Friday 15 May

We rode to Peccioli from Castellina Marittima, a beatiful ride of only about 30km over the hills from the coastal plain to the next valley. We stopped for a celebratory photo on the ridge. Although the hills of Tuscany seem unrelenting it is nice to get away from the coast which is generally busier and not as pretty.

A buautiful ride.

Peccioli has some very narrow streets.

Looking for gelato as usual.

The local church.

Rod under the Communist Party flag.

Tracey cooking - I had to record that!

We weren't intending to stay in Peccioli, but we called in to a little tourist office where someone called Massimo spoke quite good English. We decided Peccioli, which is a very nice little town, was as good as anywhere to base ourselves for a few days. We are in a nice little apartment in for 3 nights. There is an internet point in the local library (free - I now have a library card!) where we updated our blog tonight but it is closed over the weekend.

Saturday 16 May

Today we visited Florence by bus & train. It is a beautiful city. We walked from the station via the central markets and the Duomo to the Uffizi Gallery. We had pre-booked tickets to the Uffizi Gallery (with assistance from our friend Massimo) and hardly had to queue at all.

At the markets.

Rod and I on the husband and brother chairs in a leather clothing shop.

The replica statue of David in the piazza near the Uffizi.

Spot Tracey and Rod?

View of the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi Gallery.

After the gallery we were making our way towards the Ponte Vecchio and we stumbed upon the start of a classic car race/rally called the "1000 Miglia".

We had a very good day, finding a good "supermercato" on the way home to stock up on groceries. A homecooked dinner of turkey fillets and veges tonight accompanied by our daily bottle of local red wine. Another important part of our daily diet is ice cream from a gellateria or tabacchi or bar or .... Italian ice cream is truly wonderful.

On the way back to the railway station.

Walking down towards our apartment - in the cream building on the left.

Staandard fare.

Sunday 17 May

Today we had a rental car booked (with assistance from Massimo) - a Fiat Panda, to bag a few hilltop towns. I had to ride 12km to pick up the car. Taking one wheel off my bike and folding everthing in the car that folded I was just able to get the bike and me in. We did a bit of a loop around the area, visiting Volterra, which is amazing but 100% dedicated to tourists.

Volterra

Voltera

In the alabaster store

We enquired at one of the alabaster stores about the cost of shipping a small bowl. Judging by the prices quoted they were either just not interested or they thought we wanted it shipped to the moon. Next we visited San Gimignano which is also amazing. So many ancient towers, so many tourists. Visiting the really must see amazing sights is something we agree you have to do to some extent when you have travelled so far and they are so close, but I think we are all happy to get it behind us and resume our riding. Planning an early start tomorrow as the forecast is pretty warm. We don't know exactly where we will get to, but we plan to head to San Mimiato first.