Florence airport is tiny! We have never been here before and Craig said its no bigger than Invercargill :). Well maybe a little bigger :)
We have decided to get a cheap little hotel for the night, as near as the airport as possible, because tomorrow morning we pick up our rental car and head south.
The outside of Hotel Francia is shabby chic but inside is newly renovated. Did I mention the gorgeous young Italian man on the front desk? :) The room was comfy and the breakfast the next morning was good. Off to the airport and the rental car :)
The car is a Fiat Bravo 1.6L diesel and brand new.
A few minutes siting in the car in the carpark and then Craig has to drive. Its been 7 years since our last European experience! Left hand drive manual car on right hand side of the road!
Rather him than me!
We manage to negotiate our way out of the airport system and onto the autostrada and head towards our next adventure.
We arrive at the small village of Loro Ciuffenna without any problems and as we are a little bit too early to check in - decide to have a glass of wine in the piazza a few 100 metres from the resort.
The resort was way more gorgeous than we were expecting. It is a lovely sunny spring day and we have a walk around the property.
Its a bit too cold to swim yet but the pool is lovely. It also catches all of the afternoon sun.
We have the mandatory 'orientation and happy hour' and then its time for dinner. We decide to eat at the resort dining room tonight as its close and its also starting to rain.
The whole town of Loro Ciuffenna is like straight out of a tourist magazine. Its cute, old, unusual and has many interesting little nooks and crannies. There is a lovely little river that goes through the town and has been used to power flour mills and an iron works over the years.
Lots of lazy cats sitting on warm paving and also lots of slightly scruffy little cars parked in interesting ways. Give the Italians a tiny little spot and somehow they will find enough space to park a car :)
On Sunday, most of the little shops are closed and so we head off for a drive into the countryside instead. Its drizzling and a lot cooler than we have been used to. The weather in Germany has made us soft!
We find a nice wee provincial road to explore and enjoy the countryside. A mixture of olive trees and grapevines just starting to sprout. Lots of activity and planting going on - its spring!
Have a wander into our wee village in search of some dinner and find a lovely little trattoria below ground level. We dine on rare beef for me and crumbed rabbit pieces for Craig. Lovely and intimate little place.
Today we went exploring in a different direction towards Arezzo. It was a beautiful drive along a small narrow provincial road and we detoured a few times to get the feel of the area. Arezzo itself was not overly spectacular but still pretty on a lovely spring day. We enjoy a nice lunch of bread and ham and a bowl of olives from a tiny wee cafe on a cobbled, steep side street near the Duomo.
We went inside the Duomo for only a few seconds before everyone was ushered out for the siesta! So no inside pics. The outside is very plain, but the quick glimpse we had of the inside was of a gorgeous gothic? church with a lot of painted frescoes on the ceiling. Shame not to see more but it was going to be closed for 3 hours and we decided not to wait around.
This picture above is one of the original entrance gates into the walled city of Arezzo. Most of the walls are still fairly intact. Not bad after nearly 600 years!
Now I am up to date with my blog as I sit here, in real time, drinking a glass of local chianti and writing this before we go in search of another interesting little place to have dinner tonight.
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