Travelogue Toscana Umbria 2010

WED 13.10.10

7 am. adjusted our new Nokia 2710 mobile phone with navigator with destination Firenze. Some traffic jams before arriving at the border between Switzerland and Italy. Just before entering the circular motorway in Milan our navigator went off control. Just too bad, but we got all the way down in direction Bologna. Had a sandwich with Parma ham somewhere outside Parma. Arriving at Firenze arround 3 pm. By the way, our mobile found control again once leaving the Milano motorway maze. After driving round a roundabout three times we finally found a car-park building somewhere outside the city center. Was it called 'Parterre'? Think it was, at Piazza della Libertá.

Hotel Benvenuti was at that square. Tripple room with breakfast was OK. Well, it's a half an hours walk to the Piazza del Duomo. Before sunset we had about two hours to go. Piazza del Duomo: the cathedral is a huge construction, think the cupola is higher than the clock-tower. Special: Its green and white striped marble facade. Piazza della Signoria: Famous David, Palazzo Vecchio and its tower, Fontana di Nettuno and special: Perseus with the head of Medusa in his hand. Ponte Vecchio on river Arno is a perfect subject for pictures. Church Santa Croce: no comment.

Apero at the Piazza del Duomo. Dinner at Lorenzo de Medici (Via del Melarancio 10): Ravioli in Salsa di trufa, bistecca al aceto balsamico: very tasty, we recommend.

THU 14.10.10

Breakfast at hotel Benvenuti; worst Cappuccino I've ever had. There was a short excitement because of our backbag which we thoght we have left on our breakfast table but suddenly disappeared, all documents, money inside....Lucky us, we left it in the hotel room. Clouds, no sun outside, so we decided to drive south and leave Firenze. Navigator guided us out of the city. An hour and something later we got into Castiglione del Lago. A small town on a hill at Lago Trasimeno which is one of the biggest lakes in Italy. First time sun and a temperature around 20 Celsius.

Arrived in Perugia in the early afternoon. What a city.... spread over two hills. Escalators, tunnels, Medieval walls covering the rock completely. On top of one hill is the Duomo and Plaza with ancient Fontana Maggiore opposite Palazzo dei Priori with its meeting room; its horrible modern chairs do not fit at all in the medieval hall. Walking down the steep alleys behind the Duomo you get to the Etruscan gate. There's also an old roman aqueduct on which you get to the other hill from where you could take marvellous pictures of the city.... if ever the sky would open up. Not mentioned the Etruscan well which is worth a visit.

Stayed over night at hotel Sant-Escolano not far away from the church with the same name. Place is recommended; friendly receptionist, close to the stairlift which connects to the upper-town from Pincetto parking lot. You get a free licence to park your car outside, close to the hotel. Dinner at Ristorante Ferrari; tasty truffle dishes.

FRI 15.10.10

So where are we; ....Perugia. Breakfast was good, better coffee than at Firenze. Went by car; first stop Assisi. Modern, huge parking lot somewhere under ground. Assisi is another town built on a hill. Main plaza is quite busy, ..church with tremendous pillars. ..walked down to the main attraction; Basilica di San Francesco. It's not big thing from the outside but inside .... what a masterpiece... 28 frescos from Giotto in the main church showing Francesco's live. You go down to the lower church and you'll be overflown by even more paintings: so for example the Last Jugement.

Spello is another town on a hill. We had cappuccino and some sweet stuff, when a man came into the ordinary coffee place, robed with Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, having his Ferrari parked outside and picking up his son. My wife was thrilled. .... Bevagna has a nice place, very ancient.... Montefalco has a church with Mummies in glass-coffins. Two sisters with crowns in one coffin and a man in another coffin. ...Trevi, another hilltown, in fact we had enough.....

Spoleto, the place we spent another night. Albergo Due Porte is in the lower part of the town, right next to the gate to Piazza Garibaldi...Ok for a night with car parked outside. Another walk up the hill to the cathedral. Ponte delle Torri is a huge medieval bridge..... 5:30 pm, daylight was bad, cloudy and foggy all the time, so we took the decision to stop sightseeing and go for an apero which we had in a Ristorante at Piazza Garibaldi. All sorts of Antipasti were exposed on the bar. All for free; well, if you buy a drink of course. Had another truffle dish at Piazza del Mercato, and Cinghiale (wild boar)... Arriving at the hotel we were surprised by a scorpion which was sitting in the sink.

SAT 16.10.10

Another day without sun. Our direction was Todi, a town built on rock; sounds familiar. We parked the car outside the town and walked up to the summit. What was built up there, guess,...a church. San Fortunato. There's a main piazza with Cathedral and Town Hall....Nothing more to say to Todi.

Now comes Orvieto. We wanted to spend the night there, but it was short after 12 a.m. and we decided to go on. We found the last space in a parking lot right behind the cathedral. A master-piece... Outside: the main gate bas-reliefs showing scenes of the Last Judgement,..gorgeous. Inside: Capella Nuova, Luca Signorellis paintings are just breathtaking. There's some busy alleys around the duomo where we had piadinas and coke. Worth a visit is Pozzo di San Patrizio, a well where you can walk down 60m. It's like a tower turned inside out....

Motorway A1 north. Two hours later, at about 4 pm. we were getting into Siena. Parked the car at San Francesco parking lot and took the stairlift to the town, which ...guess... is built on the hills. Found a place to stay over night close to Italy's most famous Piazza: il Campo di Siena. The tower of Palazzo Publico and a range of palazzi around the piazza in shape of a scallop shell... walked around the piazza, went quickly to take some pictures of the cathedral, had an ice-cream and back to the Campo for an apéro in one of the terraces on the piazza.

SUN 17.10.10

Left Siena in direction Switzerland. Had a first stop for breakfast in San Gimignano. There were some sunny moments in the town which is supposed to be Manhattan of the Middle Ages. We didn't really find the right spot to take photographs of the skyline.

Pisa. The Leaning Tower in the sun-light, lucky us. We took some pictures while Chinese bridal couples took theirs.

All the way up north. Traffic was not too bad. We left the sun in Pisa and got into rain. There was fog and rain until sunny Ticino... Did I mention traffic was ok. That was not true. We were stuck 2hrs in front of the southern Gotthard portal before we finally got home around 10:30 pm.