I still battle the idea of a Tuscan holiday. Not in a Lionel Shriver 'I loathe Kevin' sort of way but in the sense that it still doesn't feel like a holiday but more like a tour de force. When we settled on the Italian region of cheese and art and cypress trees as our destination, I envisaged horse rides over grassy hills, balloon flights in the early morning and picturesque drives. Only the latter materialised as the first was just ignored by my co-travellers and the second proved a little too expensive x3.
To paint the most accurate picture, it is challenging and exhausting but only if you come set on seeing EVERYTHING like yours truly. The area is full of quaint little villages which almost all have some jewel of a church or piazza but at one point they will blend in a mass of unrecognisable places. There is nothing I hate more than simply calling something 'that place', it means I haven't done my job as a tourist. So, if you plan on visiting, chill out and go with the flow, there's sure to be the perfect place to pop on your journey! Hopefully, this travel diary will only make it easier to decide :)
DAY 1: London - Milan - Bologna - Sesto Fiorentino
The flight was on the early side but hey, that only meant I could have pancakes in the airport which to be fair put a smile on my face for a few good hours. Yes, I am very easy to please in some respects. The drive from Milan to Bologna slightly long and tedious but my parents insisted on entertaining me (more themselves to be pretty honest) with stories from their eventful previous trips from their youth. Bologna was where I had my sights set on some bolognese pasta, for obvious reasons that need no further explanation. That being said, it was bloody hard to find and when we did, they weren't that great sadly. We arrived at our hotel in the outskirts of Florence late at night but I might do a separate post on that!
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| Morning aerial view of the Alps, yes please! Especially after pancake breakfast at like 6.30 |
