Part III of our Italy trip began with a drive to Florence via Siena. Siena is a 2 hour drive from Rome and we needed to be alert for all the mental Italian drivers who cut you up and beep at you at every available opportunity! Madness. Not only were the drivers interesting, but the one way road system was interesting too! Siena was beautiful, especially the medieval Piazzo Del Campo where the bi-annual horse race is held in July and August - 10 of the 17 districts in Siena compete against each other by racing their horses around the Piazzo 3 times, meaning the race lasts under 2 minutes. Quite amazing that such a short race can attract people from all over the world!
We had a lovely lunch in a little authentic Italian restaurant tucked up a side street before recommencing our drive to Florence to meet up with Brian and Polly by the rooftop pool - it was lovely to see them, and of course a beer, a nice view, sun and pool complimented the great company nicely. Florence itself is a pretty city, with the Duomo being the main feature in the heart of the city, and the Statue of David being the most famous of Michaelangelo's work. We did try and get in to see the original David and exhibition but we bailed out once we saw the long queue and opted for the fake one instead. Bad tourists!
Our night in Florence consisted of a rather expensive restaurant, where the boys tucked into an enormous steak (apparently this is the thing to do in Florence) and rubbing a piggy nose (Il Porcellino) so that we will return to Florence one day. I think we were meant to put a coin in it's mouth before rubbing it's snout so not sure if we ever will return to Florence again......!
We bid farewell to Florence in our hire car with the wedding ribbon still on - next stop was Lake Bolsena. This was a bit of a gamble booking this place - the guidebook described it as an Italian hideaway, where Italians come on holiday to escape the tourists!! Sorry Italians but we decided it must be a nice place and chose to stay here for two nights. We didn't know much about it, but decided to go with the internet reviews and book "Hotel Holiday"! We were all expecting a replica of Fawlty Towers when we arrived but it was really nice with a fantastic pool, just situated by the stunning lake. We couldn't have been happier. Not really much to report here - we spent a couple of days chilling out with our books by the pool, swimming in the lake, eating lemon sorbets and Calipos in true summer holiday style and eating the biggest pizza's ever. Seriously, these pizzas were taking over the tablecloth. A lovely little hidden gem that I would recommend to anyone visiting Tuscany. We could have stayed here a week!
Then onto our final destination - back to Roma! En route, we decided to stop into Orveito. Virna has recommended it to us and Brian and Polly were both keen to take a look. Turned out we had to get the funicular railway up to the town and what another little gem this was. Ancient architecture with lovely little streets and boutiques, it was great just to take a leisurely stroll through the town and see what it had to offer. The reward at the top of the hill was the stunning Duomo.
And so we return to Rome and we meet up with Bob's cousins David and Isobel, who are travelling on student budgets and are staying in hostels to try and save some pennies. Time to feel old and buy them some drinks and dinner! It was lovely to go back to the restaurant Virna had taken us to before and treat them to some yummy food, along with Brian and Polly. We also had the opportunity to buy them some fizz to celebrate Brian and Polly's recent engagement!
In Rome, we had our own funky little apartment in the Trastevere region, just 5 minutes walk from the hotel Brian and Polly were staying at. Very glad the apartment had air conditioning as the weather was staying at a consistent 30C - bliss! We arranged to meet up with B & P on Friday to do the tour of the Collosseum as we hadn't managed to do this on our first visit. Super roasting hot, we were ducking into shade whenever we could. Our tour guide was reasonably entertaining but I think he was more interested in telling us about Italians in general, rather than what went on at the Colloseum! In true tourist style, I bought the guide book and found out some other little interesting facts. Following the tour, we headed over to the Roman Forum. Pretty cool to think Julius Caeser was here years ago.
More Aperitivo before heading into the Trastevere region to a little pizza place that is a favourite of Brian and Polly's. Great pizza, way to much food ordered as usual and lots of wine made for a very funny evening, especially the entertaining part about David Lott!
Our final day was spent chilling out in the Piazza Navone with Bob's parents who very kindly treated us to lunch and a couple of beers, under a fan blowing out cool water. Off we popped to walk to the Spanish Steps to meet up with Brian and Polly again and we had to get out of the heat so what better excuse did we have for some Gelato? More beer, ice-cream and some wandering through the streets of Rome before bidding farewell to Maw and Paw in Law, and Brian and Polly and heading to the airport.
Absolutely fantastic holiday, great to meet up with family and friends, that was my third visit to Italy and I'm sure there will be a fourth!! xxxx
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