Travel: A Trip Through Tuscany

     Not so long ago, we took a "road trip" through Tuscany.  Our journey began from Antibes, France.  We drove on motorways that travelled along the Mediterranean coast, then up towards the Alps and skirting away to give a glimpse of the sea before reaching the western gateway of Tuscany.  The first stopover of this 10 day trip was to the walled city of Lucca.

Entering into Walled city of Lucca

     Fully enclosed and protected, the rampart walls that once were meant to  protect and defend, now offered residents and visitors a pedestrian walk like no other: shade trees, benches to sit and ponder away the hours, paths for cyclists and strollers alike.  Below, to the inside is a bustling medieval village with a church on every corner (or so it seemed to me!).  The pastry shops, the butchers, the Italian deli - momma mia, how beautiful the sight and smell of all.
     We spent two nights in Lucca and from there we made a lunch stop at the hardest-to-find, most-welcoming-of-all, tiny little restaurant at

LePrunecce, Montecatini Alto

the tippity top of the town of Montecatini Terme, Le Prunecce.  The food was superb, our server could not do enough for us!  He was all Italian charm! (In fact, we liked the restaurant so much that on our next trip to Tuscany, we made sure to stop here again for a meal!)
     After lunch our trip continued to the charmingly famous village of San Gimignano and we arrived to our hotel: Relais Santa Chiara (http://www.relaissantachiara.com/).  The hotel offers a choice of rooms:

A room with a view

some large rooms with smaller terraces, or a smaller room with a huge terrace overlooking the vineyards and hillside.  We opted for the small room with the gigantic view!  It was a short walk to the "walled" San Gimignano and upon entering through the portal, you felt transported in time.  History was alive here; shops were busy, tower bells were tolling, children were playing and old women walked arm-in-arm "piano-piano" (little by little) while chatting in low tones.  Every turn and twist of narrow

San Gimignano

alleys, every open square was living history.  And the view from the outer walls splendid - just what one imagines is Tuscany: green rolling hills of either vineyards to olive groves.
     We used the hotel as our home base from which to explore the Tuscan countryside.  We visited the towns of Colle di val d'Elsa, Volterra (famous Etruscan excavations), Sienna and Monteriggioni.  It was like an open history book; every turn, every village, every building

Monteriggioni 

seem to tell a history all its own.  I was in my glory...and the wines weren't bad either!  In fact, we loved the white wines - so refreshing under that Tuscan sun!
     After our week in San Gimignano, we were off to Bologna, home to the oldest university in Italy. Bologna

Covered walkway - Bologna

is a big city, with a historic city center - both bustling with action.  Again, the old was very old and amazing and some just absolutely beautiful.  We did a day trip to Parma (Parma ham?) and realized it was a wealthy town...and why not, Parma ham is world renown with a matching price tag!
     It was a lovely end to a lovely road trip...