Florence
Our first stop on the trip was Florence getting there wasn’t too bad given all of the disaster stories we had heard before leaving. Our initial flight from Edmonton to Calgary was cancelled due to bad weather, which then had us re routed to Toronto, then Montreal. In both Toronto and Montreal we had such tight connections – but did end up making the important connection in Montreal to get to Frankfurt and then Florence.
Not surprisingly, Ian’s luggage (the only checked bag) didn’t make it, but did arrive the second day. Thank goodness for the AirTag placed inside the luggage – with the chaos at airports right now, not sure if we would have ever been notified it had arrived in Florence.
Joanna and I having been in Florence did know what to expect – though going to the Duomo was new for us, as well as the volume of gelato consumed this time 😂
Tuscany – Montechiello
After 4 nights in Florence, we were on our way to Tuscany. Our rental van was picked up near the airport, and then we proceeded to drive first to Montepulciano where we picked up some groceries. Here is where the first snag of the trip arose – finding the house we were staying in proved to be a bit difficult, seemingly caused by google maps.
But once we were there – oh my. what a beautiful region, landscape and home we were in. As it was still very hot, we made maximum use of the pool at the property. Ian also rented a bike here, and got a couple of small rides in.
One incredibly fun part was visiting Podere Il Casale – a farm nearby where we got to make pizza all together, with the owner Sandra.
Lucca and Monterosso al Mare (Cinque Terre)
After we unfortunately had to leave Tuscany, we departed for Lucca. To do this, we drove back to Florence, dropped off the rental car, and then took the train.
Our reason for going to Lucca was simple – as part of the Lucca Summer Festival, Robert Plant and Allison Kraus were playing, and we decided to catch that. Staying only the one night in Lucca for that was well worth it!
The next morning we were off to Monterosso al Mare by train. I don’t think anything could have prepared us for how amazingly beautiful this was going to be.
We stayed at ”Buranco Agriturismo” – an amazing vineyard with restaurant just up the hill from the main old town. While common to do the hikes between the towns, we decided we wanted more beach time and chose to simply take the train to the furthest town and the ferry on the way back to see them that way.
I think we all agree we could have stayed here for at least a week. Unfortunately due to Lucca, our time here was only two nights.
Venice and Lake Garda
Our journey then took us to Venice – which was a big travel day of about 8 hours to get there.
Venice was of course lovely, with lots of various food eaten, and of course more gelato. Temperatures remained near or above 30, so we did our best to rest as well in the heat of the day.
Ian, Maddie, Clark and Gretchen did a “learn to row” class which was fun. We also visited the Peggy Guggenheim museum of modern art, the Doge’s Palace, and Louisa and Joanna went to the Galleria Accademie.
Lake Garda was probably the only slight disappointment so far this trip. The lake level for this year is very low, and as such, the beach and water quality wasn’t perfect. It very much reminded us of the Okanagan or Shuswap, but with not as nice water.
That being said, we still has a great time, and our accommodations were great.
