Tuscany - my dream come true.. (Tuscany)

Member Name: kiwijo

Product:	Tuscany
Date:	11/08/00 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent tour guide, lovely scenery, filling lunch

Disadvantages: you may come off your bike if you overestimate a corner.

Of the entire length of Italy, my visit to the Tuscan region in April this year, was the absolute highlight.
Originally only planning 2 days to rush in, see Dave, drink some wine, eat some pasta - then head further south for the 'real' Italy.... we ended up staying for 5 days, reluctantly leaving, and vowing that we'd be back!!

Yeah, we did all the 'tourist things' - walking over the Ponte Vecchio at sunset, the queues at Michalangelo's David, etc etc.
Aside from all that - we did one other thing that made it a trip to remember. We cycled for an entire day around and through the Tuscan countryside... through generation's of vineyards, olive groves, castles, and the perfect sunshine which shone down on us all day. There was a group of 15 of us, all varying degrees of fitness, but willing to slog it out for the most breathtaking scenery (and it was breathtaking, literally... we'd just cycled 7 miles UPHILL!). Had a homemade authentic Italian lunch, and then proceeded to cycle 7 miles downhill.

The best part of it all was strolling around the city later that evening (stretching our muscles!!) having some more glacé, feeling we'd seen more than the 'average' tourist. We'd seen century old traditions, gone through the wine cellars, cycled the route where previously donkey carts had gone. And had the photos that only the others had on postcards.

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