The invitation was enough to snap an avid cyclist to attention. |
 Austin-Lehman Adventures asked me to shoot photos and video of their Tuscany Bike Tour. Two weeks later this photographer was packed and on a plane to Florence for a week-long working exploration of somewhere I had never been. |
Travel experiences sometimes includes traveling with a few friends or solo. This time it was a guided tour, the only way to go. With all of the accommodations and sights mapped out for six nights and seven days, this group of seven, thanks to our guide, just relaxed and took it all in. Let's face it. If you're a first-time visitor to a country or region, as I was to Tuscany, there's a fairly predictable check list of must-sees, and you can amble into long sight-seeing lines on your own or let a tour guide arrange when is the best time to visit. In the end you may indeed have more quality time in a guide-controlled setting.
|
FLORENCE:
| Florence is a good example. Cathedrals, art, statues and fashion are its best known attractions. Were it not for George Boekhout, our guide who maneuvered us into and through the heart of this Medici realm, it could have been overwhelming. Everywhere you look there is a brilliant marble church, a statue and art by Michelangelo, fresco paintings and fashion stores galore. We ended our guided walking tour at the church of Santa Maria Novella where Michelangelo first started painting. After an inspirational first day of exploring this beautiful city, George took us to the best gelateria in Florence for a tasty ice-cream treat. |
Although the heart longed to linger in Florence, our bicycles beckoned us into the neighboring hill towns. Or was it the other way? Did the heart-wrenching beauty of the hills beyond the Arno implore that we venture on? Or was it the anticipation upcoming from four people in our group who would be trying out new electric bikes (E-bikes) that they requested in advance to assist in conquering the Tuscan hills? That question may never be answered. Suffice it to say that E-bikes were an instant hit, providing the option of extra power when cyclists needed a little boost on those Italian hills and assuring that anyone can cruise the Italian countryside.
|
| Traveling by bike allows you to see and feel with all of your senses where you are, to the extent that it really doesn't matter where you are going because you are so very present in this moment, wrapped into Tuscany, its vineyards and ancient homes and villages as far as the eye can see! |
SIENA
| Upper Left: Piazza del Campo |
Upper Right: City street. |
| Lower Left: San Domenico |
Lower Right: Grand Hotel Villa Patrizia |
| Our base for three nights was the 18th century Grand Hotel Villa Patrizia on a hilltop just out of Siena, a medieval queen. Wisely the itinerary stationed us at this secluded, intimate lodging where we had time enough to imbue the essence of why we were in Tuscany in the first place. At any time our bikes beckoned us alone or with a new-found friend to explore our surroundings when we weren't engaged with a local guide who led us on foot around Siena. A favorite site was the 505 steps to the top of Torre del Mangia, said to be Italy's second tallest bell tower. Here is Piazza del Campo where the world-famous Palio di Siena (a horse race) is held annually, a custom since 1701. |
SOVICILLE AND SINALUNGA:
...AND THERE IS MUCH MORE:
| One of the most beautiful rides of our trip was the return after lunch to Siena. We had a tough hill to climb outside of Chiusure; but even after everyone had a big and long lunch fellow bikers (more than twice my age) on the E-bikes buzzed by. It's amazing how the new electric bikes level the playing field. |
One day took us to north to the town of Colle Val d'Elsa on a pilgrim route from Rome to Canterbury. Here there is a street called Via Vittorio Meoni; if you can pedal your way up to the top, your guide will gift you a bottle of wine. It's a brutal, winding street that is very steep. But one of the guests made it to the top in one piece and earned himself a nice bottle of wine. Don't worry; there's an elevator at the bottom.
|
SAN GIMIGNANO:
Above Photo Credit to: Wikimedia Commons = Basilio Speziari |
Our ride continued into the town founded in the 3rd century by the now-vanished Etruscans. San Gimignano is perched on a steep and narrow hillside. At our first glimpse, one of my cycling partners said, "This is why I came to Italy, this is what I wanted to see! It's like a fairytale."
We spent the night here and discovered that our hotel, La Cisterna, housed in a 14th century building, had quite a treat in store, views from our balconies that seemed to command all of Italy.
|
CERTALDO AND SIGNA:
| Our last day was a cycle into Certaldo and a ride on the funicular to the top of the town. Then we rode to Signa, where right before our last big hill of the trip, one of my fellow bikers in a pink jacket--and on an E-bike -- whizzed by a professional-looking biker (not in our group) on the way to the top. You can only imagine the look on his face! |
| "Basta" ("Enough", as the Italians say). And I haven't even gotten to crostini ai funghi porcini, ossobuco alla Toscana and homemade torta, washed down with a glass of bold Chianti or crisp Vernaccia di San Gimignano. |
| PHOTO CREDITS: Austin-Lehman Adventures, Jonathkan Burnham and as noted. |
|
Europe
