After the event

Now, back home after the fun, the travel, the excitement, time to pen one more blog entry.

First of all, to cover off on the days that followed...

We came back to Firenze a little tired but happy. Keith and Julie left fairly early on Friday morning, so it was a relatively early night on Thursday. Marie and I had a nice slow day in Firenze, doing a little shopping, experiencing the "famous" Friday hailstorm and a very nice seafood dinner at Pescheria San Pietro, just across the road from S.M.N. One of the best meals of the trip.

On Saturday we caught the train to Termini then the airport. This was A LOT BETTER than the combination that we had used on the way north via Tiburtina. We didn't have adjacent seats on our tickets for the segment from Firenze to Roma but in fact there were empty seats so we could sit together. Yes at Termini we had to put up with some unwanted attention from teenagers trying to "help" us, but not having to be eternally vigilant about luggage at every stop on the regional train made it a lot easier.

At the airport I had some hassles with carrying CO2 cylinders for my tyre inflater, but once that was sorted all went well. Arriving at Dubai I was whisked through to the hotel and had a good night's sleep before an uneventful leg (exit row upstairs on the A380) from Dubai to Sydney. Arrived home tired but OK.

Next to the credits...

First of all to my good friends Keith, Julie and Marie. The trip would have been much the poorer without each of you. Keith was an enthusiastic and constant cycling companion, never complaining, happy to go or to slow or to stop. Julie helped to organise, to make everything appear sorted, to bring a positive and supporting attitude when it was needed. Marie said "oh wow" a lot and had the energy to push on and experience (and to drink grappa), helping us to see Toscana through fresh eyes. Everyone was full of good humour and we joked and teased our way across Italy.

Second to the supporting cast:

• Giovanni, for taking us under his wing on the first two days, for his incredible generosity in helping us to experience "his" Toscana, showing us Lucca, turning a wet day from a negative into a positive: an unforgettable experience. We will never forget you. Thank you.
• Davide Biordi of Hotel Magda (and our taxi driver in Emilia Romagna) for going out of his way to make our logistics work well, including enlisting family help to make sure our beach trip turned out exactly as we wanted.
• The staff (and extended family) at Casa dei Grilli in Longiano for doing that extra bit to make our visit comfortable, enjoyable and memorable. I won't forget being served la cucina d'Emilia in the garden overlooking that extraordinary view.

Third to the extraordinary events, scenery, wine, food and culture of Toscana, Emilia-Romagna and indeed Italia:

• The Chianti Classico wine festival
• The Palio in Sansepolcro. I love the intensity of passion that Italians can bring to this sort of event and the late night celebratory parade. The drums and trumpets still echo!
• Italian drivers, the best in the world and the great roads that we used. Even just thinking about how as we left Firenze, the traffic on Via Senese was happy to just sit behind us would be impossible to imagine in Australia.
• Hills, olive goves, vineyards, towns and castles on hilltops, a postcard around every corner.
• Tartufi bianco e nero! Both in one day!
• Countless lovely wines, with perhaps the best being the Chianti Classico wines we drank at San Lorenzo markets.
• Climbing for 16km without feeling shattered.

Last to the technology and information that allows us (or at least me) to plan and execute such a fabulous trip from the comfort of my home PC, and the technologies that bring our fabulous bikes through such a trip with zero problems!

A day in Greve

It started poorly with nonstop rain till mid afternoon. After that it improved and the wine festival came back to life. I bought some lovely olive oil to take home.

Then I did an exhaustive tasting of the grappe and bought some. The afternoon was enlivened by the street musicians who are a feature of the festival.

Day 3 was better...

We woke this morning to a better forecast. Both Il Meteo and AccuWeather haf it pretty clear after 10am even though it was raining. The forecast was correct though: no rain! Actually we were a bit lucky as in several places the road was freshly wet as there were occasional passing showers.

View back towards Firenze

Leaving Firenze on the busy road through Porto Romano was fine. The drivers just sit and wait until it is safe to overtake. The back roads we used to get to Impruneta were good if a little steep in places. At Impruneta we stopped for cafe and cornetti. Easy mostly downhill from there to Strada in Chianti, then another climb before a very nice downhill to Greve.

Ride data

We checked in, had lunch and waited for those unavoidably detained by shopping in Firenze :-) The view out over the piazza was the promise of what was to come, with all the stalls built but not occupied.

At 5pm the Chianti Classico wine festival kicked off with typical Italian pomp including the brass band. Wines from 99 producers, probably 250 wines in total, all from the Chianti Classico region were available for tasting. On addition there were many olive oil producers.

We tasted some lovely wines and had a great time! The arrangement for tasting is that you get a tasting glass and a punchcard of seven tastes for €10. In truth though there is little incentive for the wine makes to punch your card, so if you don't offer it they often don't care. After all they are there to have you taste their product! All of the stalls were from Chianti Classico, some also showing other wines (Super Tuscans, whites, Vin Santo), some also with olive oil and some with grappa.

For dinner we went back to the hotel (not far as you can see) for a pretty nice dinner on the balcony again.

Best wine so far

A second evening at San Lorenzo, different food and even better wine!

Arriving in Florence

Our trip from Fiumicino to Florence was OK. We had to straighten out some hotel booking problems before we left though. The Frecciargento express was good although there was a shortage of luggage storage space. It was a short walk over the cobblestones to the hotel and we were welcomed for the first of three stays at Hotel Mario's.

After the short walk to the hotel we checked in and I unpacked the bike. All good. We walked down to San Lorenzo markets and had dinner there. What they have done in the restoration is fantastic! The lowest floor is still a traditional fruit, vegetable, meat, fish etc. market. The next floor though is altogether new: more a less a food court, but no Maccas here - all individual stalls selling specialty Tuscan food to eat at the tables there. A baker, a pasta maker, a patisserie, a cheese shop, one for seafood, one for sandwiches, a pizza place, a bar and a Chianti Classico wine bar, a cooking school and lots, lots more! Our meal of antipasti, gnocchi (exceptional) and watermelon all washed down with Chianti Classici. Wonderful.

There is a third floor which appears to be restaurants but we didn't go there.

Chianti Wine Festival

The details are now available at the web site here.

Clearly we can only sample from some of the 55 wineries and partake in a subset of the food events, given that we only have two days. Sounds like fun!

There is an associated program of events including fashion, food and music. All within around 200m of our hotel.