Sin pecado

It’s a fact that I like to be in a foreign country on my birthday, it's been three years in a row now. ITSA VERIE NAAIS because I can easily escape the obligatory kisses at work, which is good. :) This time the trip was a birthday present from my dearest, and it took us to...... Tuscany! (Thanks darling!)

A quick overview of the cities and places we have visited:

* Day 1 : arrival at Amerigo Vespucci Airport (Firenze) - by car to Asciano (Castello Di Leonina) close to Leonina - dinner in Siena (restaurant Nello)

* Day 2 : “small” tour in the Crete Senesi area (took us all day) from Asciano - to Pienza (my favourite of all places we have visited) - to Montepulciano (dinner in a very touristic restaurant, but it had a nice view on Montepulciano) and back to Leonina castle.

* Day 3 : Relax at swimming pool - dinner in Siena (again Nello, because no other veggie option found)

* Day 4 : Asciano (for breakfast we tried to find a bakery and a bar for cappuccino, we ended up in a park with food from the local supermarket :p) - Monte Oliveto Maggiore (beautiful monastery with frescos) - dinner in Montalcino (Restaurant Il Grifo, nice food , terrible service, delicious wine from Montalcino)

* Day 5 : Three-hour drive to the coast (my idea :S) , lunch at Volterra (restaurant Africa, very friendly people, made a fantastic veggie salad for us)
- Destination : Cecina mare (sounded promising, gave me nostalgic feeling with the sunshade's and deck chairs, but very crowded), so we went further on to a beach between Cecina and Vada.. Even worse .. full of German tourists, but the temperature of the water was 'perfetto' and we got a tan, so not bad after all..
- Dinner in San Gimignano: I was hungry so we decided too soon, the result .. terrible food in "touristic menu" restaurant, looked like it had already been eaten. And it was my birthday.. Sniff sniff :(
- Back to Leonina castle to spend the rest of the night in lovely company and with a lovely bottle of Brunello wine. Made me feel a lot better. ;)

* Day 6 : Swimming, reading, tanning at the pool - Dinner in Siena, this time a nice restaurant 'Le Campane' with various veggie options, prosecco and staff that does not throw knives at you! :)

* Day 7 : Firenze - dinner in Siena (again restaurant 'Le Campane')
Our visit to Firenze was kinda short.. Due to the heat and a massive amount of tourists. We'll might come back some other time (in spring for example).

* Day 8 : last hours at the swimming pool - by car back to Amerigo Vespucci Airport - 17:00 fly back to Belgium


Some extra info for veggies visiting Tuscany:

I didn't spot any restaurants offering complete vegan dishes, it seems Italians are real meat-eaters. But here are some suggestions for veggies:

In Siena : Restaurant Nello – Via Del Porionne, close to the famous Plaza del Campo (one fish and one -very nice- veggie dish)
Restaurant Le Campane - Via Del Campane 6, also close to Piazza del Campo (several veggie (and fish) dishes)

In Montalcino : Restaurant Il Grifo – Via Mazzini 18 - I tried some kind of tagliatelli with cheese and mushrooms au gratin and it was really good!

And there's always the option to eat pizza, bruschetta etc.. But again, even their panini (sandwiches) are very often with meat.
There should be a really good vegan restaurant in the center of Siena. I didn't know that last week, bugger for us .. But good to know next time!

Some more info about the hotel Castello Di Leonina, in case you would like to visit it:

In general it's a nice hotel. The first room we got was La Chiocciola, a very small room with a very small closet (it wasn't big enough to contain 1/10th of our luggage). It could be enough if you are spending only 1 or 2 nights there and you are travelling light-packed. But if you plan to stay there for a week, it's insufficient. We asked the reception for a bigger room and got it: Il Drago, this room is dark, but certainly larger (and good enough for us).

The hotel was almost empty during the week, so we had the entire place for us, which is nice if you are not looking for company.
During the weekend more guests stay over, most of them Italian, so be warned.. Silence seems to evaporate when Italians are near. ;)

Funny fact: the swimming pool is outside the walls of the hotel, about 500m up the road. It looks a bit abandoned, and if you like club-animation this is certainly not your place to be. But if you appreciate a quiet and beautiful environment, it might become one of your favourite sun-bathing spots... the view is absolutely stunning!

Go to this hotel if you like: silence, nice views, nature, being alone.
Don't go to this hotel if you like: a good laugh with all the other(??) guests, animation around the pool, big luxury (you know, the real bling bling, here it's just nice and clean)

Finally: the staff was really friendly, unfortunately the breakfast very poor, and I would recommend to only book this hotel if you have a car available, because it's in the middle of f**king nowhere :D


Some 'warnings' for people that are inexperienced with Italy/Italians (like us):

1) Thanks to the winding roads in Tuscany a short distance can easily become a full day trip.

2) It seems to me it is impossible to find a bakery in Tuscany, apparently you have to buy pastry in a bar together with your 'café'(?)

3) Italians have the strange habit to just throw things towards customers.. Throw knives on the table, throw money on the counter.. After a few days you get used to it, and you can start throwing things back :)

4) Driving a car in Italy was a totally new experience to me, be sure you are confident enough in your driving skills before hitting the road.

5) Don 't visit Firenze in summer, it's too bloody hot.

6) Don't go into "touristic menu" restaurants (even if you are starving).

7) It is true that Italians are noisy. :)

Pictures from this trip in my next blog entry. The pics are mostly typical Tuscan landscapes, nothing special really (I was a bit disappointed).. But also photos of the frescos from the monastery in Monte Olivetti Maggiore. It's fun to make pics of frescos, they are really detailed. And I like the animals and little devils most, as you will be able to see very soon.

Ciao!
J.