Three of Us in Italy – Final

No Heat for You

We arrived at the farmhouse in Tuscany around 6 PM, driving our rental car from a train station on the outskirts of Rome, braving several hundred kilometres of Italian drivers, including many traffic jams on the highway getting here. We were all pretty tired by the time we arrived, and we were met by the manager who ran the location to show us around.

As is expected, the building that we’re staying in is made out of thick stone, and the first thing we noticed when we were being shown around the rooms was how really cold it was inside. It was about 17 degrees outside as it was already evening and the sun was down. We saw that every room has a heating radiator, and we were all trying to figure out how to turn on the heat, with no luck. Barb contacted the manager, and we were stunned to hear that not only could we not turn on the heat, but it was illegal to do so before November.

We all thought that this couldn’t be accurate, but a quick Internet search later confirmed this to be the case. So for the past 4 days that we’ve been here, we’ve been wearing multiple layers while inside and usually short sleeves when outside.

Chianti Classico

From our base of operation in Tuscany, staying for 8 days, we got a chance to explore the area in our car many times. I hadn’t mentioned it yet, but between the last days in Sorrento and into Tuscany, all three of us have been sick for some time, nothing serious, and we’ve all stayed inside for at least one or two days trying to recover.

Our farmhouse is a few minutes’ drive from the charming small town of Castellina in Chianti, where we spent a lot of time having dinner and generally doing some shopping, both for groceries and other items. As you can tell from the name of the town, Chianti wine is grown locally in the area, and to support the local economy, Barb and I had several glasses while we were here.

The rolling hills around Tuscany are really gorgeous, with a string of small towns and wineries along any road in every direction. On the sunny days, especially the Saturday we were here, there were lots of people out cycling along the road. While we were here, we visited many places in the area: the famous hill town of San Gimignano, the larger town of Siena, and also took a train trip to Florence and spent the day there. I really liked Florence, with its rich history, where I could have stayed for several days.

When it was time to pack our suitcases and prepare to leave for our next destination, I felt that Tuscany was going to be the high-water mark for the most breathtaking scenery in all the places we’ll have visited in Italy. But I was wrong. It would be the next place we were going to that would take that crown.

The Lake

I’m writing this section on Friday morning, the 17th. Yesterday we left Tuscany and moved to our second-to-last destination, first returning our rental car, then travelling most of the day on several trains. We are now down to our last week, knowing that the end of our Italy trip is in sight. After renting another car, we arrived last night at the most promising of locations, with us staying right at the shore of Lake Como. We’ve stayed at a lot of places over the years, and this might be the best yet.

Perhaps one of the best-known locations in Italy, the area around the lake is dotted with small hamlets and medium-sized towns. Ferrys, water taxis and small private boats are regularly seen crossing the lake, and it’s easy to visit other towns on other shores.

After getting settled in, we woke up to the coolest temperatures yet, overcast so far, with an expected high of 16 today. The three of us walked to a local store to get some supplies, and it was still surprisingly warm. However, within a few hours, the sun would come out, making it another great day of weather we’ve had throughout Italy.

With the sun out and the weather warming, it was a great time to be out on the water, taking a ferry to the town of Bellagio. Bellagio is a popular destination, and there were a lot of people walking the streets. We were lucky to be able to find a small, out-of-the-way restaurant for lunch. Most of the restaurants on the busy streets were packed, and it was just by chance that we turned onto a street and found this restaurant.

The End

By the time our last Sunday, October 19th, arrived, it was time for us to leave the Lake Como area, drop off the rental car and take our final train journey to our last destination, the city of canals, Venice.

After arriving at the train station, we had made arrangements to take a water taxi to drop us off near our hotel. It was low tide, and it was a precarious drop jumping into the taxi, which was a boat with a gorgeous wooden hull. It was a great experience once inside, and we were able to stand and watch the gondolas go by as we slowly made our way to our hotel.

As we always do, we began to explore around our hotel. Venice, with all its canals, has streets zig-zagging, and there are bridges going up and down in every direction. No matter where your destination is, there is no direct route and turning left and right is always needed. The byproduct of this is that you’re regularly finding some unique neighbourhood or narrow alleyway.

One our first day, we eventually made our way to the iconic Piazza San Marco, the largest square in Venice with the iconic clock tower and cathedral.

Getting to see the other islands in the Venice area is easily done with water buses known as vaporetti , which work like regular buses but just happen to be boats. We took a vaporetti to the island of Burano, known for its colourful houses and many shops selling lace products. It was about a 40-minute ride, and there were about a hundred people who also disembarked at Burano, which was a popular destination.

For almost three straight weeks, we’ve had great sunny weather in Italy, day after day, in all of our locations. However, before we arrived in Venice, we knew from the forecast that our streak was going to end, and today, Tuesday, we’ve had non-stop rain. We were all wearing rain jackets, so we decided to get out and explore around the city. It wasn’t the most pleasant time to be outside, but we spent several hours walking around, got a bit wet, and it was still better than just staying in the hotel room.

And Finally…

As has been my custom, I’m posting this last chapter as we’re flying home tomorrow. The weeks have really flown by, and it’s hard to believe that we went to five very different places in Italy over the past three weeks, all really great choices. There’s so much of Italy that we could have seen, and it’s been our philosophy to have no regrets, but to return to our favourite countries and see other places.

There probably wasn’t a single day over the past three weeks that we didn’t eat pasta, sometimes twice a day. Wherever we were, we tried local dishes and were never disappointed. We’ll bring home a lot of good memories of the food we ate in Italy.

Unfortunately, all of us got sick at one point during the trip. Nothing serious, but we made several trips to pharmacies and bought a lot of kleenex, Ricola and other throat lozenges.

I’m looking forward to getting home and not living out of a suitcase. I have just about 2 months left before I retire at the end of the year, so this is the last trip for me while I’m still working.

By now, all of my photos from our Italy trip have been posted to my photo website here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following the Three of Us in Italy. We won’t be travelling again until next year so see you then.

Baden