Day 0 – Thursday/Friday: Getting to Cortona
The morning of our trip we found out that our MSP to Paris leg was delayed, leaving us only 50 minutes to get through Charles De Gaulle Airport and customs. Fearing that was too tight and that it could get delayed further, Belinda called Delta to try to get to Florence via a different route. She found a flight leaving three hours earlier (at 1pm flying to JFK, then to Rome and then Florence) and arriving three hours later than our original arrival time. The JFK to Rome flight was over sold and we had an opportunity to fly out of JFK the next day for a $3000/ person credit. Tempting, but we were excited to get to Italy and meet Moody and Jo (and the rental car was in Belinda’s name, so Moody and Jo would have been stuck in Florence for the night – which would not have been a great start to their trip).
Moody and Jo flew through Switzerland to Florence and all the flights arrived arrived on time, putting us 5 minutes before Moody and Jo (MoJo for short). Belinda got the rental car paperwork started and Matt met MoJo in the airport. Then we headed into Florence city center to get our race packets for the 10K race we had on Sunday. We ended up having difficult time finding parking, so Belinda dropped MoJo and Matt off to get the packets.
When we got back to the car and started the drive to Cortona. The drive was supposed to be 1hr and 40min when we started. There ended up bring a traffic jam and we ended up getting delayed by about 40 minutes. We took the opportunity and called Lily, since we were almost in the same time zone. Moody was not feeling good on the ride and laid down to rest when we arrived in Cortona. Matt Belinda and Jo went out to explore and find dinner. We found, as you would expect, an Italian pizza place and ordered a pizza. As it was baking, we walked around the town for about 15 minutes. Once it was done, we went back to the apartment(sold via a charity auction for STARBASE) for dinner and then to bed at about 9 after a long day of travel. Both Matt and Belinda woke up at about midnight (6pm cst), luckily Belinda brought Melatonin that knocked us out until 8am the next morning.
Day 1 – Saturday: Chocolate Expo
The plan for today was to visit the Chocolate expo in Perugia. Before we went, we wanted to explore Cortona and go to the grocery store. There was also an open air market in the Piazza Republico. Vendors were selling produce, meat, cheese, clothes and crafts. We ended up going to a meat and cheese vendor to get prosciutto and cheese. Then we went home for an Italian breakfast of fruit, cheese, bread and prosciutto.
After breakfast, we hopped in the car and went to the chocolate expo. We ended up parking at a mini-metro station but decided to walk instead because the line for the mini-metro was extremely long. It was a mile and a half walk, but what we didn’t realize was it was all uphill. It was a nice walk, and at one point we were walking through a park under the metro that ended being a dead end and required us to back-track a bit. Once we made it to the expo we tried some Baci chocolate and an Italian version of a funnel cake, called an Eppi. We then explored the medieval underground fort., Rocca Paulina, and walked back to the car.
Since we had a little daylight left, we decided to stop at the town of Castiglione on Lake Trasimeno. We got there minutes before the sunset and took a bunch of beautiful sunset pictures. We then climbed another big hill up to a medieval tower and giant clock. Unfortunately the tower was closed but even from where we were able to view the quaint village. We found a WWII memorial where the allies bombed the town to stop a German retreat.
Back in Cortona we did a little shopping and picked up sandwiches from a hole in the wall vendor. We went back to place for some wine and sandwiches only to discover that we couldn’t find corkscrew for the bottle of wine the rental company gave us. Plan for Florence tomorrow includes getting up at 5am to get to the a 10k run.
Day 2 – Sunday: Florence Triathlon
Getting on the road by 5:30am wasn’t so hard because our bodies were already messed up with time changes and we were all excited for the day in Florence. The streets were pretty much dead when we were arrived at 7am parking spot. We crossed the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) that had jewelry shops on both sides of the bridge and, as we would later learn, it has a Medici “skyway” that connected their palace to their church.
After getting ready dropping off our checked bags in the shadow of Santa Maria Nuevella church we lined up in this Starting Gate waited for about 30 minutes for our race to begin. The course crossed multiple bridges and ran by almost every major landmark in Florence. The race ended at the Florence Cathedral.
Matt ran it in 51min. Joe and Moody ran together except for the last kilometer and finished in about 66min. Belinda finished 6 kilometers and called it good. It was fun to see people dressed up, like an entire team from Korea (who we copied their stretches before the race) to a guy dressed up as a chicken. It was also nice that all the streets were shut down, keeping traffic out of the city and in general the crowds down. It was also a party atmosphere at the finish with music.
After getting changed and dropping stuff off at the car, we had coffee and then went to the Florence Cathedral Baptistry. We saw the Gates of Paradise, the pair of gilded bronze doors designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti. Inside the Baptistry, the ceiling mosaic was being maintained so we could not see the actual dome.
Then we want to the Cathedral Bell Tower which was 413 steps to the top. After the 10K we took a few stops up during the ascent. At the top there were beautiful views of the cathedral and of the city.
Then we grabbed lunch at a café. (Paninis, lasagna, Greek salad and some rigatoni with coffee and milkshakes)
Then we went to the Florence Cathedral Museum, where most of the important statues from the exterior of the cathedral and the baptistry were relocated (to prevent environmental damage), to learn more about it’s construction. Suffice it to say, but Brunelleschi was an amazing architect and inventor. There were three sets of doors, which had relief sculptures of Old Testament stories, the life of Jesus and the life of John Baptist.
After the museum we went on a bike tour of the city. Our guide, Julia, took us around the city for two-hours. She provided interesting facts, like the Medici skyway, and interesting locations, like Dante’s church.
On the way back to the car we looked at a sculptures outside of the Uffizi museum, including a copy of the David and Neptune. Also a statue of Perseus with Medusa’s head.
Then we drove to Saint Michael’s piazza, which had another copy of Michelangelo David and a great view of Florence at night. It was a really packed day and we termed it the Florence Triathlon with a Run, Climb, Bike; with Jo logging 27,000 steps!
Once we arrived back at Cortona we cleaned up and went out to dinner at one of the many highly rated restaurants in the city, Taverna Pane e Vino. We had some wine, pasta and bacon cheese fondue.
Day 3 – Monday: Relaxation Day
Moody and Jo woke up early and got pastry from a shop. Belinda and I slept in until about 8am. Then we took a 1.5hrs drive to a winery in Montalcino for a tour and lunch. The winery was the at the Trecerchi castle. They produce Brunello wine that can only be produced in this county, they are a smaller winery with a newer label but provided a great experience. We had the tour and lunch with a couple from Boston and a family of four from Alabama who were on vacation with the extended family of 18 people. It was a fun lunch with good Italian food (and array of bruschetta, charcuterie plate and pasta). The area was picturesque Italian country side and it was a nice drive while listening to Moody’s Rocky Roggiero Renaissance podcast.
After we got back to the apartment, we went shopping and Belinda bought the shoes that she saw a couple days before. Joe tried on a couple leather jackets, but nothing was quite right. Then we had a cook come to the apartment and prepare a dinner, which included bruschetta, a gnocchi with ragu (Italian meat sauce – not the stuff from the bottle) and tiramisu for dessert. She also brought two bottles of wine, of which the 4 of us only finished about 2/3 of it.
It was a very relaxing day, particularly after the Florence “triathlon” that we did the day before.
Day 4 – Tuesday: Experience Day
Today we had planned experiences of horseback riding and a pasta cooking. Matt went for a quick jog in the morning and saw a bunch of churches and Monasteries in Cortona. Then we were on the road by 8:30am to ride horses North of Arezzo. The Google map led up to a field with a couple horses in it, but no apparent barn or house to go to. After being confused where to go, we saw a lady flagging us down from the field. Her name was Olga and she was our guide. She was from Poland, but loved Italy and decided to move there when she was 16yrs old. The first half of the ride up the mountain was into a national forest. It was fog filled, but the way back down the fog burned off and we saw beautiful views of the Italian countryside.
Olga recommended a restaurant in the next town, so we headed there for lunch. The owner of the restaurant had posters of her competing in various Italian cooking shows. The food was pretty standard fair, but was delicious.
We then went to the City of Arezzo, which we heard had a Christmas market. Once we arrived, we found out that the market was only open Th-Su, but the town had a Medici fort and churches and many historic buildings. We walked around town for a couple hours and then left for dinner.
Since we were going to arrive at dinner too early, Belinda recommended we stop at an old Roman bridge at sunset. On the way there, a wild Boar ran onto the road in front of us, allowing Belinda to test the Audi Q3 breaks. Luckily the boar got scared and ran back into the field. When we got to the bridge we found out that it was from the 12th century and is believed to be the bridge that is in the background of the Mona Lisa.
After we got done exploring the bridge, we went to dinner at a persons home. It was a chef(Dina), her husband(George) and her sister(Chiara) (who could speak English). We made ravioli, tortellini and some tagliatelle. There were appetizers, crostini, three pasta dishes and then a couple rounds of dessert. With wine, music (mostly the succession sound track) and a lot of conversation. It was the perfect way to enjoy our last night in Italy because the next day we travel to Greece.
Day 5 – Wednesday: Traveling to Greece
In the morning, we ate the rest of the food we purchased, packed up and left around 9am.
We had a couple hours to kill before our flight, so we went to the hill town of Orvieto, a town that the Italian’s recommended on the way to Rome. We took a funicular up to the town and explored a fort, a beautiful church and then walked through the main street. We finally had time to get gelato, which was delicious. Then we left for the airport. At the airport, Moody and Jo got us into the sky club for lunch. Then it was off to Greece to see Lily!
Ciao Italy!