According to the online English dictionary Macmillan holidays are a period of time when you do not work or study and do things for pleasure instead. It has been quite a while since I was on holidays. I mean real SSS holidays - sun-sea-sand holidays. Last summer I was busy with the Celta course and I was working on my thesis and the summer before I was volunteering in Ireland (with 15°C and constant rain it didn't really feel like summer), so it was about time I go on holidays.
Last week I spent a day in the charming region of Chianti, southern of Florence, with a lovely American girl, who was couchsurfing at our flat for a few days. After taking a train to Florence we took a bus to Greve in Chianti, a little village, which, after having it checked online, was promising excellent wine and a breath-taking view on Tuscan rolling hills. Considering we arrived in Greve at 11 a.m., we decided to discover the view first and then spoil ourselves with some wine .When we were walking the streets of Greve, we saw a sign that was supposed to lead to some kind of a belvédère. At first we had no idea where we were going as it seemed the road wasn't exactly lelading anywhere and being very steep it wasn't exactly relaxing and the belvédère was nowhere to be found, but I have to say it was totally worth walking 20 minutes uphill. Finally, we arrived in Montefioralle, a village so pretty it felt a bit surreal being there. However, while walking the narrow paved streets and admiring balconies and windows with beautiful flower pots I started wondering, do people really take that well care of their houses because of their own interest or is it only to keep the village attractive for the tourists? Sometimes things just seem too good to be true or too beautiful to be genuine. A landscape dotted with olive trees and vineyards offering exquisite wine and authentic cuisine sounds like a line taken from an American advertisement promising unforgettable holidays in Tuscany (ok, I've never been to the States, so I don't know if it really is that way, but it's just the impression I got). Roaming flowery streets made us hungry and we decided to have lunch in a spagetheria in Greve we saw earlier. The food and the wine were just as good as we had expected. Even though we had our bellies full, we still had some space for ice-cream. Also the ice-cream in Greve met our expectations as we found a gelateria where they also had Kinder chocolate flavoured ice-cream. Being a Kinder-chocolate fan I, of course, couldn't resist it. (I'm actually thinking right now I'd like either some Kinder chocolate or Kinder-chocolate ice-cream. I guess I'll be going to gelateria after having written this post). Satisfied with our little trip we gleefully turned back to Prato.
Montefioralle
the photo below: left: Marina di Alberesi; up and down right: seaside close to Piombino
Spending a day out of Prato woke up my travel bug and I couldn't wait to go to the seaside for the weekend. We were going to a place near Grosseto in the south of Tuscany where Legambiente was organising an annual festival called Festambiente. It's a 10-day festival to promote sustainable life, renewable energy, bio products etc. including also other events such as events for children and concerts in the evening. Officially, we were going to the Festambiente to work at the stand of Provincia di Prato, but as we had nothing to do during the day (we had to be at the stand only in the evenings), we were able to spend some time at the seaside. I didn't get much sun the first day as we didn't exactly have much time, but the second day ... oh, I got enough. Even a bit too much. My legs and my bum got so nicely sunburnt even now I have problems sitting and wearing jeans is pretty impossible at the moment. To make things worse, six new mosquito bites (tiger mosquitoes, not the regular ones) make me want to constantly scratch my legs. I know it'll be better within two, three days, but now it's just making me nervous.
The middle of nowhere (Tuscany)
Our house in the middle of nowhere
Another lovely thing that's awaiting me this week is my sister's visit. I haven0t seen her and her husband since I came to Italy which has been more than three months ago, so it's going to be soooooo nice to see them again. I remember two years ago, when I was living in Ireland and we hadn't seen each other for more than eight months and seeing her face after such a long time was ... well, it's quite indescribable. All in all, I'm counting down the days. I'm planning to make a chocolate pie when they arrive as a welcome surprise, but they don't know that yet. Unless they're reading this post this very moment ...
