Sunday, April 4, 2010

We wake early in Lucca because Jeannie has something she really wants to do today and we also have to rent a car for the drive to Pienza. It is Thursday morning, September 10...

We head out to rent bicycles so once again we can enjoy the pedestrian/bicycle atmosphere of Lucca. Jeannie wants to ride around the town at least one more time and we will ride to the auto rental to line up our car for this afternoon's drive.

To some who read this blog it may seem that we move around quite a bit and often (in our Italian travels) but Tuscany (one can drive from the extreme points in Tuscany to each in less than three hours) and Italy are quite small compared to say, California, USA. Italy is about the size of Arizona and one can actually drive from Milan to Rome in a few hours and from Rome to Naples in an hour or so. The total distance on the "autostrade" from Milan to Naples is about 500 miles or a eight hour drive here in the states...in Italy that same 500 miles could very well be a six hour (or less) drive! It is not uncommon to find travel on the autostrade moving along at 160 KPH or 90 MPH plus!!! And trains...well even if one travels on the intercity (stay away from the local trains unless they are the only ones to serve your intended destination) the slower of the "express" trains, the travel time by rail with train changes and stops from, say, Venice to Naples is less than 8 hours for a trip of about 450 miles, and will cost as little as $155 (for a second class ticket). The latter may not sound like a bargain, but the tolls on the autostrade are very high and auto rental is not any cheaper than here in the US.

But I digress too much...

Lucca, Thursday AM...we ride our bikes around the town one last time and head outside the gates of the "old" city and into the high traffic streets of the "new" city. The traffic is scary after the protected environment within the walls (with few cars inside) but we arrive at the auto rental unscathed and meet with a very nice Italian family (sister-brother) who own and run the shop and rent a really "cute" little Fiat Panda (I wanted a high powered Lancia sedan but the budget did not provide for such luxury). The proprietor offered to drive the rental car to the gate of the old town and meet us there as we returned our bikes to the bike rental and collected our luggage.

We are excited, as we are off the Cretaiole, an agriturismo we anticipate will be a grand experience. We have read about and heard about these working farms that take in paying guests and are truly looking forward to a new, non hotel/B&B Italy agrarian experience...we are surprised and pleased when we arrive but I will save that story for later in this blog! First the drive from Lucca to Pienza...all of 200 Km or about a 120 mile drive. We, however, plan to take our time and roam through the back roads to Pienza and enjoy the sights along the way. We will bypass Siena (bypassing Florence as well) exiting A11 and Raccordo Autostradale Siena-Firenze at Poggibonsi and traveling the most of the rest of the way on SR2 which will wind through the countryside past and through small villages passing by and through Monteroni d'Arbia, Buonconvento and San Quirico d'Orcia and skirting Montalcino before arriving in Pienza and locate Cretaiole...

At this point of our trip what we know about Pienza and Cretaiole is that Pienza is famous for cheese (little did we know) and Cretaiole was a recommendation of friends who had stayed twice and we trust they match our preferences well. Cretiaole has a very nice website...

http://www.cretaiole.it/index.en.php

My next post will tell the short story of our drive to Cretaiole and our arrival in Val D'Orcia, Tuscany!!!