Backroads, Day 6, Odds & Ends

At the end of our first day of the Backroads Italy trip, I went for a swim in the Gulf of Poets. People were jumping off of these huge rocks into the water, but I was too nervous to jump because I could see more rocks under the water and I didn't know how deep it was, etc. (Ignore the beer in the foreground - this picture was actually taken at a different time, but it gives you an idea of what I mean when I say "huge rocks".)

So instead, I lowered myself gently, rock to rock, until I was at least waist-deep before jumping. That was a mistake. The rocks under the surface of the water were extremely sharp. I took the first picture at the end of Day 2 - you can also tell by my ankles how dirty we got while hiking. I took the second picture (of the cut on the bottom of my foot) at the end of day 3, after removing the second skin blister stuff (which is what made it possible for me to hike for the rest of the week).

Anyway, that's my excuse for opting out of the long hike on Day 2.

And here are some group shots taken by Rick.

Giulia, John, Ashley, Juliette (in front of us), Sarah, Andrea, Bruce, Eileen, Michael, Nancy, Nikki:

 Giulia, Nikki, Ashley, John, Bruce (back row), Andrea, Sarah, Alessandro (front row):

 same, but with Rick (the photographer) replacing Alessandro:

 Lorenzo (van driver/support crew), Juliette (American leader), Alessandro (Sicilian leader):

 The whole gang at lunch one day:

Bruce & Eileen are from New Jersey. Nancy and Michael are from New York. Nikki has lived in Iowa and Wisconsin and is about to move to Hershey, PA. Rick and Suzanne are from Chicago. Andrea and Sarah are from Toronto. It was a great group. I think trips like this tend to attract like-minded people - at least you're going to have hiking and a sense of adventure in common. 

 A photo Rick took of us:

Day 6. We opted for the sleep late and enjoy the hotel option. The hikes covered some of the same ground we had hiked the day before, and it was just so hot. We preferred to shower, pack, and get ready to go, since our flight was at 2:30 that afternoon.

 So we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and spending some time working on emails/blogs on the beautiful hotel grounds.

 There were a few fields of sunflowers in Tuscany. They were just never facing the right way for me to get a good shot of a field with vineyards behind it.

All in all, this trip was amazing! I highly recommend Backroads to anyone. Start saving your money now. And I highly recommend taking off with your spouse (without kids) for a couple of weeks. :)

Backroads, Day 5

Last full day of the trip!

Lovely breakfast:

Huge bell peppers at a produce stand in Radda:

Fabrizio hosted us in his shop this morning for a balsamic vinegar tasting - one on cheese and one very special (and expensive) variety on gelato with strawberries. 

Nancy borrowed John's hat, so then she matched her boyfriend Michael. So cute!

Tuscan hills (and Tuscan sun beating down on us!):

Someone's garden with a "vin box":

We hiked up to this church (Pieve Santa Maria Novella)...

...where a beautiful picnic awaited us! Juliette and Giulia spent the morning going to markets and delis and preparing this fantastic meal:

Then we hiked on to Volpaia:

Most towns and some spots on trails had a brass tap with cold drinking water available to the public. At this one, several of us held our heads under the faucet for a bit of refreshment. 

Backroads, Day 4, Part 2

Wednesday evening, a wine expert named Fabrizio came to the hotel to give us a wine tasting. He spoke excellent English and we learned quite a bit in the hour that he spoke. 

These are the wines we tried - a Chianti Classico, a Super Tuscan, and a Brunello. I think he said #1&3 are 100% Sangiovese grapes. 

Chianti Classico - very see through - a good, light wine to drink with dinner in the summer:

The Super Tuscan - a little more full-bodied, smelled lovely to me (I'm not enough of an oenophile to describe the nose properly, but I liked it and could see myself drinking this regularly) - this one was a Cabernet Franc:

Brunello- slightly brown color on the edge - seems like a great wine for a cooler evening:

Then we had dinner at the hotel restaurant:

Choice of desserts - tiramisu, coffee gelato, lemon sorbet served in a frozen lemon:

Backroads, Day 4, Part 1

Wednesday morning was mostly spent traveling from Liguria to Toscana. I slept on the bus and missed most of the scenery, but I did get one interesting shot  of big blocks of marble. 

Then we did a short hike to a small trattoria for lunch. It was amazingly hot. It's been in the upper 90s all week, but today seemed even hotter. I was wilting (and drenched in sweat, just like every other day this week - we have done laundry in the shower several times because our clothes are too gross to put back in the suitcase). I now have a more intimate understanding of the phrase "under the Tuscan sun".

Lunch spot:

The delicious gluten free antipasti plate they prepared especially for me:

The heat on top of the fact that I only slept about two hours the previous night (due to dehydration) made us opt to take the afternoon easy. We had the van drive us to Greve, where we spent a couple of hours eating gelato and window shopping before getting a taxi to the hotel in the late afternoon. 

Greve:

This hotel where we spent the last two nights of the trip was absolutely beautiful. Our room is large and heavily air conditioned, and the grounds and view are spectacular. 

Villa le Barone:

There is a pool (getting lots of use by all members of our group) and a "fitness path" with 12 different stations of equipment and recommended exercises. 

Fitness with a view: