“There’s no time to be bored in a world as beautiful as this.” – Pinterest meme
Wow, what a whirlwind couple of days since my dad arrived. It’s been wonderful having him here and watching him absorb the Italian culture. He seems to be most interested in the people (specifically how they live), food, and architecture.
On Friday, Luca and I went to the airport to rent a car for the weekend so we could show my dad a couple of cities outside of Florence. Luca had a three-day weekend so I’m trying to capitalize on his time off. He has been so helpful; in translating, tour guiding, and driving…I don’t know what I’d do without him.
After retrieving the car, we headed back to the city center, which is difficult and time-consuming with all of the traffic. Driving in Florence isn’t easy and in fact, it’s kind of a nightmare but Luca is a wiz at navigating around the cars, pedestrians, bikes, scooters, and narrow streets. Florence has certain zones called ZTL (Limited Traffic Zones) which means unless you are an authorized vehicle like a taxi or bus, you can’t drive during certain times of the day without getting a fine of around €70. They have cameras everywhere to capture license plates. So at this point of the day, Luca had to park outside of the city center and my dad and I had to walk quite a ways to get this party started. My dad has had a little issue with walking (bum right leg) for quite some time now so this was a little bit of a bugger, but we made it through. Once we were all in the car, we headed northwest to the city of Lucca for lunch (with Luca). We ate at a cute little local restaurant. Luca and I had pasta and my dad had rabbit – which was amazing. All of it was delicious. After lunch, we sat at a café on the Square and my dad tried his first Italian espresso…a Macchiato. I think he enjoyed it, but he thought it was a little on the strong side. While we were sitting in the Square, a random thing happened. Luca ran into a Camino pilgrim, Luke from London, who he met in 2020. He was visiting Italy with his girlfriend. It was a bizarre place to run into someone – hardly anyone goes there without some reason like a concert or festival. It’s a sweet little town though.
After lunch, we got back in the car and drove up to La Spezia (a town with a beautiful seaport – we even saw a Navy ship) on our way to Riomaggiore, one of the five towns that make up Cinque Terre. Those colorful and picturesque little villages that are built into the hillside. ❤️ It’s a magical place.
Cars (that are not owned by the residents) are not allowed in the towns of Cinque Terre. The sun was starting to set so we decided not to park and walk down and back up the hill. Instead, we just enjoyed the view from the top. It was gorgeous. Plus, I was riding in the back and the winding roads almost made me vomit – I needed some fresh air. Whew. It was a long day but totally worth it to see the sea and Cinque Terre.
On our way to Cinque Terre, we drove past Carrara where they mine “Carrara or Luna” marble for sculptures and building decor. You could see the white marble on the face of the mountain as we drove by.
Before we took off on our next road trip adventure on Saturday, we took my dad for breakfast and to enjoy the view of the city from Piazzale Michelangelo. It was a beautiful day, the air was crisp and you could see for a nice long distance.
I think my dad and Luca are getting along nicely as well.
After breakfast, we drove an hour and 20 minutes to see the Sword in the Stone at Cappella di San Galgano a Montesiepi in Chiusdino. Legend has it that Galgano Guidottia, a wealthy knight left his fancy life to follow the word of Jesus to live as a hermit near his hometown. He had a vision from Archangel Michael who told him to give up all his worldly possessions. Galgano said this would be as hard as putting a sword in the stone, and to prove his point, he pushed the sword against the stone but it went right through like pressing through water, proving that it would be easy to give it all up. Jokes in you Galgano…don’t test The Archangels. Hence why there is a sword in a stone in a chapel on a hill in the middle of nowhere.
This is one of Luca’s favorite places. It’s peaceful and serene…with beautiful views of the Tuscan hills. Luca’s favorite superhero as he puts it and the reason he moved to Florence is because of Leonardo da Vinci. Luca has always wanted to be an inventor just like Leo since he was a little boy. So this particular place inspired him to invent a mechanical sword in the stone. Pop a Euro in the coin slot, the music kicks on and the future King can pull a real sword out of the “stone”. After about a minute, the mechanics pull the sword back into the stone and the next person who wants to test their fate can give it a try. It’s a really fun idea and the machine itself is awesome! I’ve tried it and the sword is pretty heavy.
His friend helped him make a promotional video (see below). He would love it if a castle or a local storefront would rent it and display his invention. So if you know anyone, just saying.
After a trip to the chapel, we went for lunch at a cute little restaurant nearby before heading back to Florence. We saw an amazing Tuscan sunset on the way home. It was like fire in the sky. Also, we had to gas the car up before returning it. Gasoline in Florence is an average of €1.69 per liter… that’s about $7.60 a gallon in the US. 😉
Luca has done so much driving and navigating plus being our local tour guide, I told him to take Sunday for himself. So my dad and I spent the day catching up and strolling around Florence, watching the people, looking at the sites, and eating pizza. We walked past the Ponte Vecchio bridge, the Uffizi museum, and the Town Hall where I showed him the etching on the wall that supposedly Michelangelo carved behind his back while talking to someone on the street, and then back to the Duomo to finish the loop.
I wrapped up the day by having a glass of wine with one of my friends, Teresa, from NYC! She is in town visiting her daughter who is studying here in Florence. They are Italian and have dual citizenship so they visit reasonably often. I haven’t seen her in years so it felt good to see her and catch up. Plus seeing a friendly face is always a bonus for me—definitely a highlight of the day.
Goodnight and much love from Italy! 🇮🇹