Uppsala and Stockholm: Min Sverige

My crazy May started with Berlin and after a day in Italy it kept spending some days in a cold but beautiful Sweden. Thanks to a very cheap flight I had a chance with a friend to see again but with a cold but sunny weather Stockholm but we also had time to visit Uppsala, nice city nearby Stockholm. So let's start our trip

Thursday

We arrived very late on Wednesday so early morning after we met my kind hosting friends Gustav and Magnus, we went straight to Central Station to get our train to Uppsala. The journey was very short like 45 minutes and the railways station is well located, walking distance to the center. Uppsala is only 76 km north from Stockholm but it was originally located a few kilometres to the north, at a location now known as Gamla Uppsala.

From the station, we moved to the center and the Fyris river (Fyrisån) neatly divides the city into two different parts: west part is more historical  compared to east part where business or administrative activities are located. The center of Uppsala is not big so half day is enough to have a look and we spent first hours walking around and having a yummy breakfast in the cosy Cafe Linné Hörnan.

Fyris river

After this, we had a walk along the river before reaching The Linnaeus Garden that was the first botanical garden in Sweden. Uppsala is quite lively city as its university is the oldest one in Sweden so it's worth to have a look at it too. The main and interesting building is the Uppsala Cathedral, biggest one in Sweden and most visible everywhere in the city. In the same square you can visit the oldest main university building called  Gustavianum and another tiny church.

We spent lunch together a friend in this creperie to remind my Brittany time and food was ok and it ended up with a delicious lemon pie. We had a fast look at the  university library, the largest in Sweden and we visited just outside the Uppsala Castle on the way to the botanical garden where we relaxed a bit under the sun. No time to visit Gamla Uppsala, the first settlement in this area.

It was not so late when we came back Stockholm so we had time to have a nice walk in Gamla Stan, the old part of the city that includes  nearby island  of Riddarholmen. We started from this tiny island: there are many beautiful palaces and main attraction is Riddarholmen Church. A statue of Birger Jarl, traditionally known as the founder of Stockholm, is standing on a pillar in front of the Bonde Palace north of the church with an amazing view.

We kept visiting the old town with its nice and small streets and many Cafes where to relax. We had a look at the Royal Palace, the cathedral and so on, very touristic area but if you're here for the first time it is worth.

Best way to close the day was to cook italian food for our friends accompanied by a good spanish wine.

Friday

We decided to visit Drottningholm Palace, Unesco Heritage and private residence of swedish royal family.

It's very easy to get there by public transport: just reach Brommaplan by subway then many buses go to Drottingholm. Around the palace  you can visit beautiful gardens where you can walk and relax along small rivers too. You can also visit the palace, a small theater and a chinese pavilion.

Best part of the trip is when I can live the city with local people: so in the afternoon we had a chance to meet my swedish friend Jessica and her sweet baby Frank. She showed us the district of Södermalm, now famous as  Lisbeth Salander and other characters in the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson live and work there. We walked inside the district and she suggested great places where to spend our night out. It is a mix of cultures where you can find a yummy cheese bread from Turkey or a gelato from the first italian ice-cream shop. We visited the norwegian church with its famous read houses around before reaching Slussen.

From Slussen you can have a walk along Götgatan, the main road of this borough and you can see Skatteskrapan, previous office of Tax Board and now students apartments. From there we had a detour to visit Monteliusvägen where you have a great walk with beautiful view of the city. To reach this place you will pass through a very nice district, full of old houses, steep hills and cobble stoned streets.

Time to say bye to my friend, awesome tour of this area so we decided to spend the night here after some relax at home. We came back for dinner and you tasted typical swedish food with lots of local people at pelikan restaurant. We ate too much so we decided to walk back Monteliusvägen to take some night pics with this amazing view. We spent rest of the night dancing at kvarnen, multi-ethnic place but you can visit many other bars like sodrateatern or petsoundsbar. Time to go to bed not before meeting our hosting friends in the subway going back home at same time :))

Last Day

We didn't have so much time so we went back Slussen where you can eat a traditional swedish fast food: fried herring on crisp bread at Nystekt Strömming. The classic, and very Swedish, main attraction is the “knäckis”—fried herring with cucumber and red onions on hard bread, called “knäckebröd” in Swedish.

From Slussen we got a a ferry to a sharp visit to the island of  Djurgården, beautiful views on the way. In the island you have nice bars where to relax but you can also visit Vasa museum, a maritime museum displaying the only intact 17th century ship. There's an aquarium too and the amusement park of Gröna Lund. If you have time you can also visit the open air museum and zoo of Skansen or just relax walking in the park or in the old village of  Djurgården.

Time went by fast so we took back ferry to go to the Central Station to get our airport bus, just few minutes to eat some cinnamon pastries and say Vi ses snart Stockholm...

Unconventional and conventional Berlin

Some years ago I had a chance to visit this controversial city during a cold November so first impression was not so positive, my italian soul ;).. so accepting an invitation of some sicilian friends to meet there here I am back again and finally I started to love this city a mix of conventional and unconventional things that make Berlin unique and a place where you can also find something to do...

My Arrival

Saturday is a perfect day to arrive and enjoy the night life of Berlin as after I met my friends in the lovely quarter of Neukölln and welcome drink, we straight went to eat at Ris a cheap and tasty chicken in persian way. You can eat whatever you like in Berlin and you will find something open always. Our kind friend and host Sandro found an iranian party and a birthday party too to join at karakas bar where we had fun and found cheap drinks. In the same night I had a birthday of friend of mine so night was just started when I moved to meet her and her friends and I discovered Berlin is a city full of life. Many clubs still full of people and long lines to get in even if it was 5am like this at Katerholzig

line at 5.15am at Katerholzig :o

You should learn there's a strict selection to place like this and I hope to have more time to spend at Berghain or at weird ones like Kitkat club hehehe...

Sunday

Berlin is not only night life so we spent time to discover some touristic spots during day before heading to a famous sunday flea market. We started at Checkpoint Charlie a border point between East and West Berlin during cold war. There's a nice museum about it and very nearby you can visit for free Stasi museum and you just walk a bit more and you can see a part of Berlin wall and you can visit a topography of terrors museum for free as people should not forget what happened in second world war. It also was time to try the famous curry wurst maybe not the best one but a must ;)

Sunday is perfect day to enjoy Mauerpark flea market : this market is populated not only by some younger hipsters, but also the more international, grunge-yuppies of the neighborhood. From may you have a chance to take part in a karaoke with huge audience and you can lie on the grass and enjoy a sunny day like it was. Day was long so we ended up with some yummy pizza made by a turkish guy nicknamed Allianz ;)

We had a chance to have a tour of Neukölln thanks to Sandro and his friend Diego. It's not a famous spot but you can visit interesting things and understand how a quarter changed in last years. About this it's interesting to read a book like Arabboy explaing how tough it was living here and its still a very active part of the city. On the way we stopped to see the ex brewery Alte Kindl now home to artist studios, project spaces, performance hall. We had a tour in the neighborhood and  we found a building with a famous golden sun.

We had a walk in lessinghoehe park where Diego told us a creepy story about a burnt dead body of a girl found here some years ago. Imagine it was so dark in a middle of a park in a not so safe area and we started to see a red light moving slowly then fastly towards us, panic was to start when we hear behind us a girl called Fuffy her dog with red light ahah what a shame :)... We kept touring till another park called Comenius garten where we met the statue of the famous Comenius, our lovely mascotte for the rest of the trip.

Comenius is considered the father of modern education and small community following his ideas lives here. Nearby you have a nice multiple religions church where everyone can follow its religion. We finished the night tour in a punk pub called Syndikat, nice atmosphere and a no-taking pics place, weird :) 

Monday

A good start of a day is a yummy and cheap breakfast and Sandro suggested to go to Bierbaum3 before having time to visit some other spots of Berlin, like Alexander Platz, Rathaus and the Cathedral just in front the famous Island of Museums Unesco Heritage. This is a fast stop in most famous touristic spots before having a tour in the underground Berlin where you can experience the history of Berlin from an unconventional perspective! Italian tour was sold out so we started with german one to finish with the spanish one more understandable for all our group.

Day was really sunny so a good way to have lunch is to visiting the ex airport of Tempelhof where we had a delicious barbecue and you can have a nice walk around and have the feeling to stay in the middle of landing track. Thats something unusual to mix up with what we did later: we visited the famous Brandenburg gate and we reserved a tour of the doom of Bundestag where you have a wonderful view of all Berlin. Last stop was to visit Holocaust memorial before moving to Kreuzberg.

This day was the eve of Labour Day so we had parties almost everywhere but great spot is Kreuzberg where first we had dinner at Kreuzburger then we tried to see what's going on but it was bit cold so we decided to move to Warschauer Strasse where a common friend lives and we spent the night in a pub before moving back and you could have many parties in a community center nearby the bridge. We still had time to visit a trans-gender pub and had a fast look at pub called Tristeza, thats funny name.

Labour Day

Sadly it was my last day so I didn't have so much time to discover new things. We decided to go back Warschauer Strasse as you can visit a famous left part of East Side Berlin wall where some selected artists painted the wall around 1989-1990.

It's an 1,4km of painted wall and you can also visit Oberbaum bridge and Frankfurter Tor just close to U-bahn station. Time went by fast so we came back the island of Museum before I left but my mind was already thinking when I can come back:

You can still do lots of things like Potsdamer Platz, Berlin Zoo, Tiegarten or you can visit nearby towns like Postdam or Brandenburg well some I had already done but you know you can still have many reasons to come back and discover other hidden cornes :) Auf Wiedersehen...

Napoli: Sole, pizza e fantasia

You have many motto about Napoli like "you love or hate it, see Napoli and die" but for me Napoli is unique, an Italy inside Italy, lots of contradictions, beauty and troubles but come on it's Napoli..

SATURDAY

Easter 2012 was another occasion to visit the city with old and new friends and time to meet our great host and friend Giovanni. The weather was not the best but right people and place warmed up the atmosphere. My friend lives in a traditional area of Napoli not far away from Porta San Gennaro and the well-known "rione" Sanità. If you like walking in max 45 mins you can reach all the main spots of Napoli and train station too where you can get bus or train to discover all area around like Vesuvio, Pompei, Amalfi, Sorrento, Capri and more..
The right welcome was to try different kind of pizza some typical from Napoli like pizza fritta, panuozzo, piazza ripiena and more, have a look ;)

After this light lunch, we just had time to make shopping for Easter lunch before a thunderstorm made us come back home and enjoy a yummy dinner with other delicatessen like scamorza, mozzarella di bufala and different kind of local salami. The night was the time to discover the city by night, walking in a group made this safer and nice. First stop was Piazza Bellini and the nearby Piazza Dante but we ended up at the famous piazza san giovanni maggiore pignatelli known as Piazza Kestè where all young people meet to have a drink and a chat just in front of Palazzo Giusso, part of the L'Orientale

EASTER

Early wake up for me as we forgot to buy seafood for pasta and i have to manage to find some before their early close around 10 am. I go time to eat a yummy sfogliatella before having a traditional easter breakfast looking more as a lunch hehehe.. Don't forget to taste traditional tortano and the sweet Pastiera

Just time to breathe and it was time for a long and delicious Easter lunch were main dishes were Linguine al sugo di Vongole and capretto al forno con patate and still sweets and we managed to finish around 5pm. Finally we had a walk in Napoli as weather was fine: our friend lives almost at the top of Salita dei Miradois and from there you can go down crossing narrow and typical streets full of life and reach the heart of this area where it is full of shops, stalls and you reach Piazza Cavour. Just in front you have Porta San Gennaro and on the right side looking at the gate you have the National Archaeological Museum .

Porta San Gennaro

If you move a bit on the left side of the Piazza Cavour you have Via Duomo, on this way you can visit the Cathedral that t is widely known as the Cattedrale di San Gennaro. The church houses a vial of the blood of Saint Januarius which is brought out twice a year, on the first Saturday in May and on 19 September, when the dried blood usually liquefies. If the blood fails to liquefy, then legend has it that disaster will befall Naples. Keep going you reach the train station but we decided to follow the route through Porta San Gennaro till the heart of Napoli.

Duomo

It is an adventure walking in these streets, getting lost and find the way again and reach the main street that crosses the old center of napoli called Spaccanapoli. From there you can reach many famous squares like Piazza Gesù Nuovo,  Piazza San Domenico Maggiore where you can find the famous bas Scaturchio. You can also visit Piazza Nilo and on via Tribunali you have the entrance of Napoli Sotteranea and nearby the famous Via San Gregorio Armeno that is a street in the historic center of Naples, famous for tourist craft shops of cribs.

We had a nice stop nearby Piazza Gesù Nuovo in a cosy and cheap bar where we had a lovely chat and listened to music from a famous neapolitan singer Pino Daniele, song like Napule è. Time went by fast so we move toward the main commercial road called Via Toledo where you have Piazza Dante and on the way you can visit Galleria Umberto I where there's another well-know bar to taste sfogliatelle and babà.

Galleria Umberto I

The weather changed so we hurried up going back home and spent a great nite at Gio's place, drinking, talking, having fun  till dawn, last night before saying good bye Napoli

Bilbao o Bilbo es lo mismo : fiesta siempre jajaja

SATURDAY

Bilbao or Bilbo is one of my favorite city in Spain so far: I was there just once in 2008 but I said to myself someday I will come back and thats what I did last march 2012. A friend was coming to a big CouchSurfing event so I decide to join her and discover the city with her and other amazing people I met.

Guggenheim

Journey to Bilbao was pretty long and with a stopover in Munich too. From airport just get an urban bus for €1,30 or if you buy a transport card for only 0,70€ but the card cost 5€ and then u can charge as much as you want and pay less. You have different stops till the bus terminal in new part of the city and I decided to get off nearby Guggenheim Museum where I met my friends and other people.

We just took some pics nearby Guggenheim and I went straight to meet my host Adrian in Casco Viejo, my beloved district in Bilbao where you have most popular tourist spots. Some people decided to go to Kobetamendi, nice mountain nearby where you have a great view of Bilbao. I  just had the time to say hello to Adrian and we went straight to have lunch in Spanish time jajaja from 3pm but I met great people and food was so yummy at Zaka Bar like my dessert fresòn :)) not a big strawberry sadly :(

After we had a jam session at Hika Ateneo and a place where you can play board games too like our never ending monopoly game. If you want to have fun, just go back Casco Viejo where you can eat pintxos and you have some bars with disco music but if you wanna meet local and enjoy a cool place, go to kafe antzokia where we ended up our night.. I was looking for some churros but when its 5am just bocadillos jajaja...

SUNDAY

One of main attractions of Bilbao is Guggenheim Museum so at least once you have to visit the museum and its surrounding like the famous spider or the dog Bilbo. We had a guided tour to discover the museum inside with its exhibitions and its collection like Richard Serra with the famous matter of the Time. I really like the museum and you can have multiple entrance so later we came back to have a second and accurate look at all exhibitions like Brancusi-Serra one.

After the visit it was time to improvise a flash mob in Plaza Nueva before eating a good dish of langostinos a la plancha and still curious to know what to visit here? Please wait cause we went back to Hika Ateneo where we had an international dinner with food from all over the world like Italy, Spain, India, USA, Germany and so on  and I met a lovely French girl Emilie co-hosted by Adrian with my friends Serena and Paola. Food was awesome and we had lovely talks before going to dance salsa till late.. Night is over? Nope as we went back home and Emilie cooked amazing crepes and onion soup that we didn't manage to eat as too late

MONDAY

Last day as Emilie was in Bilbao for the first time we had a city tour but I also have time to go to the shop of one of my favorite Spanish brand :)..As we stayed in Casco Viejo we had everything close to us like Teatro Arriega and all the streets in this area full of shops, bars and more.

The Old Town features many of the oldest buildings in the city, as the St James' Cathedral or the Church of San Antòn. Most of the Old Town is a pedestrian are during the day. Nearby is one of the most important religious temples of Biscay, the Basilica of Begoña , dedicated to the patron saint of the province, Our Lady of Begoña.

Seventeen bridges span the banks of the estuary inside the city limits. Among the most interesting ones are the Zubizuri (Basque for "white bridge"), a pedestrian footbridge designed by Santiago Calatrava opened in 1997, and the Princes of Bridge, also known as "La Salve", a suspension bridge opened in 1972 and redesigned in 2007. You can have nice walk in the new part of the city where the stadium Vicente Calderon is located too and some parks and nice squares and churches are situated. A nice square to visit is also Plaza Nueva where you have many bars and restaurants too.

 After this fast but complete city tour, we had a chance to taste a real Valenciana paella made by our friend Maria.. Best way to finish this short but awesome trip: Bilbao is still one of my favorite Spanish city so I recommend you to have a stop in Bask countries  if you wanna visit the North of Spain..Hasta Luegoooo

Bratislava: hrad, pivo a viac

 FRIDAY

Bratislava is one of my favorite city in Central Europe where some of my close friends live too. I started to know this city 6 years ago and then I keep coming at least once a year.. I missed last year so I said lets go back and meet my friends there.. spring just started but Bratislava kept in my mind uhm winter is still here so I just felt the difference when we landed from Rome..

Bratislava castle

I moved quickly to meet my friend at her job then after a nice chat in front of an cup of hot chocolate we went to her house in a district new for me but very nice: Koliba.

Koliba is situated on the foothills of the Little Carpathians and is part of the Bratislava Forest Park.

I always like to discover new corner and Koliba is very nice area where you can start nice trekking and its just 5-10 minutes to the old town by trolley-bus. My friend lives in a cute house with other 5 people coming from US, Germany, Belgium and Slovakia too wow nice combination and good start for an international dinner with other friends coming to meet me.

Koliba

Dinner was very yummy and I cooked bucatini all'amatriciana and I brought olive and cremini, specialities from my home town. Funny was the making of 2 desserts during the evening before people came. My sweet friend Vero just finished the two cakes and left them in the nearby room while we were keeping to cook in the kitchen but we heard some weird noise from other room: well lovely dog called by me Dario just ate half of both two cakes lol so we just managed to put the other two halves together to keep at least one.. Meanwhile Ivana was making a salad and a german couple competed with me making a vegan pizza ;).

Meal was enough for everyone and I convinced the vegan couple to have some pasta with bacon :))..Other roomate welcome me with some shot of hruškovica and we ended up the night  in a cosy pub U Dezmara in old town.

Brati and Danube by night

SATURDAY

After a yummy breakfast, we decided a meet up after 11 at Trhovisko nearby old town and reachable by bus or tram. This open-air market typically sells a mixture of products direct from local farms and orchards, herbs, cut flowers, bread, mushrooms, pickled goods like gherkins and peppers, and local cheese and dairy products. There are also small shops selling inexpensive clothing, stationery and wine, as well as cafes and pubs, clustered around them. Main idea was to taste some cheap food and very cheap wine in many pubs you can find all around. I really loved the atmosphere and people I met as it seemed to me life was back to 20-30 years ago. I had a  typical lokše while my friends had langoš and well some glasses of local wine too

Trhovisko

After a fast lunch in a peruvian restaurant called Casa Inka, I had to meet an italian friend coming to Bratislava for the first time so I was her private guide to discover old town. You can move easily in old town and everything is close by. Our first stop was in the main square Hlavne namestie where colorful buildings reminiscent of the baroque and renaissance era fill the perimeters. The Old Town Hall and the Roland Fountain also are nice spots to have a look.

Hlavne namestie

We had a little detour to see Opera House with a coffee break before moving along Danube and have a look at new Apollo Bridge and from far at the Bratislava castle. If you have time go up the castle on foot or by bus and from the castle windows, 3 countries come to view - Slovakia, Austria, and if weather is clear, Hungary. So we just passed by and have a stop at St. Martin's  cathedral. From there we moved around old streets till the famous Micheal's gate: this area is full of restaurants, clubs and café bar mostly attended by tourists. Going through the gate we ended up our fast tour at Presidential Palace and in the same square you can visit summer archbishop's palace.

Micheal's gate

After some relax, it was right time to visit a local restaurant with cheap prices and good food but away from touristic routes. Just take tram 9 or 14 and get off Herlianska stop then walk till U Deda restaurant . Here first I had a glass of my favorite slovak drink Kofola then I ate a typical slovak dish bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings with Bryndza ( a soft crumbly sheep cheese). It was curious to have a dessert maková štrúdľa, a strudel with poppy seeds and have a look at it ;)

maková štrúdľa

The night was the main event of my weekend in Bratislava, common friends had an idea of an ugly sweater party at 4 you wine bar. Lots of people gathering there to have fun and taste some local pivo (beer): people from all over the world coming  from near Vienna too just for this. Night is along so we kept having fun at another bar called Goblins where it was time to catch last night bus to go home ;)

Ugly Sweater party

SUNDAY

Sunday is the day of rest and it was like this, pity I didn't know it was the weekend of bratislava marathon so next year maybe I can run at least half marathon as included in the program or marathon relay with other three friends. Nice idea to end this awesome weekend was a brunch at Hugo's place. I cooked my last olives and I brought small spicy salami and yummy smoked scamorza (italian cheese). We also had lovely pasta cooked by Hugo and an omelette by Ivana and we tasted cocido mate too and colomba, italian traditional easter cake. 

smoked scamorza and little spicy salami

Time to say bye and hug my friends and luckily find a lift to airport.. Ahoj Brati and just a little tip if you have time go to visit Devin Castle nice place nearby Bratislava good for picnic too in spring and summer time so go and try :)))

Ascoli Piceno: My Beloved Town

Every traveler has a place to live, to come back and where he's born. I spent lots of time traveling but at the end every road goes back my lovely hometown. If you travel around Italy for sure you know cities as Rome, Milan and Naples but if you wanna experience the real italian life that's the place for you.

As every part of Italy, you will discover ancient stuff, amazing landscape and least but not the last yummy food and wine as the famous Olive Ascolane (english version) were invented here. It's also famous to be the city of 100 towers, well right now around 30. It was built before Roma so we have this motto here: When Ascoli was Ascoli, Rome was just a field for sheep.

The heart of the city is Piazza del Popolo (People's square) on of the most beautiful square in Italy surrounded by many arch, the famous Palazzo dei Capitani and the church of San Francesco, a romanic-gothic one. People use to walk around here, meeting friends and enjoying a drink in some of the bars in this square. You can't miss a stop at the historical bar Caffè Meletti or if you're a budget traveler sit and take a cheap aperitivo at Bar Centrale.  Palazzo dei Capitani was built on ruins of roman roads and some medieval buildings that you can still visit downstairs.. just a curiosity: looking up from Caffè Meletti to the church san francesco, please stare not the first tower bell but the second one and you will see something let's say weird :). In San Francesco you  can play music with little columns on the entrance in via del Trivio, go and try :). In the same road you can visit Ventidiobasso theater and the cloister of San Francesco as known piazza delle verdure.

Piazza del popolo

From Piazza del Popolo, you can move to Piazza Arringo but on the way if you wanna try a slice of pizza, please have a stop here .  It is another beautiful square where you can visit the Cathedral, Baptistery, Bishop Palace, Town hall with Archeological Museum and art gallery. Come to this place and don't try best  gelato in Ascoli, its a lack in your trip here so relax a bit and admire this square tasting a yummy ice-cream from Yoghi . Main attraction is the Cathedral: it was built on a roman temple and actual one is from century XIV-XV, go inside and have a look at a famous paint Polittico by Crivelli then go downstairs to visit the crypt of Sant' Emidio, our saint. The crypt was the original roman temple and you can see roman ruins and very interesting cemetery full of tombs running below the city, they say for some km.

Piazza Arringo

You still have lots to do and see in Ascoli: just behind a corner of Piazza Arringo you can visit San Gregorio Church built on the walls of an old roman temple. From there you can go up till medieval suburb of Piazzarola where you can visit Sant'Angelo Magno church, are you tired? So keep going up till ex monastery of annunziata now university building and from there you visit Fortezza Pia where you have a wonderful view of all the area. Another way from Piazza Arringo is passing the cathedral and going till a square where you can visit Forte Malatesta and famous Cecco Bridge that legend said it was built just in a night as a wish of Cecco d'Ascoli to the devil...

Forte Malatesta and  Cecco's bridge

Just behind  Forte Malatesta you will see the field of Squarcia where every first sunday of august you can watch the famous medieval knightly tournament called Quintana . In the last years it was added a night edition in the middle of july but Ascoli's inhabitants still consider  august edition the main one. On August 5th we also have our saint's day: Sant' Emidio believed to be earthquake protector and during this day you can watch amazing fireworks just after the end of local bingo. It's very nice to visit the town during this day and take a chance to take part in a dinner in one of the 6 Sestieres where it was supposed to be divided Ascoli in medieval time.

Are you hungry now? As i wrote you you should try fritto misto all'ascolana including olive, cremini and lamb chops, you have many places to go but I suggested as local cuisine to try Trattoria del Pergolato or Trattoria da Middio. If you wanna something local but bit more fancy just very close to Piazza del Popolo have a stop at  Ristorante Piccolo Teatro . After eating here you can see Santa Maria Intervineas Church and followin the road near the church you will reach a square where you have 2 beautiful churches: San Vincenzo and Anastasio and San Pietro Martire.. from there keep walking in another medieval part of the city where you can visit some ceramic shops typical from here and a roman bridge. Just after the bridges you can see old medieval public washhouse where women used to clean their clothes. Coming back take the road named rua delle Stelle but for us it's Rrete li Mierghie :) and very close to it Palazzo dei Longobardi.

Rrete li Mierghie

Well I still have lots to tell you but let's discover by yourself and if I'm in the town I will be glad to show you my city around and discover other beautiful places like Casteltrosino or have a walk in our beautiful mountains too so come and enjoy this little jewel in the central Italy :)))

TUSCANY: WINE, FOOD AND RELAX

First Day

I travel a lot but I keep thinking Italy is a must to visit and this time I had a chance to visit a part of Tuscany not so known by me. I traveled with my lovely dad as I had to share with a person a  coupon  for weekend in a 5 stars hotel in Chianciano Terme. I supposed to be there one week earlier just to relax after India but destiny, coincidence moved this trip one week later. We spent our time in this awesome hotel where we got all we need to relax in the wellness center including gym, spa, Turkish bath and more.

After relaxed in that center where my dad had a nice massage too, we went out for dinner.. well low season so be ready to walk around a lot before finding this yummy restaurant where  you can try Tuscany cuisine but pizza too.

Second Day

 

The day after started with a buffet breakfast where you can eat till die lol so we decided to walk around to discover old town of Chianciano: its very tiny so you need few time to visit main points then we took the car for a tour in Valdorcia.

First stop was Rocca d'Orcia nice medieval village very close by Castiglione d'Orcia where we visited Rocca a Tentennano and the village: small but very beautiful. On the way to San Quirico d'Orcia we had a stop to the famous thermal baths of Bagni Vignoni known since roman time with also interesting ruins of country life in past centuries.

Bagni Vignoni

San Quirico d'Orcia is a very nice village, main spots are Collegiata and San Francesco Church, it's so nice walking around these small medieval roads and palaces. We spent time in a winery too buying some presents for next birthday of my brother in law.. Wines are so famous and you have to taste Brunello di Montalcino or Nobile di Montepulciano, red wines tasty with fruit flavors.

 As we had a very big breakfast we decided to move little bit more till Pienza. Wow Pienza is Unesco heritage as it has a well-preserved old town and it's also famous for pecorino cheese.

Of course first stop was in an Osteria to try this cheese: we had an assorted pecorino cheese meal and one portion of grilled pecorino too and of course you can't go to Tuscany and do no try vinsanto with cantucci :)). After this light lunch ;), we discovered the beautiful main square with the Cathedral, Piccolomini Palace and Borgia palace: its very relaxing walking along corso Rossellino and you can also walk along the medieval walls where we were surprised to find Via del Bacio (kiss).

Last stop it was Montepulciano, if you can ask for the pubblic parking area close to Piazza Grande otherwise be ready to walk a very sharp uphill road before reaching Piazza Grande main attraction of this town. You can visit the Dome and Palazzo Comunale in this square. The fountain in this square is famous too as we shot here New Moon from Twilight series. We ended up the day after another wellness session going to same restaurant and tasting the famous Bistecca alla Fiorentina and Pici al ragù