Florence and Venice, Italy

Normally we would do a separate post for each city we visited, however, Florence was planned as a "stay-cation" (a span of downtime to recoup, yes recoup, from travelling) and we tried to do as little as possible.

We arrived by train, as usual, and headed to our hotel to drop of our bags.  The hotel was nice, off the beaten track, and had some great staff.  We freshened up, grabbed a quick bite at a local kebab shop, and started to wander around the city.

Our first site was the Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge covered in jewelry shops.  Some quick facts: the bridge was the only bridge in Florence not destroyed by allied bombers in WWII.  The bridge was originally filled with meat shops until the city rezoned it and required it to only house jewelry stores.



We wandered on over to the main church "Duomo".  Upon enterring the Piazza del Duomo "Duomo Plaza" my first reaction was "I climbed that!". What I was referring to was the Campanile tower that was recreated in the xbox game "Assassin's Creed" (yes I am nerdy like that, so what).  But I digress.  The Duomo is among one of the more impressive cathedrals that we have seen in our travels and we stood in awe at its size and beauty.





We walked around the side of the church and were immediatly caught off guard by this lady singing in an amazing Opera style voice.  We stayed for 3 songs and were compelled to tip her some euro change.



We entered the Cathedral and walked around a bit.  Unfortunately security was overly vigilant so we weren't able to snap any photos of the inside.

We wandered a bit longer around the city and headed back home, grabbing some chinese for dinner along the way.

The next day, after forcing ourselves to get up and ready, we had breakfast and headed out into the city.  We stopped at a straw market to pet the bronze pig and drop a coin in its mouth.  This tradition is suppose to ensure a safe return back to Florence in the future.  





The rest of the day was spent doing more wandering, enjoying the character of the buildings, monuments, and statues throughout the city.  

We made a reservation at a restaraunt called Accademia for our anniversary dinner (not easy to do when you speak no Italian).  We arrived all spiffed up (a difficult feat when you're living out of a backpack) and ordered the fixed price menu (42€ each).  The meal was pricey but great!  We started off with a glass of prosecco (a sweet wine) that is probably designed to relax you for the feast to come.  The first course was a mushroom strudel with creme sauce served with a glass of white wine, delicious!  Next up was a whole wheat lasagna with lamb sauce served with a glass of red wine.  Again, delicious.  Already feeling full and buzzed from the wine we braced for the 3rd course, a tender cut of meat in a brown sauce with glazed shallots.  Again, served with another glass of red wine and soooo delicious.  The final course was dessert, a grouping of 3 yummy cookies served with a glass of dessert wine.  I had trouble downing it all but I managed.  We left filled to the gills and walked home to turn in for the night.

Our last day in Florence was spent planning our next leg of the trip, blogging, and meeting up with our old college friend Lauren for a drink and a climb to the top of the city.




It was raining pretty hard so we didn't hang around too long.

We left the next morning for Venice at 8am (way too early to be up and moving).  We got into Venice and took a boat ride to a stop close to our B&B.  We checked in and grabbed some pizza at a hole in the wall place before taking a walk through the city.

























Venice is a very unique city and has a very romantic feel.  The only downside is that it is littered with tourist shops and people trying to sell you junk.  It seems like a labrynth of tourist traps.  But I suppose we were prepared for it and made the most of the city and its character.  


We had pizza and wine for dinner at a place near our B&B and crashed for the night.  

The next morning we had breakfast at our B&B.  It consisted of coffee, juice, and manufactured rolls (bleh!).  We came to the conclusion that Italians just don't care much for breakfast (maybe because they eat such big dinners??) We continued our tour of the city, stopping in the San Marco Cathedral.






The square was flooded from the rain the previous night and the city had set up walkways for the tourists.

Afterwards we went to the center of the plaza where I was attacked by pigeons!  I suppose I was asking for it by holding bread in my hand.  Amy refused to come near them and I got a good laugh watching her scramble as I tossed bread at her feet.



We walked out to a point for lunch (leftover pizza, so healthy) and spent some time sunbathing along the waters edge.







When I started to overheat we went to the Guggenheim Museum where Amy convinced the staff we were students, saving us 10€ on the tickets.  We spent a good deal of time in the museum (I think Amy got more out of it then me).





We rounded out our day with dinner at the same restaraunt (it was the most reasonably priced and filled with customers, a good indicator of its quality).  We checked out the next morning and headed for Switzerland.

A quick note about our experience in Italy.  Although we visited some very wonderful places and met some very nice people we found the cities to be dirty and the locals rude.  Italy has been our least favorite country thus far :(.

Olive Picking in Umbria, Italy

Amy and I left Rome and took a 1.5 hour train ride to Fabro, Italy where we were doing our 4th workaway.  Our hosts Helmi and Peter (a german couple from Hamburg) picked us up at the train station and we drove about 10 minutes to their vacation home.  Their house sits on a hill top from which you get pretty amazing views of Umbria.





The house is a restoration done from a ruin.  In Italy, as well as in a number of other european countries, you are allowed to build on the old footprint of a house without too much trouble, but any kind of extension requires a lot of planning permits.  The house has the main apartment upstairs where Helmi and Peter live and 2 guest apartments on the bottom floor.  Its a beautiful house and the surrounding yard is filled with olive trees, pomegranate trees, rosemary, lavendar, a pool, bacci ball court, and multiple terraces with amazing views.

After exploring the grounds we picked up the other workawayer (Kelly, an American from Tennessee) and went to have pizza with a some friends of our hosts (a New Zealand couple).  The pizza was great and Amy made it a point to tell everyone it was my birthday.  A birthday song from the restaraunt, a lot of embarrasment, and a celebratory gelato later, we headed back home and to bed.

The workaway was for Olive picking, a time intensive job, so we had free time before the harvest to explore the area.  Our first trip was to the hill town Orvieto, an Etruscan town founded around the 10th century that was used as a stronghold between Rome and Florence and had strong ties with many catholic popes.


Killing time In Fabro before our train arrived.

We arrived by train and took a tram line up the hillside to the town.


The tram ride was only 5 minutes long but still worth it.

We spent a good amount of time walking through the narrow cobblestone streets lined with quaint stone built houses, simply enjoying the sights.

Eventually we stumbled into a plaza with the Orvieto Cathedral.  The exterior is a composition of travertine and green basalt lined in rows that resemble something from the Beetlejuice movie.


Monsterous!


The front facade was beautifully decorated with carvings and frescos.

Inside we enjoyed the frescos and vaulted ceilings.  Amy snapped a few pictures, regardless of the "no photo" sign.





Afterwards we stopped for gelato and poked into a few tourist shops before taking a walk around the edge of the town.





We came across one of Orvieto's underground areas and for 2 euros we couldn't pass up a tour of it.  The chambers were carved in the stone of the hill and were used for homes, workshops, and even as a necropolis.






The well dug within the chambers, very deep.


The view from the city.

The next few days were spent helping with yard work, visiting with the family, playing Baci, and going to the natural hot spring baths in San Casciano dei Bagni.


A nice break playing Baci.


Bonfire with the family and lots of wine.


The walk down to the baths.


The baths were used by the popes...as well as hairy italians in speedos.




The little cafe with an amazing view where we had cappucino after our hot spring bath.

We also took a trip to some gardens with one of the german couples (Horst and Angelina) that had came to help with the harvest.


The geese alerted everyone to our presence and were pretty terrifying, running towards us while honking as loud as possible.


The old house on the garden grounds that use to be owned by a jewish family before they were evicted during WWII.


The house sat on the edge of a nice scenic overlook.


The estate greenhouse.


Amy in a tree tunnel.

When Monday rolled around it was time to get to the real work, 150 trees of olives to pick!




Handpicking.  I did 14 trees in 1 day using this method.


The quickest and easiest method was using nets and hand rakes.












Amy next to a 100 year old olive tree.

It took us 3.5 days and the results was 1200kg (2500 lbs) of olives which, when processed, made 175 liters of olive oil.








The oil is very green at first until it settles.




Picture of a tree we took in a nearby village while we waited for the olives to be processed.

After we took the olives to the mill we stopped over to our hosts neighbor's house.  Their neighbors include some pretty famous people, who we were asked not to mention directly from their PR group!  We got a quick tour of one of the neighbor's homes, unfortunately there are issues with security in Italy so we aren't allowed to show photos.


We took a convoluted walk back to our hosts' house which took us through a field.


It was starting to get dark and I was worried we wouldn't make it back before the light faded.  But, a dimly lit trail through the woods later, we arrived back.

Our remaining time in Umbria was spent packing and planning for the next leg of our journey.  On Saturday morning we said our goodbyes and took a train to Florence for a few days of much needed down time.