Tuscany

Wayne picked up coffee again today so we could make our early exit off the ship. We were meeting our group for our private tour of Tuscany at 8 am as soon as the ship docked. Our driver was Angelo with Limos in Florence – If you are ever looking for a driver that will show you the “real” Tuscany – this is the guy. We can not recommend him enough!!!!
Our first stop was San Gimignano – a beautiful Medieval town. We spent an hour walking around the wonderful little streets. We then headed to Monteriggioni which is a hill top Medieval town. We had about a half hour here. The town is quite small but lovely. We then went on to Siena for long Italian lunch at “Antica Osteria da Divo” We split a bottle of house white wine – very good. Wayne and I split an antipasto first and then Wayne had the eggplant ravioli and I had the green lasagna with beef sauce. I picked the better dish which both of us thought was the best Italian food we have ever eaten!!!
Angelo then recommended we see the town square in Siena before leaving – it was amazing!
Off we then headed to a little winery for wine tasting. The best wine tour we have ever been on!! The winery is called Tenuta Canale and it is in Castellina in Chianti. The owner did not speak English so Angelo translated for him. The tour started with a flip chart presentation – very quaint! Then we went down in the tiny wine cellar. Then we went into a small building (the wine shop)for the tasting. The owner brought out three different bottles of wine – 2 red and 1 rose. We all had a taste and then you could help yourself to the rest of the bottle. The owner also brought out different kinds of prosciutto with bread and melon. He then brought out the grappa which Wayne really liked. The whole thing was so wonderful!! The cost was 5 euros each – what a deal!!!! We bought 2 bottles of the red and would have bought some rose too if not for the limits on what we can bring back.
Now we were off to Piza for a picture of the tower before heading back to the ship. We arrived in Piza at 7 (all aboard was 7:30 pm) On entering Piza , Angelo made a wrong turn so now we had to circle around again – he felt so bad so we all cheered when he made the right turn. When we arrived at the tower, we all ran to take pictures and then ran back to the mini-van. I think we were there a total of 5 minutes!! Now off to the ship. We arrived at 7:35 and security were tapping there watches at us. We were gone a total of 11 and a half hours!!!! This was the best shore excursion we have ever taken!!!!
For dinner we joined our excursion mates There was Roni from Arizona (but originally from Canada) who organized the excursion and Marcus and Val from BC - their 2 daughters who were also on the excursion didn't join us. Everyone loved our day!!
Tomorrow Villefranche, France!!!!