A few weekends ago Casey and I met up with my friend Allison from one of my classes to take a day trip to the island of Elba. We got an early start andddd ran up to the 7:28 train right as it was pulling away. Tragic. The next one was twenty minutes later and took three hours and forty minutes. (We obviously shouldn’t have made it a day trip). We took a bus to the port, and then hopped on a ferry for a beautiful hour long cruise to finally arrive at Elba!
Elba is known for hosting the exiled Napoleon. We wandered around the city for awhile before buying a bottle of wine and planting ourselves on the rocky beach. We played games and enjoyed each other’s company watching the peaceful ocean. We were the only ones around, and I loved the feeling of isolation for once (especially since Florence recently has been bustling with tourists).
After watching a gorgeous sunset over the water, Casey and I headed back on the ferry. I fell asleep and apparently my piccell fell out of my purse. I didn’t even realize until the next day, and of course, I couldn’t understand the Italian ferry boat worker that had my little phone. Getting home was quite the process. The train station was completely dead so we grabbed a piece of pizza in the piazza and tried to find someone that spoke English (we had stepped out of the touristy English speaking cities). We talked to some sixteen year old girls and boys in broken Italian and English, and they helped us get on a bus to get to a train station in a nearby city. One of them actually complemented my Italian- shocker! It may or may not have made my night. We finally made it on a train and then a bus from Pisa to make it back to Florence at 3 am. Whewww longest day ever, but the serenity of the island was so worth it.
Lucca was a much nicer day trip! Yesterday, our program took us to the quiet town surrounded by massive walls. Lucca was a rich city and was one of the only cities in Tuscany not conquered by Florence. The walls were built around Lucca just in case, but no cannons have ever been fired against the peaceful city. However, it seems as if Lucca as been forgotten by tourists as it is one of Tuscany’s best-kept secrets. We went on a tour of the city and had the best tour guide I have ever had! He was a great host, and he was even friends with Rick Steves who he showed around the city just a few days ago.
We were taken to get phenomenal focaccia bread, to see a mummified saint, and to gaze upon the Torre Guinigi and wonder how seven trees had grown on top of the tower, their roots sunk into the room below. We had a delicious lunch and then headed to Fattoria il Poggio for olive oil tasting. We were shown the machines used to make the olive oil and how only one press classifies the olive oil as virgin. Our guide was a hoot and there was obviously some controversy between the people of Lucca and the “dirty, stinky, nasty people of Pisa.” We ended the day with delicious Tuscan appetizers. Bread, olive oil, and yummy balsamic, two types of sausage, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and vin santo with biscotti.
We were taken to get phenomenal focaccia bread, to see a mummified saint, and to gaze upon the Torre Guinigi and wonder how seven trees had grown on top of the tower, their roots sunk into the room below. We had a delicious lunch and then headed to Fattoria il Poggio for olive oil tasting. We were shown the machines used to make the olive oil and how only one press classifies the olive oil as virgin. Our guide was a hoot and there was obviously some controversy between the people of Lucca and the “dirty, stinky, nasty people of Pisa.” We ended the day with delicious Tuscan appetizers. Bread, olive oil, and yummy balsamic, two types of sausage, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and vin santo with biscotti.
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| Casey and I warming the olive oil before tasting. |
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