Tuscan travels part 1 (Isla de Elba and Florence).

In an attempted to get away from the international crowds (now mainly American due, in part, to the timing of their summer break) we headed to a small island off the west coast, south of Florence. We knew there’d be crowds but we hoped they’d speak Italian, not American. And on that point we were right. It turned out to be a lovely (but very expensive) family holiday type island for middle class Italians. Their were more prams than bikes on the roads/footpaths and the beach was packed tight with Italian families on deckchairs under umbrella’s (for hire for 35 Euro per day). Finding accommodation was a challenge, mostly because we didn’t want to pay the fairly standard minimum of fifty Euro each, per night. In the end we gave in and stayed at a lovely, family run, 3 star motel. Eating at your motel/hotel is usually frowned upon so we headed out into town to look at dining options. A few places looked good but it was getting cold and we’d left in shorts and thongs (or Flipflops) so headed back to the motel for some warmer gear. Finding we were to tired to head out again we decided to eat at the motel, then swore not to tell anyone about it. What a delight it ended up being. Great food, cooked by some hardworking Italian Nonna we suspect, great service and great prices. So this became one of the immediate differences between France and Italy’s food culture. In France, there was good if you looked (and paid well) for it, in Italy there was good food everywhere. (Photo above Elba island beach by night)

After few days spent soaking up the sun on Elba’s white sandy beaches we headed back to the mainland. It was time for some serious culture, of the non-culinary style. We were off to Florence where I was aiming to absorb as much art as possible in 24 hours. As Kelly had already been and wasn’t keen on paying the hefty entrance fees to any of the galleries, I would look at art and she would go shopping. We would keep the visit to two nights so we would then have lots of time to spend in the Tuscan countryside. After some quick correspondence with my art adviser back home (thanks mum) the itinerary was set. I decided to skip the Galleria del Accademia (and Michelangelo’s David) and concentrate on the Uffizi gallery instead. I truly enjoyed the Uffizi, especially having the time to stop and linger, then move on at my own pace. For non-art history students though, it is not a gallery to just go and have a look round. You need a guide (book, person, ipod) in able to really appreciate what you’re seeing. (Photo above - Florence's Duomo by night from our hostel roof)

Add in a few great meals, two late nights partying with the youngish hostel crowd and a great fireworks displace over the famous Duomo and that was Florence.

Stayed:
Elba: Hotel Meridian, but book a cabin in one of the campsites ahead of time if you want to do it cheaper.
Florence: Plus hostel, multi-story backpacker farm with around 200 beds. Mostly full of very young Americans.
Ate: Mario - a famous small trattoria in the trade for 50 years, so good there are lines for tables at lunch.