Time for a Holiday

After all the hustle and bustle of lovely Florence we headed about 60km
south into central Tuscany to a site just outside the small town of Bucine.
We thought that a relaxing weekend in the countryside would be a nice
'holiday' from the holiday. We have spent the last 2 days relaxing, well
cleaning the van inside and out, and generally enjoying the lovely hot
sunshine.
As can be expected at some point or another your blissful peace and quiet
will be shattered by something or somebody and this time it wasn't hundreds
of screaming kids but a group of bikers on Harley Davidson's who arrived on
Friday for the weekend. Actually they were mostly quiet and compared to the
kids almost nonexistent.
Today, Monday, we took a break from the relaxation and went into Arezzo for
the day. We cycled into Bucine, about 3 miles away, and took a train. It was
only 4.40€ each for a return and the journey was about 30 minutes, so not
bad value. Arezzo is a fairly large town and has a charming old quarter
perched on the top of the hill in the centre of the town. We spent a fair
while just strolling the streets stopping here and there to admire the
buildings and pop into the odd church, including the Duomo. Just outside the
Duomo a presentation was going on and afterwards we discovered that it was
the 148th (I think) anniversary of the Police force. We did not understand
what was being said but several officers we presented with awards of some
description and a few local citizens were also acknowledged to the rapturous
applause of some local youths. After the pomp had finished we checked out
the Duomo, and were most pleasantly surprised by its interior. Mostly quite
plain and not over the top apart from one of the side chapels that was most
ornate with frescos and lit by real wax candles. I mention the candles as
most of the churches we have seen so far don't seem to burn candles anymore
but have electric imitations instead.
After the Duomo we covered the remainder of the old town and stopped in the
Piazza Grande to consume our packed lunch that Sue had made earlier and to
enjoy the warmth of the sun. In a way it was quite fortunate that the town
was not too big and did not consume too much of our time as we got the 14h14
train back to Bucine and cycled back to site arriving just in time before a
thunderstorm and a very large downpour commenced. If we had stayed any
longer in Arezzo I think we would have got quite soaked at some point or
another.
We will leave here tomorrow and head down to Lago Trasimeno just into Umbria
and stay there for a few days and make some trips into local towns including
Perugia, and also perhaps back across into Tuscany to some of the beautiful
hill towns.

Lo consiglieró ai miei amici.

Ciao

M&S