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The benefit with traveling over the course of months instead of a week or two is that after a while you stop feeling bad about not setting ambitious sight-seeing goals. On our last day in Florence, while Meredith was visiting the Uffizi Gallery to take in the priceless pieces of world-renowned art, I decided to take a break from working and walk up the hill to visit the place where we stayed the last time we visited Florence in 2013, Torre de Bellosguardo. The area of town is probably best described as the Beverly Hills of Florence. We didn’t stay in the main hotel itself, but instead on the premises in a villa called Casa Rosa.

There are two ways to get there; one official that cars can also travel but where the sign that access is strictly prohibited to all but the hotel’s guests is unmissable and therefore excuses to the contrary would be feeble at best. The second manner of approach is slightly less well-known as it is more a hike than a walk that takes you through a steep and dusty or muddy trail through an olive-grove. Perhaps it’s it age, common decency or a waning desire for mischief and adventure, after much hemming and hawing I decided (rather quickly, I might add) it would be bordering on stalking to sneak onto a private property to, among paying guests, relive the atmosphere and take in the astonishing view from the pool area.

The next day, we said our farewells to Florence and hopped on the train that would take us out to the coast, to an Italian-riviera-esque town called La Spezia. While La Spezia isn’t necessarily all that spectacular in itself (it feels a bit like Reggio Calabria), its redeeming quality is its location. It is a very convenient hub for really promising day trips such as the ones to Cinque Terre and the much less well-known but also very appealing San Terenzo and, on the other side, Portovenere with the island Palmaria.

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It’s starting to get really hot for a couple from the northern 49-54 degrees of latitude. 

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Random pictures from Florence and La Spezia.

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