So Florence Day 1 had been incredible and Day 2 was even better , what did Day 3 have in store for us? We were told to wear something that would be comfortable when riding bikes (note to self : white pants and bike grease are not a friendly duo). After breakfast, we set off on foot towards our destination, Tuscany Bike Tours. We walked along the river Arno, crossing over at Ponte Alle Grazie. Along the way we saw some beautiful little shops selling scarves and clothes and all kinds of pretty things. I got a chance to talk with Leela, my walking buddy about what brought us to this point in our lives. Leela is such a free spirit, so humble and generous with her knowledge and her story of growing up east coast-west coast was so fascinating to me. I think sometimes we tend to focus on all the things that make us different from our fellow human beings, but more often than not, we have a lot in common.
Once we got to Tuscany Bike Tours, we were assigned to a group (some were on bikes, some were on vespas) and we loaded up into a van and headed into Tuscan country, the sides of the roads dotted with red poppies, like a picture perfect postcard. A 30 minute drive later we were at Castlello di Poppiano, a 12th century castle that has belonged to the Guicciardini family for over 900 years. There were tons and tons of wine barrels..the Castle Poppiano makes over 800,000 bottles of wine and lots of olive oil every year. Once we were back down again in the courtyard, we got to taste some of the wine and olive oil. I just took a couple of sips because I knew we had a bike ride ahead of us! We ended the evening with aperitifs in the logia at the hotel followed by dinner at a restaurant in Santo Spirito.
Ahh… another perfect perfect day in Florence. What would Day 4 bring?
xo, Rashmi