Tuscan countryside/Florence

[Amy G]

We were planning on taking a half day tour of the Tuscan countryside/wine tasting. The more I think about it I would also like to visit Florence. If we were to do Florence on our own (port- Livorno), would we see the countryside on the ride into Florence? Also, are there any wineries/wine shops in Florence or nearby?

Thanks!

[Bruin Steve]

We took the San Gimignano/Volterra shore excursion this last time, having been to Florence a couple of times before...

But, if you've never been to Florence, you simply must...the city is beautiful...

Here's a link to a pretty good map of Tuscany:

[url="http://www.florence.ala.it/map2.htm"]http://www.florence.ala.it/map2.htm[/url]

As you can see, San Gimignano and Volterra are not exactly "on the way" from Livorno to Florence (Firenze)...and Florence is not exactly that close to Livorno--a couple of hours away depending on what sort of transportation you have...

On the excursion, they took us to a nice little winery near San Gimignano for lunch...one of the best lunches we had...and, as the region is noted for wine, I am sure there are plenty of wineries throughout Tuscany...Check out this site:

[url="http://www.welcometuscany.it/special_interest/wine_food_olive_oil/road_wine/road_wine_florence_hills.htm"]http://www.welcometuscany.it/special_interest/wine_food_olive_oil/road_wine/road_wine_florence_hills.htm[/url]

Anyway, good luck...

Summit, July 3, 2004: Alaska: 13 night cruisetour

[Jane110]

If you're travelling by bus, you'll see some of the beautiful Tuscan countryside. But if the trip is simply from the ship to Florence, you won't get to go into any of the wonderful Tuscan towns.
The ship doesn't have an excursion where you see both? Tough choice!

Yes, of course, Florence has wine shops. Tons of them. In the Tuscan towns there are some nice wine coop stores where they local vinyards sell their products.
Along with the wonderful Tuscan reds, try the famous dessert wine, Vin Santo. Especially good with biscotti.

If you happen to be in San Gimgnano at lunch time, eat at La Grille. A terrific restauraurant with the most splendid views of the Tuscan hills.

[Amy G]

Jane- I was hoping that I maybe missed an excursion in the book that covered both spots, but no such luck. I guess we will miss Florence this time (I was hoping to do a little shopping there!).

Thanks.

[4 cruisers]

Amy, we chose to go to San Gimignano instead of Florence or Pisa. It was a lovely day and though we spent a lot of time on the bus, we saw Tuscan countryside that was like a dream! It is like the best of Napa PLUS!!!! We now see why artists are so inspired by Tuscany. I always think that no matter what we choose to do in the Mediterranean, we always need to return. We'll be making our 5th trip and we're just as excited as the first time!!!!


[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;8;28;19;00;00&timezone=GMT+0100[/img]
...until our August 28, 2004 Splendour of the Seas

[Sunmail]

We just got back this weekend from a 12 day Med on the Star Princess.

At the Livorno stop, we took the ship's tour to Lucca in the morning and the wine tasting/countryside drive in the afternoon.

Now that I've been I would have preferred the San Gimgnano/Volterra tour since they went to a winery for lunch.

My husband really wanted to go to Lucca and ride bikes around the city wall which was fantastic so we really had a great time there.

There wasn't much countryside to see on the wine tasting trip in the afternoon. We mainly took the big roads and the winery wasn't far off of it. We had a fabulous time since the 'winery' was a family's home where they grow and produce their own wines and olive oil. It was very small and quaint.

The last time we were there we did the 'Florence on your own' tour and as I recall we saw much more of the rolling hills of flowers and vineyards from the bus then.

Hope this helps. I would be happy to give you any info you want since we were just there. It will be great no matter what you do....

[Amy G]

Thanks everyone. I am even more torn than before! What to do, what to do...

[Amy G]

Are all "Florence On Your Own" tours via bus, and not train?

[4 cruisers]

Sunmail, I'd really appreciate if you could tell me which winery you went to on your afternoon wine tasting tour! Ours on the Splendour is also in the afternoon. I really was hoping that my parents would be able to see some of the "Tuscan" countryside. Also, good wine would be a real plus!!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;8;28;19;00;00&timezone=GMT+0100[/img]
...until our August 28, 2004 Splendour of the Seas

[dbh62ark]

I recommend that you hire a private guide and look for others to share the cost on these boards and/or on your ship. We just hate the cattle call shore excursions and only use them when there is no other option because you will spend a lot of time waiting for the bus to load/unload, potty breaks, etc. while you could be seeing what you want to see and not waiting for others. And we don't enjoy the 2-hour lunches while the Tuscan countryside is calling either.

We were on a Med cruise that called in Livorno last month, and we used [url="http://www.papillonservice.com/"]http://www.papillonservice.com/[/url]. The cost of an 8-passenger car was 320 euros for the day (excluding lunch and entrance fees, although we only had a 7 euro entrance fee to the civic museum in Seina) with a driver. It was a bargain for sure. We went to Siena and San Gimignano because we had already visited Florence, and he took us on a lot of scenic roads through the Tuscan countryside. I'm sure you can arrange something similar to see the highlights of Florence too.

Hope you have a great time.

Donna

[Sunmail]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 4 cruisers:
Sunmail, I'd really appreciate if you could tell me which winery you went to on your afternoon wine tasting tour! Ours on the Splendour is also in the afternoon. I really was hoping that my parents would be able to see some of the "Tuscan" countryside. Also, good wine would be a real plus!!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img][QUOTE]

The winery was Michi (pronounced Mickey, like the mouse). It is in the hills southwest of Monte Carlo, east of Lucca. It is the Michi's family home. The wine was very good. We brought some of their reserve red and olive oil home.

There were 2 buses of winery tours. The first bus went to a different home winery but I don't know which one.

Just FYI, my parents were on the tour and don't drink but they thoroughly enjoyed it.

[SteveS]

A private tour will let you do whatever you want. And saves time. We used Allesandro camillie and were very happy! [email]alecamma@hotmail.com[/email]

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[laurieh]

I agree with Steve. We also used Alessandro Cammilli, and he was excellent. His rates are very reasonable, and he is a very good driver.

[guideflorence]

Hi! if you take one of the tours offerd on the ship you will be driving trough the countryside of Tuscany, along the motorway. If you wish to have a private tour, you can send us an e-mail.
[url="http://www.guidepisa.com"]www.guidepisa.com[/url] or [url="http://www.guidefirenze.com"]www.guidefirenze.com[/url]
Marco

[quote name='Amy G']We were planning on taking a half day tour of the Tuscan countryside/wine tasting. The more I think about it I would also like to visit Florence. If we were to do Florence on our own (port- Livorno), would we see the countryside on the ride into Florence? Also, are there any wineries/wine shops in Florence or nearby?

Thanks![/QUOTE]