The Italian Chef Travel

Florence

Our hotel choice in Florence was an interesting one; the Bettoja Relais Certosa is actually located on the outskirts of Florence. This turned out to be a perfect location for us with our rental car, it afforded easy in and out access for excursions into the Tuscan countryside without the harrowing experience of actually having to drive in the center of the city itself. The hotel offers free shuttle service to the historical center of Florence; so getting in to visit the Galleria dell'Accademia, or the Uffizi Gallery and admire the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rafaello and the other great Renaissance artists was quite painless. We could take the shuttle in the morning, spend the day touring the museums, enjoying the piazzas and walking across Ponte Vecchio, then have a wonderful Tuscan meal in one of the many great restaurants and if in our leisure we happened to miss the last shuttle back, no worries, it was an inexpensive taxi ride back to the hotel. Speaking of wonderful Tuscan meals one of the best finds of the whole trip was during one of our drives through Tuscany. We were driving the Chianti wine road from Florence to Siena (an incredible city), and got hungry, the only problem was it turned out to be a holiday and most restaurants were closed. We scrambled looking through our reference materials and found a place that looked close by and called to see if they were open, the gentleman who answered said they were and he would save us a seat with a view. We followed his directions, which took us up a steep winding mountain road that seemed to go on forever, until we reached Ristoro di Lamole. We were promptly seated on the balcony and the view was spectacular, matched only by the food.

italy travel

Florence