Day 33 Thursday 19th June 2008

We drove along the old road towards Firenze until we took the turn for Fiesole (just to the north of Firenze). Fiesole is a small town built on the slope of a hill with narrow streets and few signs for the car parks that lie around the town. We eventually got parked and went to a bar on the main street for a coffee. There we also got directions towards the Tourist Office. The Archaeological Site was next door to the Tourist Office, so we went in (quite expensive but the site plus 2 museums.) There is a 1st century Roman Theatre. The stage wall is virtually none existent but the seats are quite well preserved (they don’t say if they have done any restoration. There are also the remains of a Roman baths and a temple, plus some Etruscan remains. The Museum on the site has a good display of Etruscan, Hellenistic and Roman ceramics, plus some metalwork and some glass. The second museum we went in that was included with the ticket had some original Della Robbia ceramic statues and plaques. Considering that they were 16th century, the colours and gloss were fabulous. There was also pre-renaissance art, and some paintings that showed how perspective began in art leading to all the great painters 50 years later. 

We returned by a slightly shorter route and stopped at a new modern shopping mall near Pontassieve. This was a designer label factory outlet and people such as Fendi, Armani, Gucci and St Laurent were among those represented but needless to say we did not buy anything. Food shopping was done in a Coop at Pontassieve. A dip in the pool plus an ice cream from the small shop at Bel Prato rounded out the day.

Start Mileage  14293		Finish 	14349		Miles travelled = 56
								Total travelled = 2864

Day 34 Friday 20th June 2008

We drove down towards Incisa but parked out of town at the junction with the main road. We walked into town to visit the Friday market. There were quite a lot of stalls and we explored them all. We bought a new pink canvas shopping bag to replace the Mall of America bag we use at Morrisons, as it is getting very worn, and a new black canvas camera bag for Edwin. We also bought a knotted raffia back door fly screen. Then after buying some fruit it was back to the apartment for some lazing by the pool and a swim. It was a sunny, hot day. After lunch we had another laze by the pool but not a second swim.

Chiara brought Edwin a bottle of Chianti, as it was his birthday. I asked about the international centre and she explained that it was a religious centre where young people from all over the world come to train as priests, missionaries or aid workers. The men live one side of the hill and the women the other. Interesting!!

Start Mileage 14349			Finish 14351		Miles travelled = 2
								Total travelled = 2866