https://www.facebook.com/italyiswaitingforyou/posts/464124277111988
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| Fiesole Bistro Caffe al N5 in November. |
Showing posts with label Fiesole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiesole. Show all posts
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Visit Fiesole from Florence on Bus #7...
Please take a look at my Facebook page for "Italy Is Waiting For You - Get Going."
https://www.facebook.com/italyiswaitingforyou/posts/464124277111988
https://www.facebook.com/italyiswaitingforyou/posts/464124277111988
Monday, April 4, 2016
Self-Catering Apartments - Are They Right For You? Part 1: Florence Casa Iris
As you're planning your trip to Italy, you'll have to decide early where you'll spend your nights. I'm guessing that most people traveling on vacations far from home choose to stay in a hotel, an inn or B & B, a rental villa or self-catering apartment. There are choices for every taste and budget. In each of our stays in Italy with one exception in Milan, we chose to rent an apartment. This worked out very well for us each time.
One of the best things about renting an apartment, aside from the obvious like saving money on meals, is the chance to live in an Italian neighborhood away from the tourist center hustle and bustle. If you're lucky enough to find an apartment with a balcony, you can open the doors to listen to the everyday sounds of Italian life. You don't usually get that by staying in a hotel in the city center.
In 2011, after reading many reviews on Tripadvisor, Flipkey (Tuscany) and/or Booking.com, we were able to choose the best apartment for us. Our budget calls for spending no more than 100 euros a night, if possible, for lodging. Of course, a good exchange rate can definitely save you money. With a dollar/euro exchange rate of $1.39 a 100 euro/night apartment would be $139 per night, but if the rate is only $1.10 like on our last trip, the nightly cost is only $110 - a big savings!
Once you've decided on a location, don't forget to read a lot of reviews because budget is hardly the only criteria to use when searching for your perfect place. When we were looking for our first apartment in Florence, the reviews describing the owners and the service they provided alone convinced us to go ahead and reserve Casa Iris (take a look at the owner's photos here). Not one of the excellent reviews turned out to be an exaggeration. So, on our very first trip to Italy we chose this apartment based more on reviews than on price - there were other apartments we found that were cheaper, but none compared to Casa Iris in any other way.
The apartment is spacious and spotless with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a nice eat-in kitchen equipped with everything you need for meal prep including some food staples, a small balcony and a large comfortable living room with a flat-screen TV which we never used. The Internet and wifi worked quickly and well. There is even a small washing machine to do your laundry. There are two flights of stairs, which was not a problem for us. The apartment is secure with with keyed entry into the building as well as into the unit itself.
If you do choose to rent a car, there is an underground pay parking garage right across the street. Be aware that you will not be allowed to drive or park in most of the city center. If you're caught, be prepared to pay a stiff fine. One store nearby, that we visited daily, was the Essalunga Supermarket on Masaccio (about a 8 minute walk from the apartment). You can find whatever you need there, including excellent wine at very reasonable prices. There are several city bus stops within about three minutes of the apartment door. Two of the buses will take you to points in the city center like the Santa Maria Novella (SMN) Train Station and points in between and, one where you can board Bus #7 to Fiesole. The city bus service in Florence is excellent.
The location of Casa Iris near Piazza della Liberta, (a local landmark) far enough from the sometimes noisy City center (citta centro), but close enough for walking. It's approximately a 20 minute walk to the Duomo at a steady clip and 25-30 minutes to the SMN train station and the SITA bus station. The Uffizi Gallery is about 20 minutes walking and The Accademia Gallery are about 15 minutes. We found that Casa Iris was ideal for all of our day trips to other cities like Venice, Rome, Siena, San Gimignano, Bologna, Pisa, Lucca and many more. Plus,there is so much to see in Florence that is just a 20-30 minute walk away or a 10-20 minute city bus ride. Here are Tripadvisor's top 10 attractions in Florence. You can not be bored!
We loved everything about this apartment from its amenities to its location, but especially, its owners Gabriele and Stefania, who were there for all of our questions and solved any minor problems immediately. Their attention to detail can't be beat. Our 16 day stay was perfect! We liked this apartment so much that we rented it again, for two weeks in 2014. Gabriele and Stefania also have a smaller one bedroom apartment which we rented for 7 days in 2015, Aurora Apartment on the same street that I'll feature in my next post.
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One of the best things about renting an apartment, aside from the obvious like saving money on meals, is the chance to live in an Italian neighborhood away from the tourist center hustle and bustle. If you're lucky enough to find an apartment with a balcony, you can open the doors to listen to the everyday sounds of Italian life. You don't usually get that by staying in a hotel in the city center.
In 2011, after reading many reviews on Tripadvisor, Flipkey (Tuscany) and/or Booking.com, we were able to choose the best apartment for us. Our budget calls for spending no more than 100 euros a night, if possible, for lodging. Of course, a good exchange rate can definitely save you money. With a dollar/euro exchange rate of $1.39 a 100 euro/night apartment would be $139 per night, but if the rate is only $1.10 like on our last trip, the nightly cost is only $110 - a big savings!
Once you've decided on a location, don't forget to read a lot of reviews because budget is hardly the only criteria to use when searching for your perfect place. When we were looking for our first apartment in Florence, the reviews describing the owners and the service they provided alone convinced us to go ahead and reserve Casa Iris (take a look at the owner's photos here). Not one of the excellent reviews turned out to be an exaggeration. So, on our very first trip to Italy we chose this apartment based more on reviews than on price - there were other apartments we found that were cheaper, but none compared to Casa Iris in any other way.
The apartment is spacious and spotless with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a nice eat-in kitchen equipped with everything you need for meal prep including some food staples, a small balcony and a large comfortable living room with a flat-screen TV which we never used. The Internet and wifi worked quickly and well. There is even a small washing machine to do your laundry. There are two flights of stairs, which was not a problem for us. The apartment is secure with with keyed entry into the building as well as into the unit itself.
If you do choose to rent a car, there is an underground pay parking garage right across the street. Be aware that you will not be allowed to drive or park in most of the city center. If you're caught, be prepared to pay a stiff fine. One store nearby, that we visited daily, was the Essalunga Supermarket on Masaccio (about a 8 minute walk from the apartment). You can find whatever you need there, including excellent wine at very reasonable prices. There are several city bus stops within about three minutes of the apartment door. Two of the buses will take you to points in the city center like the Santa Maria Novella (SMN) Train Station and points in between and, one where you can board Bus #7 to Fiesole. The city bus service in Florence is excellent.
The location of Casa Iris near Piazza della Liberta, (a local landmark) far enough from the sometimes noisy City center (citta centro), but close enough for walking. It's approximately a 20 minute walk to the Duomo at a steady clip and 25-30 minutes to the SMN train station and the SITA bus station. The Uffizi Gallery is about 20 minutes walking and The Accademia Gallery are about 15 minutes. We found that Casa Iris was ideal for all of our day trips to other cities like Venice, Rome, Siena, San Gimignano, Bologna, Pisa, Lucca and many more. Plus,there is so much to see in Florence that is just a 20-30 minute walk away or a 10-20 minute city bus ride. Here are Tripadvisor's top 10 attractions in Florence. You can not be bored!
We loved everything about this apartment from its amenities to its location, but especially, its owners Gabriele and Stefania, who were there for all of our questions and solved any minor problems immediately. Their attention to detail can't be beat. Our 16 day stay was perfect! We liked this apartment so much that we rented it again, for two weeks in 2014. Gabriele and Stefania also have a smaller one bedroom apartment which we rented for 7 days in 2015, Aurora Apartment on the same street that I'll feature in my next post.
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| Door to Casa Iris |
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| Barry relaxing on the balcony at Casa Iris |
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| Debbie hanging out laundry |
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| Great internet and wifi! |
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| One of three very nice bedrooms |
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| Calling it a night... |
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| Keeping out the sun... |
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| Lunch at Casa Iris |
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Feeling a bit lazy today, so I thought I'd just post a photo array of a few of our experiences and places we've visited it Italy. Hope you enjoy the photos we took. These photos are all from our first trip in June/July 2011.
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| Street performer near the Uffizi in Florence |
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| Street performer near the Uffizi in Florence |
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| Street performer near the Uffizi in Florence |
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| Our very first view of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence |
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| Cinque Terre |
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| Cinque Terre |
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| Cinque Terre |
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| Cinque Terre |
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| Cinque Terre view from the hiking trail |
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| Our entrance gate to San Gimignano |
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| Towers of San Gimignano |
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| Greve in Chianti |
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| Fiesole |
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| Fiesole cafe |
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| Wine shop in Fiesole |
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| Fiesole al fresco |
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Planning Your Tuscany Itinerary
So, you're beginning to plan your trip to Italy and you have chosen to see Tuscany first. This is so exciting! From this point until your departure date, you will probably immerse yourself in everything Italian. That's a good thing. All of the fun research you do will help you to find your way once you arrive at your destination.
Debbie and I chose Florence to be our home base for our first 16 day stay. Immediately, I began searching the Forums on TripAdvisor for advice, suggestions, warnings and tips on travelling to and staying in that wonderful Renaissance city. So many questions in those helpful forums were from people just like us. People were seeking information and advice on planning their itineraries. A typical question would be, "With Florence as a home base for our four day stay, would it be doable to see Siena, San Gimignano, Cinque Terre, Lucca, Pisa and Venice?" The answers could be very encouraging of such an ambitious itinerary or reasonably advising not to try to see everything in so short a time. We found the answers very helpful in planning our first trip.
Even a seven day stay in Tuscany will somewhat limit how much you'll get to see. We were fortunate to have 16 days which opened up a lot of opportunities for us. Florence alone could take a week just to touch on some of the high points. Realizing that for many a trip to Italy may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, it would be tempting to say you can do it all, but attempting to do too much could cause a lot of stress. Much depends on whether you're going to rent a car (more on this in another post), or solely use public transportation like we did. Since we had decided not to rent a car, Florence was the perfect place for us, especially because we would travel to several towns by train. As we began to plan what places we would like to see, the Trenitalia web site became a frequent stop for us. Using Italian spellings for city names, it is pretty easy to get the cost and duration of your day-trip train transportation. This also helped us choose an itinerary that would be doable and enjoyable for us.
We knew that there was a lot to see in Florence (Firenze), so we decided to take day-trips every other day and spend the alternate days discovering what Florence had to offer. This also gave us time to relax, enjoy our apartment, savor staying in a truly Italian neighborhood, shop for groceries and wine and do our laundry. With that in mind, we chose the following towns/places to visit: San Gimignano, Siena, Lucca, Fiesole (take bus #7 in Florence), Greve in Chianti (on a 1/2 day wine tour), Cinque Terre (on a one day tour) and finally, Venice for a day (which was not recommended by many). We were also lucky enough to have our apartment hosts (ora, i nostri amici), Gabriele and Stefania, take us on an adventure one evening to see Monteriggioni and Pienza, both of which were just beautiful.
We did cover our whole itinerary without feeling too exhausted, though a few of the days, especially going to Cinque Terre and Venice, were very full. We did relax whenever a nice trattoria or caffe beckoned and we weren't averse to having another glass of great wine, lingering while people watching or taking in a spectacular view. Each day day, we got up early and headed out on another venture.
Now, that we have been to Florence three times for a total of five weeks, we realize how much more we have to see there. More soon on the sights of that city and on our itineraries from two more trips to Italy.
If we could do all of this on our own, we're sure that you could, too. Remember, Italy is waiting for you!
Piazza della Signoria, Florence
Venice
Debbie and I chose Florence to be our home base for our first 16 day stay. Immediately, I began searching the Forums on TripAdvisor for advice, suggestions, warnings and tips on travelling to and staying in that wonderful Renaissance city. So many questions in those helpful forums were from people just like us. People were seeking information and advice on planning their itineraries. A typical question would be, "With Florence as a home base for our four day stay, would it be doable to see Siena, San Gimignano, Cinque Terre, Lucca, Pisa and Venice?" The answers could be very encouraging of such an ambitious itinerary or reasonably advising not to try to see everything in so short a time. We found the answers very helpful in planning our first trip.
Even a seven day stay in Tuscany will somewhat limit how much you'll get to see. We were fortunate to have 16 days which opened up a lot of opportunities for us. Florence alone could take a week just to touch on some of the high points. Realizing that for many a trip to Italy may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, it would be tempting to say you can do it all, but attempting to do too much could cause a lot of stress. Much depends on whether you're going to rent a car (more on this in another post), or solely use public transportation like we did. Since we had decided not to rent a car, Florence was the perfect place for us, especially because we would travel to several towns by train. As we began to plan what places we would like to see, the Trenitalia web site became a frequent stop for us. Using Italian spellings for city names, it is pretty easy to get the cost and duration of your day-trip train transportation. This also helped us choose an itinerary that would be doable and enjoyable for us.
We knew that there was a lot to see in Florence (Firenze), so we decided to take day-trips every other day and spend the alternate days discovering what Florence had to offer. This also gave us time to relax, enjoy our apartment, savor staying in a truly Italian neighborhood, shop for groceries and wine and do our laundry. With that in mind, we chose the following towns/places to visit: San Gimignano, Siena, Lucca, Fiesole (take bus #7 in Florence), Greve in Chianti (on a 1/2 day wine tour), Cinque Terre (on a one day tour) and finally, Venice for a day (which was not recommended by many). We were also lucky enough to have our apartment hosts (ora, i nostri amici), Gabriele and Stefania, take us on an adventure one evening to see Monteriggioni and Pienza, both of which were just beautiful.
We did cover our whole itinerary without feeling too exhausted, though a few of the days, especially going to Cinque Terre and Venice, were very full. We did relax whenever a nice trattoria or caffe beckoned and we weren't averse to having another glass of great wine, lingering while people watching or taking in a spectacular view. Each day day, we got up early and headed out on another venture.
Now, that we have been to Florence three times for a total of five weeks, we realize how much more we have to see there. More soon on the sights of that city and on our itineraries from two more trips to Italy.
If we could do all of this on our own, we're sure that you could, too. Remember, Italy is waiting for you!
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| Tuscan View |
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| Cinque Terre View |
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| Barry & Debbie in Corniglia, Cinque Terre |
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| Piazza Dell'Anfiteatro, Lucca |
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| Lucca Cafe |
Venice
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