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A day trip to Sintra is a must - don't forget to take a torch and visit the gardens at the Quinta de Regaleira.The first time I went I didn't take a torch and cut my nose on the wall of a cave much to my husband's amusement. It is a magical labyrinth of caves and tunnels that make you feel like you are in a fairytale grotto. If you have time you can climb the hill to the Pena Palace which is a fabulous, brightly coloured castle with extensive gardens to explore.
www.regaleira.pt/
Quinta da Regaleira, 2710-567 Sintra, Portugal
Portugal
+351 219 106 650
Google map: bit.ly/10qY6Vr
This tiny, idyllic 16th century Franciscan Monastery in the Sintra Hills was built entirely from natural materials. It becomes part of the surroundings with boulders forming parts of the walls, and the small, sparse monks cells are designed so that it is impossible to lie down at full stretch. The only concession to comfort is the cork lining for some of the walls, hence its name. There are beautiful fountains and fascinating naturally sourced art works.
From Lisbon take the train to Sintra, and then catch the bus 'Turistico Monserrate and Capuchos'.
Estrada dos Capuchos, 2710-405 Sintra, Portugal
+351 219 237 300
Google map: bit.ly/18b8x4p
Strange that many of the selected tips this week seemed to require an overnight stay. I wouldn't recommend Barga for a day trp from Florence. You'll need to change trains at Lucca and the drive along the valley of the Serchio river is not particulary quick. However, if you do give it a go leave time to stop at the Ponte del Diavalo, also known as the Ponte della Maddalena. You'll find it at Borgo a Mozzano. Better to stay in Barga for a few days and explore the upper reaches of the Garfagnana region, which is so different to the traditional Tuscany that everybody knows. Even better still, coincide your stay in Barga with the Pesce e Patate festival when local Italians tuck into fish and chips served down at the local football ground.
PS Lucca is an excellent recommendation for a day trip. There's an international music festival every summer - Leonard Cohen is playing this year. The best way to explore the city and its walls are by bike, which can be hired by the hour.
Google map: bit.ly/153ob5S
Less than two hours and €15 away from Florence is the Tuscan hilltop town of Cortona, haloed by Etruscan walls. The setting for the film ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’, Cortona is a jumble of medieval streets, relaxed piazzas and Etruscan history. As well as the absorbing museums in the town, the MAEC (Museum of Etruscan and local history) is well worth a look; one of my favourite places is Le Celle. The tranquil convent, founded by St Francis in the thirteenth century, is reached by a meandering forty-five minute walk through woods and olive groves. Photo opportunities abound along the way, with stunning views over the valley.
Take the train to either Terontola or Camucia, from there a regular bus service runs up to the walled town.
Train times: www.trenitalia.com
Bus times: www.lfi.it
Museum of Etruscan Academy and of the City: www.cortonamaec.org/english/
Piazza Luca Signorelli, 9 52044 Cortona Province of Arezzo, Italy
+39 0575 637235
Le Celle: www.lecelle.it/
Google map: bit.ly/12HqjvA
Take a train or drive the hour or so west of Florence to the beautiful compact city of Lucca. It is virtually car free so perfect for wandering! Climb the Torre Guinigi which has oak trees growing at the top. Hire bikes from piazza Santa Maria del Borgo and join the popular afternoon Lucchesi 'passegiata' around the city's wide ramparts, enjoying views of the botanic gardens and plenty of private gardens too as you cycle around. Enjoy a rich hot chocolate in the Piazza dell' Anfiteatro. The cool narrow streets surrounding the central piazzas of Lucca have a wealth of individual shops selling fashion, food and ice cream, many of them seemingly unchanged over the centuries.
If the fancy takes you make a detour on the way back to the 'Parco di Pinocchio' in Collodi which is an eccentric but somehow endearing homage to the wooden puppet and its author, with garden sculptures of the key characters in the story.
www.pinocchio.it
Via San Gennaro, 3, 51017 Collodi Pistoia, Italy
+39 0572 429342
Google map: bit.ly/ZYn66x
Take a trip to the small town of Vinci, birth place of Leonardo, 35 kilometers west of Florence. The small Museo Leonardiano, sited within the 12th century Castello dei Conti Guidi, is jammed full of the artist’s drawings, designs and a mind boggling array of large and small military, textile and travel inventions.
www.visitsitaly.com/tuscany/vinci/index.htm
Google map: bit.ly/11TrS6A
Take a bus (or drive) from Florence towards Sienna and you'll be able to visit two medieval fortified hill towns that offer stunning views across the Tuscan countryside and a taste of life from another time. You can spend a day in either Monteriggioni or San Gimignano or combine both for a day trip to remember. Great places to eat and drink, with rustic churches and historic buildings that rightly make San Gimignano a UNESCO world heritage centre.
www.sangimignano.net/; www.comune.monteriggioni.si.it/
San Gimignano, Siena , Tuscany
Google map: bit.ly/YFa2nc
Take an hour and twenty minutes train trip south to Camucia and catch the local bus or what appears to be the only taxi in the area, up to the ancient Etruscan walled town of Cortona. From Piazza Garibaldi the main street has many bars where you can take a light lunch enjoying the casual atmosphere before walking out of town back past the Piazza Garibaldi into the tree lined avenue of the public park, Giardini Parterre, with magnificent views across the Valdichiana.
At the end of the park turn left up the cypress lined road with wonderful views over the hills and you will come to Bramasole, the big peach coloured house where Frances Mayes wrote Under the Tuscan Sun. Carry on to the village of Torreone and turn left to follow the old roman road through the Porta Montanina back into Cortona. Stroll down through the steep narrow streets to Piazza della Republica just after siesta as the town comes to life and a possible free wine tasting at Enoteca Molesini.
The Piazza buzzes with life early evening and you will find it hard to leave to catch the train from Camucia back to Florence.
Camucia Station, a ten minute bus ride or five minutes by taxi from Cortona.
Google map: bit.ly/12lPJP5
A true gem is the walled city of Lucca, birthplace of Puccini. Take a stroll on the tree-lined city walls (as wide as a motorway). For fantastic views climb the bricked Guinigi Tower which has a tree growing on the top. There are churches, squares and museums to explore. Look for the unusual piazza of the Amphitheatre with houses around the perimeter. For mouth watering traditional Tuscan food head to the family-run Trattoria Buralli on Piazza Sant’Agostino.
Lucca always stayed independent. In the past through the supply and trade of silk, nowadays it is the biggest producer of toilet paper in Italy.
Regular train service from Florence 1hr 30mins, return ticket €7.
www.vecciatrattoriaburalli.it
Piazza Sant'Agostino, 10, 55100 Lucca, Italy
+39 0583 950611
Google map: bit.ly/ZLk728
Take a day trip to San Gimignano, about an hour by road or rail from Florence. Explore the walled medieval town on foot and enjoy some local ice cream in the the town centre - a UNESCO world heritage site. Some of the towers can be climbed - giving panoramic views of the local countryside. Try and get into the deserted back streets to get a feel for the history, away from the crowds. Local wines can be tasted at the Vernaccia Wine Museum.
San Gimignano, Siena , Tuscany
Google map: bit.ly/YFa2nc
Certaldo Alta is a short train ride from Florence. The new part is less interesting, apart from a twice weekly market so head for the old part, Certaldo Alta either on foot or using the cable car from the square. Here you will find a lovely Tuscan hill town with few tourists, some interesting history and quiet bars and restaurants. In the summer there is a music and arts festival so you can listen to jazz in part of an old church surrounded by ancient frescoes. Even better, stay for the night in the nearby Fattoria Basseto, a former Benedictine convent, that is now a budget hotel and hostel. In one of the rooms there is a black and white photograph of the family who still own it, taken in the 1950's by Cecil Beaton.The owners are lovely, you will want to stay, arrange a cooking class at a nearby farm, and not return to Florence!
www.fattoriabassetto.com/tuscany-accommodation/certaldo-bed-and-breakfast-tuscany.htm
Via delle Città, 50052 Certaldo FI, Italy
+39 348 4370285
Google map: bit.ly/11ucXCG
www.mercantiacertaldo.it
About 90 minutes on the train, this ancient Italian city is much smaller and far less touristy than Florence. Look for the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, oval in shape because the houses are built into the walls of the Roman amphitheatre. Here in 56BC Julius Caesar, Pompey and Crassus formed the First Triumvirate (coalition government) to rule Rome. Also look out of the train at the previous stop, Montecatini Terme, to see the modernist Mussolini era station.
www.turismo.provincia.lucca.it/en/
Frequent trains on the Florence - Pisa line. www.trenitalia.com
Google map: bit.ly/ZDdXEv
Syros is an undiscovered gem of an island. Off the beaten track for mass tourism, this lovely town has so much to offer. Within easy reach of Athens via ferry, and a faster hydrofoil in the summer, it even has its own airport with a daily flight to Athens taking 30 minutes. The main town of Ermoupolis has an attractive harbour with many tavernas on the waterfront. Wander through the little backstreets, see the huge marble square and town hall, walk up the narrow streets and many steps to Ano Syros. Visit the impressive Venetian style houses in Vaporia, built for sea captains. Several beaches are just a bus ride away or hire a moped for the day. The sandy beach at Kini has beachside tavernas, as does Azolimnos, the nearest beach to Ermoupolis. Even in the winter, the island is a buzzing, lively place to visit, as it is the capital of the Cyclades. Well worth a stop over if you are island hopping, sailing, or for a day trip.
Google map: bit.ly/12SImQt
The highest point in Athens. You can walk to the top using the footpaths but it is fun to catch the funicular railway (Telefrik). It is about a ten minute walk from Kolonaki square through some steep backstreets, but the funicular station is not well signposted. The little trains run every thirty minutes, and more frequently in busy times and costs six euros return. The views from the top are absolutely stunning.
10 minutes walk from Kolonaki square.
Google map: bit.ly/11w8a1O
Why leave one crowded tourist honeypot to spend 24 hours in another? Because San Gimignano offers more than towers and tourist tat. It sits amid some of the most beautiful landscapes this planet has to offer, so if you need a break from masterpiece-bagging, lose yourself among the rolling olive groves and vineyards where the hills are dotted with fabulous, tranquil, rustic places to stay: agriturismi. Clusters of ancient farm buildings seemingly assembled by the god of aesthetically pleasing structures-in-stone have been arranged artfully throughout the San Gimignano area. Take your pick from one of the 90 or so near the 'Medieval Manhattan' and you will see this town's best angle - from afar on your poolside veranda with glass of Vernaccia in hand.
An hour by road, San Gimignano is an easy day trip away from Florence. Great website with everything you need to arrange to stay at an Agriturismo in this stunning area: www.sangimignano.com/en/services-and-facilities/accommodation/farmhouses/
Google map: bit.ly/YFa2nc
A broad wooded valley north of Lucca, the Garfagnana is a ruggedly beautiful area of Tuscany hidden between the Apuan Alps and the Apennines, often overlooked in the stampede for the art-laden cities further south. If you are tired of galleries, museums and crowds or simply prefer nature to culture, a 24 hour escape to Barga, one of the 'Borghi piu Belli d'Italia' with its twisting lanes, artistic residents and incredible panoramic views will refresh your crowd-weary soul and renew your appetite for all that Florentine art. Among the elegant medieval merchant's houses are several flower filled stairways leading to the cathedral which surveys the town from above. The vista over the tiles and verdant valley towards the Apuan Alps is ample reward for the climb. There are plenty of trattorie for the obligatory sampling of delicious regional fare.
Barga can be reached from Florence by train but it is not a straightforward journey as you must leave the train on the valley floor. Simpler and quicker to drive - around two hours from Florence. Stay in the impressive and serene Villa Moorings in the town or in one of the many nearby agriturismi.
Villa Moorings: www.villamoorings.it
Via Roma 18, Barga (LU) 55051.
+39 0583 711538
Google map: bit.ly/Zg84hR
station: Barga-Gallicano.
... and leave the train at Pisa Central. From the station walk towards the river and cross the Arno by Ponte di Mezzo. Explore the narrow streets and squares of this historic university town. Eventually you will arrive at the Leaning Tower in the Piazza dei Miracoli (Cathedral Square). Make sure that you walk back to the station exploring a different route – there’s so much more to discover than the buildings close to the Tower (which is all that you are likely to see if you book on an organised excursion).
www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=d696652188ea7210VgnVCM1000004016f90aRCRD
Vietnam-Visa. How to get it??
This question must be common to guys who love to travel to Vietnam. therefore, I am willing to answer you foreigners how to obtain Vietnam visa. Let's go:
Officially, there are 2 ways to get Vietnam visa.
The first way is going to Vietnam embassy in your country, pay pee, take an interview of your entry'purpose and wait about 4-5 days to get your visa.
In case you do not want to take time to get Vietnam embassy or there is no Vietnam embassy in your country, you are advised to use the following way.
The second way is staying at home and visit travel agent's website, fill out secured application form, pay service fee ($ 20 for 1 month single entry, $ 25 for 1 month multiple entry, $ 30 for 3 month single and $ 35 for 3 month multiple), receive your visa approval letter within 1-2 working days via email and finally get your visa stamped at arrival airport in vietnam (one more thing, you have to pay stamping fee directly to Vietnam Immigration Officer)
Hopefully, this information is helpful for you. If you have any questions, I am very pleased to help you. My Skype id is vietnamvisaeasy.
Office in Hanoi
G8 Ciputra, Lac Long Quan Street, Tay Ho district, Hanoi Capital, Vietnam
Office in Hai Phong
No 12 Hong Bang street, So Dau ward, Hong Bang District, Hai Phong city
Call us:
+84-946.175.068 (Hotline, Vietnam GMT +7)
Office hours: 8.00 AM to 18.00 PM (Monday to Friday)
Customer Service hours:
Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Saturday: 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
(Vietnam Standard Time is GMT +7)
Support Online
Customer Support: support@vietnamvisa-easy.com
Feedback: feedback@vietnamvisa-easy.com
Website: www.vietnamvisa-easy.com
Vietnam-Visa. How to get it??
This question must be common to guys who love to travel to Vietnam. therefore, I am willing to answer you foreigners how to obtain Vietnam visa. Let's go:
Officially, there are 2 ways to get Vietnam visa.
The first way is going to Vietnam embassy in your country, pay pee, take an interview of your entry'purpose and wait about 4-5 days to get your visa.
In case you do not want to take time to get Vietnam embassy or there is no Vietnam embassy in your country, you are advised to use the following way.
The second way is staying at home and visit travel agent's website, fill out secured application form, pay service fee ($ 20 for 1 month single entry, $ 25 for 1 month multiple entry, $ 30 for 3 month single and $ 35 for 3 month multiple), receive your visa approval letter within 1-2 working days via email and finally get your visa stamped at arrival airport in vietnam (one more thing, you have to pay stamping fee directly to Vietnam Immigration Officer)
Hopefully, this information is helpful for you. If you have any questions, I am very pleased to help you. My Skype id is bong192
Office in Hanoi
G8 Ciputra, Lac Long Quan Street, Tay Ho district, Hanoi Capital, Vietnam
Office in Hai Phong
No 12 Hong Bang street, So Dau ward, Hong Bang District, Hai Phong city
Call us:
+84-946.175.068 (Hotline, Vietnam GMT +7)
Office hours: 8.00 AM to 18.00 PM (Monday to Friday)
Customer Service hours:
Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Saturday: 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
(Vietnam Standard Time is GMT +7)
Support Online
Customer Support: support@vietnamvisa-easy.com
Feedback: feedback@vietnamvisa-easy.com
Website: www.vietnamvisa-easy.com
Where to start? There are so many exciting and beautiful places to visit within easy travelling distance of Madrid, but I would recommend the World Heritage Site of El Escorial, about 40 minutes by the regular (and cheap) suburban train service from Chamartin station, and site of the vast former palace of the kings of Spain, which contains also a monastery and the magnificent Basilica of San Lorenzo. Guided tours, at around 7€, are well worth it. The magnificence of the state rooms, and especially the opulence of the vast library, are not to be missed, and make El Escorial a visit of prime importance in central Spain. As if that were not enough, close by is the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen), the basilica carved into a rocky hillside and built by Franco as a tribute to all those who lost their lives in Spain’s disastrous civil war. Here again, one marvels at the sheer magnitude of the site, which is on the huge scale of the foolishness which it commemorates. To complete a tour of the unforgettable delights of this corner of Madrid’s environs, the city of Segovia – another World Heritage Site – is not to be missed, with its amazing Roman aqueduct at least on the scale of the Pont du Gard and its charming old town dominated by a magnificent cathedral and topped off by its clifftop chateau.
Take the train from Atocha station, Madrid, to El Escorial.
Google map: bit.ly/Yw9vnB
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