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Tuscany on a Harley

Friday, September 23, 2016 | Robert Stoll / Tom Friden | Europe

Day 8: Volterra -Orvieto

 

Todays route will take us from Tuscany back tu Umbria, more exactly to Orvieto.

Starting in Volterra we will do a stop in Siena, known for its famous horse race in the old city center at the Campo. if you believe the habizants it's the most beautiful square in the world, so a must stop over with our steel horses.

After that our journay will take us through perfect Tuscany landscape, vineyards, sunflowers, cypress lined roads, rolling hills and olive trees.

Our destination, Orvieto, is a beautiful city high up on a plateau.

Have look yourself and enjoy, we did so far!

Torre della Mangia and the palazzo pubblico at Siena's main square. This is also the place where this famous horse race is.
Group picture at Siena's main square "the campo"
The world famous dome "Santa Maria"
What a crazy piece of architecture, the details are just incredible...
Parking your bike in Siena is a real challeng, here was no space for our big Harley, sometimes we wonder if they get their bikes out of that mess.
What a nice panoramic view Tuscany showed us while riding over those rolling mountains, just fabulous.

DAY 7......."rest day"........    ride from Volterra to San Gimingnano...... a cool village with famous towers, the rich residents from days gone by in this village built towers, all trying to out do one another as a sign of power and wealth.....but MORE importantly, the WORLD CHAMPION of Gelato has a shop here,   and you know we are huge on Gelato on this trip.........      a taste festival indeed!!!!    Not only great gelato, but a picturesque town to enjoy it in!! Sensation overload indeed!!  OH, and these were among the funnest roads, the riding was off the hook!!

Katie just could not bear it any more...the beauty of this region was driving her mad....but this only lasted for a few seconds, she survived the day and had a great time!!
some of the towers
TUSCANY landscape!!!!!!
new riding gear for tour guides next season!!!!!
full body armor.......... and a battle axe for unruly car drivers!!!! just kidding!!!
WOW!! What a blast this "Gelato" definitely the best Gelato of the world so far, made by a multiple Gelato world champion!
Yummi!
group selfie phoot or selfie group photo!?? SEE we do ride, there are BIKES in the picture!!!
bath houses and an amphitheater from the times of the Roman Empire........from the third century BC.

DAY 6......    Florence to Volterra.....after a splendid magical experience in Florence we hit the road again.  This time we had out sights on Volterra, a charming quiet little village with some ancient Roman tuins near by...quite the change fro m the hustle and bussle of Florence.  The ride was superb, plenty of beautiful country roads. lined with tree line canopies, and even a quit stretch along the Tyrrhenia sea.....   OH, and we saw a leaning buildeing in Pisa too!!! IMAGINE That!!!!! 

one last view of Florence, from Piazzale Michelangelo
new friendship being made, Dave and John
if you lean to the right, it looks straight...
We are gonna get this straightened out yet........
Linda and Katie, two awesome ladies!!!!!

Day 4: Florence

Rest day in Florence doesn't mean that you lay back, of course you could but it would be a shame to miss this city and its outstanding art and architecture it has to show. You will be blown away by the craziness of art!

I promise! and don't forget to try a "Gelato" or two.

Enjoy this day.

Kathedrale Santa Maria del Fiore
The view of the Cupola del Brunelleschi
It might be 10am but we can't leave this "Gelato" alone...
The view from the tower di Giotto over Florence
Baptisterium
Strange feeling while standing on the grid inside of the tower di giotto
Nice view over Florence
After climbing the tower we get us a small recompense. "Gelato" of course! Yummi!
The famous statue of "avid"
and just next to him the statue of "Hercules"
so much sightseeing makes hungry, but still to early for lunch so let's have a small "Gelato" til then...
inside the "Palazzo Vecchio"
Ponte Vecchio
ok, let's do it but psssst, don't tell anyone, after that we go for lunch I promise...
Who says Italy says "Gelato"
Insides the museum of the Palazzo Vecchio, this place just left us speechless...
What else to say than WOW....
Could you pass by without tasting thi good looking "Gelato".....? We can't...
Art at its best.
WOW!!! What a big Globe... Go on and have a closer look...
Yes they are real...
Thousands of scarabeus beetles...
"Gelato" junkie Rob can't get enough of this stuff...
Celebrating Daves birthday with a good glas of ChiantiClassico...
Yes, we did it, no more "Gelato" in Florence...
A last picture of the Dome before we go... What a crazy city Florence is, if you ever pass by make sure to stop over and have a look inside.

Day 3: Assisi to Firenze (Florence)

 

Wow! What a day...Kickstand up at 9am and just back from a nice and funny night city tour at 11pm.

So the day started with light rain just two minutes before the bikes left the hotel Cenacolo in Assisi, but only 15 minutes later the sky cleared up and before we reached the first highlight of the day "the lake Trasimeno" the roads where dry again and ready to have good fun up on our way to Florence.

After the lake Trasimeno we visited the old town Cortona, yes Cortona, not Corona.

Time for a small city walk around, before we continued to Arezzo.

We saw a lot of fabulous things til here but the day still had more to offer. Next on the riding menu was the "passo de consuma", what a blast up there: empty roads, nice views and some big Harleys getting thrown around the curves.

Then a must do, the visit of the Harley Davidson shop in Firenze, means shopping time!

And then the most outstanding part, the crazy architecture and art during a night city walk...

 

Just WOW!!!

Lake Trasimeno
View over the valley from Cortona
War monument in Cortona
Piazza della Repubblica in Cortona
Dave, Linda, Kathleen and John enjoying the beautiful scenery
Really impressive all the art and architecture they did here in the churches.
Museo Diocesano Cortona
Duomo San Donato in Arezzo
Duomo San Donato in Arezzo
Duomo San Donato in Arezzo
A must stop for some shopping at the Harley shop in Florence.
#HarleyDavidsonSpeedShopFirenze
what a beautiful view over florence from our rooftop terrace in the hotel.
the Cathedral and the dome by night just leaves you speechless
another must see in Florence is the Ponte Vecchio
....and of course you need to try some "Gelato"
Palazzo Vecchio just a 2 minutes walk from the Ponte Vecchio
Oh yeah, and try some delicious "Gelato" by the way
...there is always place for a "Gelato" as Kathleen would say (unless you eat soup)
Ok i promise, it would be the last "Gelato" for tonight. =)

Day two.....    Assis... "Rest day".....  this is a term which does not really apply...about the only rest we get is not bringing luggage to the van....    we came here to ride, and ride we did. The hills and roads in the Assisi area are full of twists and turns, up and downs...we even went over a pass Passo Del Monte Subasio  .......it was a bit chilly up there for about three minutes...... then we came back to Assis for a great pjzza and a walking tour of this charming little town..... tomorrow we hit the road and our goal is Florence.

Group picture below the Basilica
A little dramatic sky but hey we are not sunshine bikers...
Who says Italy says Gelato, we tried a lot of icecream to figure out who does the best and guess what, we still have to try around 'cause there is Gelato everywhere...
Who says Italy says art, so we did visit a small art gallery. Crazy wood art out of a tree root...
Walking through the nice little streets of Assisi.
Basilica of Assisi by night.

Sun greeted us in Rome this morning after a rainy stormy night.......we headed north through the twisty roads towards Passo Corese on to Terni and finally to Assisi.........   what a wonderful landscapre to treasure, beautiful vistas and fun roads.  It was a great ride today..........   and this is only the begining....and once again...."this is why we ride"

John capturing the moment.....
Interesting!!
John and Kathleen
there are big smiles behind those helmets....I promise you!!!
Cascada Delle Marmore...... man made in 271 BC........... WOW!!!! 550 feet, ...........millions of gallos a day .......
a water fall bow
John, Kathleen, Linda and David........
we are a small group.....but dynamite comes in small packages!!
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Linda Dahl Vincent
Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 22:13

Amazing!!! A must do trip !!!

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