I tooka month-long dream trip to Europe this fall, my very first abroad. We travelled around on our own for the first 5 days, went on a 12-day cruise through the Medeteranean and then spent another 5 days touring Tuscany. We saw many omg-sights and I filled three memory sticks with digital photos. Some of the magical places were Windsor Castle, England, Rome, Sorrento, Capri, Positano, Mone Carlo, Florence, Venice, Naples, Athens, Pompeii, Kusadasi Turkey, Corfu, Santorini -Oia, Cinquaterra. We put ourselves on the "Gelato-A-Day" meal plan and ate our way through Europe. And, we took every possible mode of transportation, including donkey and gondola.
View of the Tuscan countryside from Cortona, Italy. Lake Trasimeno and Umbria are seen in the far distance.
The olive grove and vineyard outside our bedroom window at a Tuscan villa - pure heaven!
Bell tower in Volterra in the Tuscany region of Italy.
In the Val d'Orcia just south of S. Quirico d'Orcia are the baths Bagno Vignoni.on part of the once pilgrim route that linked Canterbury to Rome
We just had to stop along this winding road to get this shot! We were on our way from Montepulciano to Monticchiello a charming small fortress town.
View of Piazza del Campo and the Torre del Mangia taken from the "Facciatone" tower in the Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana in Siena Italy. We bought the Opera della Metropolitana pass valid for 3 days for 10 euro and had admission to the museum, oratorio and the crypt(with it's beautiful wall paintings)
View of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta a 12th-century Duomo in the heart of Siena. I took this view from the top of the Torre del Mangia in the Piazza del Compo
This is a small, crumbling hilltown in southern Tuscany. A steep and sturdy footbridge brings you to this 2000 year old town. Taken with a Canon point and shoot.
The view of a Tuscan farm from a neighboring hill. The passing clouds created a dappled pattern that emphasized the rolling nature of the landscape.
My husband and I booked a cottage on a agriturismo near Cortona, Italy in the month of November. The days were heartbreakingly short and the mornings were plagued by dense fog. We were wary of driving through unfamiliar territory in this fog, so we stayed close to our temporary home until near noon. I walked the dirt roads nearby and found sublime beauty in this foggy Tuscan landscape.
These ladies were happy to pose for me. They told me they were afraid they might break my camera...to much laughter!
No shortage of pasta varieties in this small shop in San Gimignano located in the Tuscan hills.....or anywhere in Italy for that matter......
Meeting new friends at a Wine bar on the roof of Firenze hotel during sunset. The bells were ringing and the moment was magical.