Tuscany Archives

Chianti Wine Road: Tuscan Villas, Towns and Landscapes

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 at 4:25 am  
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verrazzano-tuscan-villas

The Chianti region in Tuscany, Italy was already world-famous during the past centuries. British and German Romantic writers, Goethe among many others, discovered here a piece of natural beauty. Gently guided by the hard working hands of countrymen who reclaimed many hectares of woods to create a patchwork of combed cultivated fields, the natural landscape has ever since been the main asset of Tuscany. And the terroir of Chianti, with its distinctive asperities, is among the most suggestive of all Tuscan views. However, the word Chianti unavoidably evokes the homonym wine produced on this land. The very first wine to…

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Caesars Palace Hotel Las Vegas – Roman Tower Room Review

Friday, April 8th, 2011 at 5:41 am  
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Entrance to Caesars Palace

For our last few days in Vegas we decided to stay at Caesars Palace. We had stayed here before on a previous visit but at that time we were given an upgraded room in the Forum Tower. This time, we were offered an upgrade for $50.00 but we declined and so we had a standard room in the Roman Tower. Check-in On check-in the guy checking us in tried to get us to upgrade to a better room for an extra $50 a night but since we had the upgraded room before and as we weren’t really all that impressed we declined…

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San Gimignano – The City of Towers

Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 1:52 am  
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So here we are at San Gimignano, the City of Towers. During the medieval times, rich families who lived in the Italian walled towns would erect high towers to compete with rich families in other towns. Apart from being a status symbol, the tower would serve as lodgings and fortresses. In cities such as Florence most of the towers no longer exist because of wars or urban renewal. San Gimignano has saved thirteen towers of varying heights and it is for these towers that San Gimignano is well known. Wherever you walk in these ancient towns, there are really interesting…

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On To San Gimignano

Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 8:10 am  
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We head of to San Gimignano. None of this was pre-planned, we are just driving to whereever takes our fancy at the time. We are used to driving in Australia where the distances between major cities is vast. So we find it odd that everything is so close to reach. The following morning we have a tour booked to Pisa so we don’t want to go there today, but we keep coming upon signs saying we are almost there. So we turn around and drive in another direction to look at something else. Fortunately there are just so many interesting…

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The Society – Guiseppe Armani Factory

Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 12:20 pm  
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We do get lost a couple of times but finally we see the sign in the distance. And now another fiasco. We drive into what we think is the right place and before we know it here comes a car at high speed and he cuts us off and jumps out of his car and comes running over. What are we doing here, we are trespassing. It turns out we have gone into some secret area where the public are not allowed to go. So we explain that we have an appointment at the showroom and that we have come…

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A Trip Through Tuscany to Casole d’ Elsa Looking For Guiseppe Armani

Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 11:46 am  
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Next morning we are up bright and early to catch the bus out to the airport to pick up the car. We aren’t sure what to expect as we haven’t actually seen a Smartcar in Australia. After picking up the keys and getting directions as to how to get back into Florence, we head off to the car park. And there it is a tiny little thing with just enough room for the two of us and a couple of handbags. It is so cute that we have to keep looking at it, considering it looks like a tonka toy….

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