It ‘s clear that in a previous life I lived in Italy, otherwise I can’t explain why I am so in love with it. It’s the only place in the world where I can move without thinking, despite the fact that I’m a convinced nationalist.

After a summer of extracurricular activities, I thought about making a surprise for my husband and take the plane tickets for a short getaway somewhere. Where to be, where to be? My luck is that he likes Italy too, so it was very easy to choose the destination. I found a site with the best airplane deals and accommodation for many destinations, www.aventurescu.ro and there I made the booking. I visited many places in Italy, but I don’t know how I missed the Tuscany area and its beautiful landscapes, the cities full of history and greenery.

The time was relatively short, we had 4 nights and we wanted to make the best use of it, but let us rest at the same time.

For the lovers of short getaways, in Tuscany, I recommend our itinerary.

We landed at Pisa Airport and we rented a car because we were in the mood of walking. The flight was in the early part of the day, and we enjoyed the center of Pisa with its tower, the cathedral and the crowded streets nearby.

We stayed at a boutique hotel in Lucca, a citadel town, 30 km from Pisa. We chose Lucca city because it had a very good starting position in exploring the touristic areas that we wanted to discover.

In the evening we passed through the streets of the citadel and went to a restaurant where we ate delicious seafood, sprinkled with a little rose wine … we were in the famous wine region, right?

The next day, we toke a stroll in Florence and visit the beautiful city, but we departed from the road for a few hours, because in front of us an outlet appeared. How to say no to this challenge? How can I not walk a little among store shelves and choose me, a proper souvenir from Tuscany??? Obviously I didn’t go empty handed, but I was thoughtful and I’m proud of me!

We continued our journey and arrived in Florence. The city is beautiful, crowded and full of history, just like Rome and many other cities in Italy. The problem was that being in the car, it was very difficult for us to find a parking space. Finally, when we found one, we were too tired and hungry to enjoy the center of Florence. We walked, took some pictures and i ate a delicious ice cream with too much appetite that i didn’t feel very well after.

We decided to look for a restaurant, just outside the center, but again in the car, we had no place to park. So we continued our journey to Lucca and we departed from the highway in the town of Pistoia, where we found  an Italian restaurant, absolutely brilliant! It was worth walking and losing our way through the streets, narrow streets, even the highways.

We spent the third day in Lucca. We rented bicycles and climbed the walls of the citadel, as there were beautiful bicycle paths and pedestrian streets full of trees and greenery. Only the chirping of the birds and the branches of the trees in the warm wind breeze could be heard. We walked on the narrow streets of the citadel and enjoyed the happy tourists and the enchanting smells that came from the restaurants all over. We ate delicious pasta and enjoyed the aromatic wine of the area.

On our last day in Tuscany, we went to visit the Cinque Terre National Park. We didn’t realize that we might have problems with the weather because it was a cloudy day. We got into the car and went hiking. The Cinque Terre area is very beautiful and I bet you, that it’s really gorgeous, but we couldn’t see anything because it was a terrible fog. So we saw Cinque Terre? I would say no, but, in spite, we stopped at a winery and we took not one, but two bottles of wine, at least our taste buds felt something of this gorgeous area.

In the evening, returning to Lucca we discovered by mistake and i say this, because we were walking around the streets of the city, on night time, hungry and tired, a restaurant. It had its door closed and was in the back, but had absolutely delicious food! I recommend it to you, if you have a way in this area – it’s called Canuleia Trattoria. And now to be honest i am craving when I think how good we ate that night.

It was a beautiful and full of adventure mini holiday, the only problem is the kilogram that I put on after so many good things … but I’m starting the diet, clearly!!

Dearfully,