For this trip, we picked two main destinations with long stays in each rather than going from town to town. The advantages are less time spent in train and bus stations, less time spend packing and unpacking, and lest time getting to know your way around. After 2 nights in Florence, our first destination was Greve in Chianti. We were here for a week in 2009 so we knew we would like it for its small size, great markets, and great walking in the countryside a few minutes from the main piazza.
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| A stone-paved country road between Greve and Panzano. We're not sure how old this type of road would have to be but there was an important route through here even in the third century B.C. |
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| Fresh funghi porcini at Greve's monthly Mercato Biologico (Organic Market) |
I found a Greve apartment on Booking.com that was cheaper than our typical hotel or B&B. The total for this one came to 310 Euros for 7 nights and we saved loads of money on restaurants. There's nothing more satisfying that buying and cooking fresh food in Tuscany!
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| Wonderful market ingredients ... delicious, healthy, and cheap meals. |
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| Our apartment for 7 nights in Greve, 5 minute walk from main piazza |
We had nice weather in Greve for all but one day. When you come home after walking with wet clothes it's really nice to have lots of space to spread things around. This place was well-lit, quiet and comfortable. Our host was also a really sweet man.
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| The downstairs of our Greve apartment |
Our main activity around Greve was walking on country roads. We've used walking guidebooks in the past, without great success. This time I planned the routes in Google Earth the night before, transferred tracks to a little GPS unit and used it to navigate. It worked better than anything we've tried before but this is partly because the area west of Greve has beautiful country roads and farm tracks with almost no traffic in October.
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| Montefioralle is a gorgeous little hill town a few km from Greve. Those are grape leaves turning colours. |
Our longest walk was the day we took a bus to Radda and walked back to Greve. Our 7 day total was about 90 km.
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| Screen shot of our tracks around Greve |
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