The Travelling Buncebury's

  Tuscany 6. Lucca two views of Lucca from the top of the Torre Guinigi  Pisa station is interesting if you have time to spare. According to the timetables in the station, the train for Lucca left from platform 2 but there was no information on the platform about any trains going anywhere. Then we found an information point with an actual person who told us that of course the Lucca train left from platform 2 West. This was deja vu for us because years ago when we tried motor-rail from Calais to Bologna, it was fine on the outward journey. On the return trip, we and many other passengers were waiting at Bologna station for the pre-loaded train full of our cars to arrive on platform 6 (or whatever). Then across the station we saw our train arriving and with a two year old Tim, a four year old Louise, Heather’s parents and all the other motor-railers we had to rush to platform 6 West. Successfully I’m happy to say. We caught the Lucca train successfully too and it was ful...

  Tuscany 5. Florence - the jewel in Tuscany's crown The Duomo from our apartment roof garden at 5.30am The Italian train system is very good and cheap but especially good if you get a seat, which we managed for the run into Florence. We rolled into town about an hour after leaving Poggibonsi for 8 Euros (£7) each. A nice easy stroll across from the station past the famous and wildly spectacular Duomo to our accommodation, or so we thought. Florence has an interesting numbering system for houses, many have two very different numbers which don’t necessarily keep step. So with a number, road name and description of the house, you’d think it would be simple to find but it took the best part of an hour. I was convinced we’d been scammed. Fortunately we hadn’t and our top floor apartment with a roof terrace and view to the Duomo (this is the famous dome at the eastern end of the cathedral) was about a hundred yards from the cathedral as the angel flies. It was a tremendous locati...

Tuscany 4. Siena and Volterra   flags in the colours of of the 17 Contrade, Siena's town districts Sienna was a bus ride from our hotel and here, tickets had to be bought in advance in a bar or somewhere similar and then validated on the bus. Alternatively, we could just tap in a credit card for the 1 Euro (85p) fare. Any inspector just checked that your card had been used, smiled and moved on. Some tourist unfortunates in front of us hadn’t done this, so their passports were out and I heard 35 Euros mentioned so I think the four of them had a 140 Euro bus ride. I confess to feeling a little uncharitably smug. our first view of the Piazza del Campo   The last time Heather and I were here was probably in 1990 with a four year old Louise and a two year old Tim and they have changed a lot more than Siena in the intervening thirty five years. The streets are generally a little bit wider than many of the places we’ve been and th e city is a big place. The big draw of cou...