serenity

The Tuscan adventure part 2- Lucca & Pisa & Vinci

Posted on by Francisca

Hello my beautiful friends,

As some of you may know, I suddenly got the urge to write again. I missed it these last few months and, although I wanted to get started earlier, no time seemed to be a good time. However, the Tuscan adventure offered me the peace of mind and tranquility that I longed for, in order to tell my stories.

And so, the Italian experience continues ( the Tuscan adventure part 1 – here) with the famous cities of Lucca and Pisa.

Lucca is, indeed, a living testimony of past times and it lies just north west to Florence. This city is almost perfectly preserved and is a jewel of medieval architecture. Since it isn’t a hilltop village, it is ideal for anyone with mobility issues as well as for anyone wishing to take a break from climbing.

From Montecatini Terme- our “home base” to Lucca, a 30 minute car ride awaits. Arriving there, I advise you to leave your car right outside the city walls. You can find free parking outside the city walls, but you’ll have to walk about 10-15 minutes to the entrance of the old city, as well as paid parking right next to the walls. Inside the old town, the parking is fairly expensive. You can find more information on that- here.

Lucca is completely sorrounded by the old walls, dating back to the 17th century. They have a pretty famous architect, the one and only Leonardo Da Vinci and are so broad that there is a road that loops around the top, long of about 4 km, transforming it into a pleasant walk and a nice way to see more of the city.

Lucca is an amazing city to be explored by foot. Wandering through the narrow streets you will find countless traces of history.

We entered the city through Porta Elisa, via Elisa. Continuing straight throug via Santa Croce you will find standing tall Chiesa di San Michele in Foro, in Piazza San Michele. Wander aimlessly around the narrow streets and admire the buildings, enjoy a gelato and an Espresso.

Very close to Chiesa di San Michele you will find Casa natale di Giacomo Puccini, which wasa delightful visit that I highly recommend.

No Tuscan sight is more immortalised in kitsch souvenirs than the iconic Leaning Tower in Pisa and with that in mind we planned the next adventure.

Modern Pisa is best known for an architectural project gone terribly wrong. One of Italy’s signature sights, the Torre Pendente is a 58m-high tower and it took almost 200 years to build. The tower began to lean during construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground that could not properly support the structure’s weight, and it worsened through the completion of construction in the 14th century. By 1990 the tilt had reached 5.5 degrees.Fortunately, it was stabilized between 1993 and 2001 and the tilt was reduced to 3.97 degrees.

Arriving in Piazza dei Miracoli , your sight will be captivated by the Tower, but take a look around: the Cathedral and the Baptistery are not to be missed. Take a deep breath and for a second you will understand why the Square is called as it is: everything is inded possible. After that have a good laugh at the tourists taking pictures with the Tower and let yourself loose while you do the same.

The climb up the tower is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the view is spectacular.

On our way back we decided to make one more stop, in a true Tuscan gem: Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci was born here in 1452 and lived here until 1469 when he left for Florence. You can visit his birthplace and a museum dedicated to his ideas in and near the village. As we arrived after sunset, the village was practically empty. Us, a handful of visitors and a few locals were strolling the streets and enjoying a glass of wine (or two 🙂 ) and pasta.

We soaked in the atmosphere and walked aimlessly. It was magnificent.

At last, we stopped for a nice dinner at Convinci where I served Melanzane alla Parmigiana. DE-LI-CI-OUS. I also recommend you trying cannelloni ripieni di ricotta and the lasagna.

Vino… perché nessuna bella storia è cominciata mangiando un insalata.

Off we go

Posted on by Francisca

Hi beautiful friends,

Recently I was waking up with the most overwhelming need to escape the city and take a few days to relax and rest. So we booked a room in the mountains for a few days (also taking advantage of my mid semester holiday).

And this morning, after choosing all my favorite creams, all the things I could not leave behind and after filling my luggage with way to many clothes than I could have needed for five days, as usual, we got into the car and went ahead for the most relaxing week.

First stop after leaving the noisy Bucharest was Peleș Castle, a favorite place of mine, where you can find a cozy and always crowded coffee that has an absolute astounding view over the Castle and its domain. Had a cappuccino and an eclair and obviously forgot my phone in the car, so I did not take a picture, but I found an old pic from October (I told you, I am a big fan of this place, so whenever I am at the mountains, I take a couple of hours to visit and enjoy a cup of coffee).

The Castle makes me dream of the times of its glory and how I must have been of Royal family in a different life :). A girl can dream, right?

Peleș was built somewhere around 1880 and it served as the summer residence of the Royal Romanian Family. King Carol I of Romania ordered its building after falling in love with the beautiful forest scenery.

The Castle is an important edifice of Romania and it received many important figures in its glory period, like emperor Franz Joseph.

Carol II was born in this castle and afterwards King Mihai I was born here. He served as the last King of Romania until his death in 2017. Having no sons, the Crown is kept by Princess Margareta (Custodian of the Crown of Romania), the eldest daughter of King Mihai I and Queen Ana of Romania.

The castle can be visited all around the year and its magic is real. Every Monday it’s closed, so today it wasn’t so crowded and so I got a chance to feel its vibe and feel the true serenity of the place. The best part of our walk after the coffee was seeing the employees put down the Christmas decorations, that so beautifully completed its architecture.

Our second stop was right at the pension we booked for our week, which is situated over the hills, offering an amazing view over Bran and its surroundings. For that, I’ll let the pictures talk for themselves.

Nihil sine Deo.

Embracing art and beauty

Posted on by Francisca

Hi beautiful friends,

What a sunny and beautiful day was today! After hundreds of days without sun, with tons of snow and ice (which don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love- but I also live in a big city and sooner or later, snow becomes a huge pile of mud), today was shiny and sunny and the temperature was around 10 degrees C. This meant that it was the best time to grab my animal print short dress with some high boots and a loose jacket, my boyfriend and my small bag and hit the road for some food.

We found a really nice spot in Carol park and I even convinced my bf to eat outside (that is f***ing huge). He loves spending time outside, but hates feeling just even a little bit chilly, unlike me. We had all our favorite foods and the smell of popcorn and children’s laughter filled the air, making the atmosphere so cozy and playful.

After that, we got into the car and headed towards the city center, to Odeon theatre where we had already bought tickets to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Having arrived early we took advantage and strolled around “Calea Victoriei”.

Calea Victoriei is a fairly large boulevard that binds Piata Victoriei to Piata Unirii and is filled with beautiful buildings with amazing architecture, cafes and shops, a few luxury hotels and a few museums: the History Museum, The Art Museum and also the Romanian Atheneum (these are just a few). About this, later, when I’ll take you with me for this awesome walk- one of many, I hope. Anyways, the plan was to find a nice cafe shop and stop there until 19,00, when the play would’ve started. We changed our minds, seeing how peaceful it was and decided to walk from one end to the other.

Immediately after we parked, right in front of the History Museum and behind the amazing CEC building, I got a glimpse of the Moon and had to capture it.

When the night had already set in, Odeon theatre located also on Calea Victoriei, showed its face, beautifully lit.

The play was astonishing, truly. The cast was young and full of life, and the director did an amazing job at adapting the screenplay to these times, making it so much easier to “digest” and understand the plot.

My biggest surprise was when in the middle of the play, they moved us to a different room, to make it more realistic, by arranging the stage into the middle practically. So dynamic and breathtaking.

I truly recommend it!

When we arrived home, I made some pasta for us, using tuna, some peppers, garlic, a few cherry tomatoes and tomato sauce. I mixed them all nicely with some olive oil into the pan and afterwards with the penne, adding lots of mozzarella. Added some basil and chili flakes at the and and VOILÀ!

Blessed be these days, filled with art, in any form, serenity and love!

The rest is silence.