Pisa!

Looking up the river, it's better by night - you can't see the Graffiti!

Italian Beer

The next thing to do it check out the local beer - which happens to be "Becks" (!)

We're Closed

Yup, every day between 1pm and 4pm Italy shuts down .. well, apart from Boozers ..

Have I got news for you!

These things are pretty popular .. memories of Greece ..

Patchy Pizza

Pisa is Ok, but it does look a but drab and well worn by day. A bit boring maybe ?

And back again

Looking back down the river, my feet hurt - where's my bike!

I don't speak Italian .. or French ..

This is the spot where I became a "local" .. a French family asked me the way to the leaning tower!

You've no idea ...

How long it took me to find this .. on foot .. with Italian road signs ..

Timber!

No, apparently it's supposed to lean like that .. I guess he studied architecture at Glamorgan Uni!

Bet you can't guess ...

Where all these people came from .. eh Hank?

Now we're talking ..

Well I only had two days and my Cape's in for a service ...

Outward bound ..

Leaving Pisa on the motorway, our Services don't have views like this!

Town on a hill between Sienna and Arezzo ..

I thought it would be unique, but apparently the design was cloned long ago ...

A closer view ...

Yup, it's my first Italian crane!

Villa!

No, don't get any ideas - this one's mine .. or it will be when my piggy bank fills up a little ..

Ok, this one's ours ...

Notice the backdrop, we're quite high up ...

The back yard ...

We get our own courtyard, with a nice brick BBQ ...

Round the side ...

This is all part of the Villa ... apparently they can sleep up to 26 ..

A yard with a view ...

Top that! You'll notice there's not a problem with [noisy] neighbours!

And as you turn ..

To face the pool .. do I win a prize for shots with a credit card sized camera?

No overlookers!

All looks pretty private from this angle ...

Clear here too ...

You get the idea ..

We're pretty much in the middle of nowhere, or at least on top of it!

Nice scenery ..

Time to head on up to Arezzo, someone's got a nice allotment!

A road like this ...

To a biker is like a water-slide to a 10 year old ... :-)

How green is my Valley?

Shot number one, couldn't help a panorama ...

Left a bit ..

People actually live here!

Left a bit more ...

Not eaten all day .. starting to wonder if it tastes as good as it looks ..

And more again ...

Yup, it just keeps on rolling ...

Talk about unspoit ...

Have you even seen a pylon yet?

Well ...

Maybe it was just the sun on a nice day, or maybe it's pretty spectacular ...

Lunch time!

I've finally stopped to eat something, this is the view over my right shoulder ...

And ahead to my right ....

Not bad for a bargain basement local restaurant eh?!

And after lunch

I had to go up over the mountain ...

Time to stop for 15 mins ...

Seemed like a nice quiet spot ...

And while I was stopped ...

I found I could've parked in the middle of the road .. zero traffic .. zero people.

Moving on ...

The number of photo op's was about 1000x more than my Camera's memory.

Talk about exclusive!

I'd hate to get his hedge trimming bill!

Oh, another view ...

Mmm...

They really should have signposted that dangerous drop sign a little better ...

Behind ...

Ok, this is where I've come from ...

Facing ..

This is what I have to look at while I stand here ...

And this is where I'm going ...

23km of shicane and switchback, biker paradise!

Running out of commentary ...

But then it pretty much speaks for itself.

Anyway ...

If you live around here your neighbor is either a farmer, a biker or an artist. Bigger memory card next time!