Bike ride through Tuscany
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Before we had left for our Honeymoon, I had done a little bit of research on renting bikes in Tuscany. We both love riding our bikes – we were just coming off of a three day ride traveling over 200 miles for Ragbrai (a cyclists' dream experience!), and were hoping we could find an opportunity to rent bikes while in Italy. After leaving Rome for Florence, I again looked up companies that offered bike rentals or bike tours. Brandon called about it, and we had just one option for the few days’ time span we would be in Tuscany. It was an easy ride that included a tour of two small towns and a winery all in a few hours afternoon. A lot more gentle than our sweaty, grueling days of Ragbrai – this ride started by boarding a shuttle bus that would drop us off in the town of Castellina- a small, enchanting hilltop town south of Florence. We were able to explore the town and the castle wall that was once a perch for the military, but has since been turned into a bunch of little retail stores selling artwork, souvenirs and other little goodies. We then got on our cruiser bikes and glided down the hill, about a 45 min trip to Poggibonsi. We had SO much fun biking down that hill! You could see vineyards sprawled across the country side contrasting the bright blue skies and cotton-like clouds. Every direction offered a priceless view, and we stopped several times to take it all in.
After arriving at the bottom of the hill, our guide loaded up our bikes and took us to our next stop of the tour- a tiny walled city called San Gimignano. This little town was full of character: café’s, shops, and gelateria’s. We grabbed lunch in a little square in the city center, than found our way through some of the shops, and looked for interesting corners off the beaten path. Before we left to head back to Florence, we had to stop at a gelateria that boasted it had “The Best Ice Cream in the World”. Brandon was very happy as he seemed to agree with the accolade! I’m so glad we decided to take this little side trip to see the Tuscan countryside by bike. Such a unique experience and one I will always treasure!
