Category: Travel

Visit this historic hilltop town in Tuscany during the Bravio delle Botti.

Itinerary

Fly Condor to Florence via Frankfurt
Rent a car from Avis, drive 1.5 hours south to Montepulciano
Stay Dimora dell’Erbe first few nights, Casa del Fauno rest of the week
Visit friends, tour agriturisomos, enjoy Bravio della Botti week
Drive back to Florence and spend 1 night at NH Collection Palazzo Gaddi
Fly home via Frankfurt

Travel

Excitement about Condor Air’s reasonable prices for business class international tickets quicky turned to frustration as gate staff showed no interest or urgency in preparing plane. Pilot and copilot felt the same and were publicly upset with the lax, slow moving employees. This led to leaving 60 minutes late and many passengers including us with extremely tight connections. This got even more frustrating when Condor rebooked us, without asking, on a much later flight, resold our seats, and wouldn’t allow us on board our scheduled flight. So after 5 hours waiting around in Frankfurt we boarded our short flight to Florence. When we arrived in Florence my son’s baggage didn’t arrive so we filled out the form along with many other people at the baggage counter and headed out.

The airport shuttle that runs every 30 minutes showed up just as we arrived at the bus stop making it a quick trip to rental car area about 5 minutes drive away. We were second in line at the Avis counter – there was only one agent, friendly, but in no hurry and a line of about 20 people behind us that likely waited an hour or more. Car rental facility is clean, modern and you get your keys at the counter, find your car and exit the lot and were on our way.

Easy drive using Google maps to Florence with the car’s Airplay. Maps lets you know where the speed cameras are and came in helpful. Tolls were about 7 euros paying with cash or card.

Montepulciano Arrival

Francy, our contact at Dimora dell’Erbe was super communicative on WhatsApp checking to see how flights were, giving us directions, helping with parking lot suggestions and would meet us at the property. We parked outside of town and walked through the charming old town to get to the apartment. Francy met us and checked us in and then we walked down the street to our friends contrada (neighborhood) which was hosting dinner. Andrea had brought a special wine in honor of my son who was traveling with us. It was from the same year as he was born and he was excited to get to taste it and cheers with us.

As we walked home we got our first glimpse of a team practicing running the wine barrel up the steep streets of Montepulciano.

Tuesday I woke up early and walked around town watching the sunrise and enjoying the quiet morning.

Mid morning we met up with our friends and drove out to look at the first agriturismo property. It was interesting and we learned a bit about the restoration process. The afternoon involved shopping for clothes and things that were lost by Condor and then in the evening dinner and sparking wine tasting.

Jetlag continued to wake us up early and my son joined my Wednesday early walkabout. After which our group began what became our daily meet up at Caffè Poliziano for breakfast with several cappuccinos and americanos.

That afternoon we walked down toward the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Biagio and then across the white road (gravel road) to Montefollonico. This was a great hike across the valley and then up to the town in the heat of the day. We found a great spot for lunch and then called a taxi to return us back to Montepulciano. Hike was about 10 miles.

Late afternoon we toured a small boutique hotel for sale which was quite nice but right on a busy road so not very peaceful.

Thursday was time for O to drive the itinerary so he had us up early and after breakfast and espresso we drove about 30 minutes to a tree to tree and zip line course. We read about an old mercury mind where you ride in mine carts so we drove over to check it out. The tour was only in Italian but we were there for the mine cart ride so signed up. After about an hour of following a guide into the mine and listening to him in Italian describe things in what seemed like excruciating detail, we asked when we get into the train. Oh we don’t do that anymore as they always were derailing.

Back in Montepulciano area we met our friend for drinks at the farm Podere Il Casale, a really cool farm and restaurant with a panoramic setting and incredible views. The owners are friends of our friend so we spoke with the owner about their property.

Friday we visited more agriturismos in different areas. That evening we met up with friends at another contrada for Florentine steak which is only served rare and charged by the kilo and cooked over an open flame. A great way to spend the evening with new friends and their families.

Saturday, after breakfast and espresso at Caffè Poliziano, we went down to the park at the entrance of town for a workout on the mini soccer turf field in the 80 degree heat. In the afternoon we stopped by De’ Ricci Cantine Storiche for a wine tasting and to wander around their cellar dating back to the Etruscan period.

That night was a special night were friends and family that had moved away came back to town for the celebration and to reconnect – a reunion of sorts. It was a great evening.

Sunday is the culmination of the week with the wine barrel race. The morning starts with selection of the starting positions. Then each neighborhood sends a delegation dressed up walking up to the top of the town from the Municipal building to the Cathedral waving flags and drumming.

The barrels, which weigh is about 80 kg each, are rolled by two athletes for each district, the “spingitori” (pushers) along with an uphill slope and through the roads of the historical center. The finish of the Barrel Race is in front of the Cathedral, in Piazza Grande.

The history of the Bravìo dates back to the end of the XIV century, specifically to 1373, when the Municipal Statute determined the Palio (prize) rules. The Bravio delle Botti seems to have been established in honor of San Giovanni Decollato, patron saint of Montepulciano, celebrated on August 29th.

The Bravìo horse race occurred until the XVII century and was abolished for public order reasons. The recent history of the Bravio starts in 1974 when Father Marcello Del Balio had the idea of transforming the old horse race into a barrel race.

We watched the procession from our apartment windows and on the street and then made our way to the cathedral square at the finish line to watch the race.

While our friends’ neighborhood didn’t win, we enjoyed the crowd and watching the runners coming up and into the square and then falling over in exhaustion – and then the medics reviving them. The night continued with dinner and wine. We didn’t make it out too late that night but sat on the street and chatted with groups as they came by for the disco put on by the winning contrada.

Monday we checked out of the apartment and drove back to Florence. O loved the apple juice and looked up the producer who was just outside town. We made a little detour to visit the factory store and buy a few bottles to bring home. Then we drove back by the agriturismo we liked the best and made a circle around the area and then back to the freeway.

Traffic was slow and the trip took 3+ hours vs. expected 1.5. Dropped the car at the rental office which was simple with someone in the lot so just parked and walked to the taxi stand and got a ride to our hotel in Florence, NH Collection Palazzo Gaddi which was great and nicely located.

O and I had a quick pizza across the street and then walked to the Leonardo da Vinci interactive museum for a quick stop. Nice small museum that’s hands on. Then we walked through the main tourist streets packed with English speaking tourists. It felt like Disneyland and a shock to the system after our week in Montepulciano.

We met up with a friend of a friend who is a boutique hotel consultant and turned out to be a really nice and interesting guy. He is an athlete that participates in the calcio storico which is a mix of mixed martial arts, rugby and football.

After drinks and discussing hospitality in Italy, we walked to Buca Mario, which was full but when your friend knows the owners, a table magically appeared, and we enjoyed a massive Florentine steak and some incredible wine.

The next morning we were up early for our flight back home. Florence airport was easy to navigate and we were at the gate within minutes and enjoyed a smooth ride home.

The family and friends explorers club went south for Christmas and New Years. Colombia has been on the destination backlog for many years. Now that the internal conflict between the government and FARC has ended (mostly) and the flow of drugs shifted toward Mexico, it’s time to get going.

When we told people where we were going, the number one question was is it safe? Here are some of the articles we read that assured us, it’s a great place to visit.

• Is Colombia Safe for Travel?
• US State Department
• Is Colombia Safe?
• 17 reasons to visit Colombia
• 10 reasons to visit Colombia

When in Colombia, the top question we were asked from Colombians we met was “is the US as dangerous for kids as we hear about? How do you send your kids to school with all your shootings?

Our amazing travel concierge from Argentina, Madi, had expanded her business and chose Colombia as the next Country to organize trips. So we called Madi and she put together an incredible itinerary,

Itinerary

• Fly PDX > ATL > BOG (This seems to be the least painful way to get there). Leave 6am arrive 7:30 PM
• Bogota Dec 20-25
• Fly to Medellin on Christmas day
• Medellin Dec 25-29
• Fly to Cartagena Dec 29
• Cartagena Dec 29-Jan 4th
• Fly home from Cartagena > Atlanta (overnight) > Portland

Bogota

After a delayed flight out of Portland, we touched down in Atlanta with 30 minutes to transfer to our Bogota flight but we were held on the tarmac for another 10 minutes. Eventually getting off the plane we sprinted across the Atlanta airport arriving to our flight boarding. The flight was smooth to Bogota but we arrived to a massive 1.5 hour immigration line. O used the time to chat with everyone around us including a dog.

After customs, our host Monica met us and we all climbed in a van for the trip into town. We arrived around 10pm at our small boutique hotel, Casa Legado.

We didn’t sleep much the first night a bar next door played loud music until 4am. The hotel was a highlight – the first couple nights our two families were the only ones there. A few guests arrived later in the week. Each morning there was a full breakfast with local fruits, bread and eggs of some sort.

On Saturday, we met Monica at nine for a city tour. We started taking the tram up the side of a mountain to Monserrate, a church and monetary at the top of a steep hill. As we approached the tram, Monica mentioned the tram brakes had recently failed and crashed hospitalizing 25 tourists. We let her know that information is better shared AFTER we take the tram.

We survived and spent about an hour checking out the city views and sights at the top. We tried coca tea made with the leaves of the coca plant which is native to South America. While it is made from the same plant that cocaine is made from, it’s legal in Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador. We found it had a similar effect as coffee and is good for altitude sickness.

After returning by tram we drove to a bar to play Tejo. The game is usually played in dive bars with buckets of beer. Similar to horseshoes you throw a metal disc at a board covered in clay with explosives (mecha) buried in the middle. If you hit and explode a mecha you get 3 points.

We continued exploring the city.

Next stop was into the back alley to find a woman that sold Chicha, a fermented corn beer. I wouldn’t say we liked the taste but the experience was moving.

We had lunch at Prudencia, the first of many amazing meals in Colombia. The craft food scene is on in Bogota.

That night, getting more comfortable with the neighborhood, we walked around and found Huerta Coctelería Artesanal, an unique and amazing craft cocktail bar. Later during the pandemic, the bar-tender led a cocktail class over zoom for a group of friends.

Sunday we woke up, had a great breakfast at the hotel and then met Monica who was taking the kids to a sports club outside of Bogota. We played pool, soccer and the girls rode horses. Dinner was at Crepes and Waffles (really good for fast casual).

Monday we headed to Plaza de Mercado and did some exploring and trying out some new fruits and coffee. At the end, we ran into a guy selling a multi-tool who asked the kids for some help improve his sales pitch… and of course we bought a few knives.

That afternoon we met up with some young entrepreneurs who started a book binding and screen printing business. We created some custom screen printed shirts (with their help).

Then a late lunch, early dinner at Nueve, which was another one of our favorite meals even though kid energy was dropping fast.

Bogota had lots of parks with exercise equipment that the kids HAD to try every time we went by. Helped up the energy level for our last day in Bogota.

Tuesday (Christmas Eve) flight to Medellin

The trip continued with our short flight to Medellin…

Continue reading part 2 “Medellin”

Of course we had to visit the original Legoland in Billund Denmark. On a trip back home to Holland, we stopped in Iceland and then continued to Copenhagen. After landing we took the autonomous, driver-less metro from the airport to our hotel.

We stayed in the Manon Les Suites that featured a really cool atrium pool area.

We spent a day touring around town checking out the sites and then saw that Tivoli Gardens was here and is the second oldest amusement park in the world. So of course we went and it did not disappoint.

The next day we picked up a rental car and drove several hours to Billund Denmark where we stayed at a basic, but well run and very clean family motel / farm. We picked it as it was minutes to Legoland, our ultimate destination on this trip.

It was time to drive home… all the way back to Haarlem Netherlands where we’d return our rental car. So we turned south and worked our way through Germany. About half way through our drive we spotted another amusement park / zoo on the map. Little did we know just how cool it would be. Because there are no ride attendants.

Yes there was a lot of deferred maintenance. No, there weren’t any safety protocols. But it was cheap and you got to push the button, pull the cord or whatever it took to start the ride yourself. And speaking of rides – kudos to the person that came up with the boat launcher!

Two months travels around Hong Kong and Thailand.

We weren’t sure what to expect from Bulgaria. It exceeded our expectations.

The itinerary:

• Sofia – 3 days in the capital city
• 1 night in Bansko
• 3 nights in Gella Village
• Week of village to village trekking
• 2 nights in Plovdiv
• 1 night back in Sofia near the airport, early flight home

Sofia

Bansko

Bankso is a ski region about 90 minutes drive from Sofia.  After a condo and resort boom, many projects ran out of funding.  Many of the projects are concrete shells.  We stopped at the Rila monastery on the way.

Rila

Bansko

Gella Village

We’d seen photos of the beautiful scenery.  We’d heard stories from our friends that we must visit.  So on one of our trips back to Haarlem, our home away from home, we went to Iceland.  Along with 3 million other tourists!

We took advantage of Icelandair’s stopover program which allowed us to stay in Iceland for a few days while traveling to Europe.  We flew from Portland, Oregon to Reykjavik on 19 July.  We had our usual seats in the back of the plane, not together.  The airline staff said there was nothing they could do.  We understood the difficulty when someone purchases five tickets with the same last name and enters their ages, birth dates, passport numbers, scans in birth certificates, provides DNA samples to know these passengers are related, might be young children and may want to sit together.  We arrived at the airport early to see if we could arrange to sit together.  The friendly on the inside, stone faced on the outside agent suggested perhaps we could negotiate with other travelers once we’re on board. Check-in was efficient and security lines were non-existent.  Icelandair doesn’t participate in TSA pre-check so we couldn’t skip the security line.  But we had plenty of time as we followed TSA recommendation to arrive 8 hours before our flight.

Icelandair flies older 757 planes that are nicely updated inside.  The 757 is essentially a stretched out 737 with 3×3 seating.  Each seat has it’s own video monitor with a selection of movies, TV shows, music and games.  We’ve found unlimited screen time plus a pound of candy keeps the kids from wrestling each other on the plane.  Actually the kids become great mini-travelers.  We did indeed successfully negotiate a few sweat swaps so husband and wife could sit together.  We’re not sure if the kids found a way to sit together but we did reconnect when we arrived at Keflavik airport.  We’d read reviews of the airport unable to handle the increase in travelers, not having any place to sit and general chaos.  We found it clean, easy to navigate with great food.  It felt a lot like PDX and we give it high marks.  In fact, it’s one of our favorite airports.  Our oldest keeps asking to back to Iceland so he can get the avocado pesto sandwich from Joe & the Juice.

We left 90 degree weather in Southern Oregon for 80 degree weather in Portland and landed in 40 degree, rain in Reykjavik with rain forecast for the next 100 days.

We cleared passport control with no line and grabbed our bags, bought 2 bottles of wine at duty free.  We have no idea what duty is.  We’ve never paid duty as far as we know. We’ve never seen anyone buy something in a duty-free shop. But someone had told us to buy wine in the airport so we did.  We were out waiting for the shuttle to the rental car agency in less than 20 minutes from touch down.  Impressive.  It was 6am and had the whole day to explore.  We had rented our car through an online broker that contracted with a local company.  This turned out to be a mistake, but I’ll cover that later.  In the future, we will stick with a major brand when traveling to Iceland to not hassle with the “damage” scheme.  We found driving easy and the roads were in great shape.

We drove straight to the Blue Lagoon which is about 20 minutes from the airport.  We suggest you skip it.  It’s hard to skip it because everyone says you must go.  We didn’t want to miss out.   You won’t want to miss out.  We bought the “comfort” package.  For $100pp we got to walk in waist deep hot-water discharged from the geothermal energy plant.  Our “comfort” upgrade meant we received a towel – but if we wanted a robe, we’d need upgrade even more.  The experience was nice – just not something we’d do again.

Everyone had told us Iceland was shockingly expensive.  We were still shocked.  We had arrived at the Blue Lagoon early.  They let you in up to 30 minutes before your reservation. We arrived 90 minutes early so went to the cafe for breakfast.  We had a coffee and a couple yogurt smoothies for $45 USD.  We usually don’t fixate on the price of things but here we are, fixated on the price.

We rented a house in Reykjavik near downtown through AirBnB.  It was a cute house. It had a small driveway with off street parking. Heating and hot water are geothermal so you have unlimited hot showers.  The downside of long showers is the water smells like eggs.  Dad had selected the house as it advertised a big back yard with trampoline and half-pipe.  While technically it had these amenities, the back yard looked like a homeless camp with broken glass, wood piled up and overgrown grass.  It wasn’t a big deal though as we had places to go and things to see and didn’t plan to spend much time at the house.

We walked around town and the kids quickly identified their favorite spot of the entire town, Freddi Retro Arcade.  While the kids played Ms. Pac Man and Donkey Kong, Mom and Dad were able to check out the shops and more of the downtown area.  It’s a nice small town that is quite walkable.  In July, the sun sets at midnight and rises at 3am so one has plenty of daylight.  It was clear that Iceland was on the destination map now.  The crowds of tourists downtown were speaking English. There might have been more tourists from Portland than locals when we were there.

That night we went out to dinner as we hadn’t made it to the grocery store.  Remember that everyone warned us Iceland is expensive so we were ready.  We found a cute sushi restaurant and looked at the menu.  They offered kids sushi rolls for 2,500 ISK.  We googled the exchange rate, did a quick calculation and figured $2.50 isn’t bad for a kids sushi roll.  We ordered 5 rolls, I had a beer. When we got the check, we pulled out the calculator to confirm the math we did in our head.  It turns out we were off by a factor of 10 and our sushi dinner came to $274 USD.  Everyone had told us to be prepared, but we were really shocked. We will stop talking about prices now.

Jet lag hit us hard this trip.  We were all on different schedules with one of us waking up at 2am and others sleeping until noon.  I think that was one factor why this trip wasn’t tops overall.  We spent our day roaming town in a daze seeing the sights.

We visited the church and took the elevator to the top.  Outside is a statue of Leif Erickson.  Named after a running trail in Portland, Oregon, he and a bunch of others apparently beat Columbus to America. Iceland seems to believe in alternative facts.

The next day, we eventually got everyone out of bed around noon to do some exploring on the famed Golden Circle.  Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park.  We thought it was quite nice and are certain many important things must have happened there.  It’s just when the kids are screaming at each other and refusing to walk so we must drag them along in the dirt, it’s a bit difficult to enjoy the scenery.  The kids are usually stellar travelers so we gave them a pass and chalked it up to the jet lag and the IV bag of sugar on the plane ride over.  We hiked through the park and then made a quick exit.  It was quite serene.

From there it was geyser time.  With ice cream bars and promises of massive volcanic eruptions the kids moods improved slightly.  We walked along the path of several geysers appreciating the ability to stand directly under the geyser and test if the water stayed scalding hot after the eruption.  This gave Mom an opportunity to discuss different safety standards in various countries.

Recognizing that hours in a car on a windy road wasn’t improving the children’s moods, we turned back toward town and spent a low key evening back at the house.

Dad had been doing some reading and found there was a playground made from recycled materials in the 70’s a couple hours away.  This seemed like just the adventure we needed and since Dad was wide awake at 4am, he woke everyone else up and we headed out of town. We drove deep into western Iceland.  The highlight of the drive was the Hvalfjörður Tunnel which reaches a depth of 541 feet below sea level.  It was eerie being the only car in a 3 mile long tunnel under the ocean. The scenery is stark, desolate and beautiful in Iceland and often it felt like we were the only ones on the road although that might have been because it was Saturday morning at 5am.

Eventually we found the playground.  It wasn’t quite as cool as Dad hoped but we did spend a few minutes playing on the equipment before heading to the public swimming pool we spotted on the way in.

It turned out that our favorite part of Iceland and where we spent most of our time was the geothermal swimming pools that also function as the community center and social gathering spot in each town.  The water was warm and most had water slides and we could spend hours going down the slides while Mom and Dad relaxed. We visited six different pools around the country.

We spent a few days touring the swimming pools of Iceland.  There are rules to visiting a pool.  You must strip, shower with soap, then put your suit on in the wet area of the changing room and then walk out to the pool.  Most pools are outside with a variety of hot tubs.  Signs state the water temperature of each tub.  And then there is a cold plunge pool.  This is typically a small wooden box or metal trough of -100 degree water.  The locals sit calmly in the freezing water and then go swim a few laps.  We dipped a toe in but it froze solid.  We would do endless laps on the water slides while mom and dad sat in the hot tubs. Iceland’s swimming pools are highly recommended and kid approved.

One evening we stayed until the pool closed at 10pm.  We were starving.  We had noticed that unless you were downtown, most shops and restaurants closed by 9pm.  The only place we could find open was a KFC.  We hadn’t been to a KFC for 10 years and not much has changed.  We ordered the family bucket of chicken.  It was $87 USD.

On our last day, we drove to South Iceland and the Westman Islands.  We had discovered a bakery that makes fresh cinnamon rolls (Braud & Co) so we stocked up and headed out of town.  This turned out to be our favorite part of Iceland and highly recommend it as a day trip.  The ferry ride was about an hour.  When we docked, we hopped off the boat and walked directly across the street to Ribsafari.  We stashed our backpack in their office and changed into survival suits.  Anytime one gets to wear a survival suit, you know it’s going to be an exciting day!  We figured it must be safe as a reviewer on TripAdvisor said so.  Dad double checked with the captain who confirmed no one had gone overboard that year yet.

We all climbed into the Rib boat which was a large zodiac with giant twin engines.  There were seats but you stand over them as it’s so bumpy.  Then your captain turns on a fantasticly loud stereo system, tells jokes, plays Beyonce, and then floors it and you go full speed out and around the island.  While it sounds a bit odd and might not be for everyone, we loved it.  Nothing like a high speed scenic tour with JayZ blasting in -5 degrees temps.  Some of the captains jokes were R rated but were actually quite helpful as we’d been putting off the “where babies come from” conversation with the kids.  We saw lots of Puffins, a few seals and lots of beautiful scenery.

After the high speed boat safari, we were picked up by the owner of Lyngfell stables. We love it when we get personal service from the owner. She drove us up to her barn where we picked out our favorite Icelandic horses.  While trail rides aren’t at the top of our fun list, they are at the top of Kaitlin’s so we all went along.  It was a nice afternoon, the sun came out and we rode down to the beach and back.

After the trail ride, we were delivered back to town where we made a quick stop to the local museum to see the rescued puffin.

Farewell Westman islands, you were our favorite part of our trip to Iceland.  We caught the ferry back to the mainland and then drove back to town for our last night.

Our final morning we packed up and dropped the rental car off.  When renting Dad made two fatal mistakes.  First, our credit card covers rental car damage but you must refuse to buy “extra” insurance from the rental company.  So we turned down the insurance.  This of course marked us immediately as an easy target for “car damage”.  The second mistake was not videotaping every inch our well used rental car with a floodlight in the presence of an attorney to record the condition of the car before driving off.  After we dropped the car, from inside the office, the attendant looked through the tinted window across the street to our car parked in dim light covered with dust and said “I think I see some damage”.  We walked outside, across to the car where he made a beeline to the passenger side, not visible from where had been inside the office.  “See there” he said pointing to a perfectly non damaged car door.  “I don’t see anything” said Dad.  We peered closer and closer until our noses touched the car.  He used his sleeve to rub the dust from the car and sure enough, at the very bottom of the door, when the dust was removed, and you looked at a 27 degree angle and shined a light on the metal you could just barely make out a slight indentation.  “That” he said looking very serious, “is damage you’ve done to the car.  And now you must pay”.

Had we actually damaged the car like we did in Argentina, we’d be happy to fess up and pay.  But this was clearly a scam.  He showed Dad the price list which showed $800 USD for “minor dent”.  He said he would do us a favor and only charge $600 as he wanted to help us out.  We won’t bore you with the details but after a few months of heated emails back and forth and research that showed this was a common practice and a draft social media post, Dad had our money refunded.  After a great family trip, we flew out with a sour taste in our mouth thanks to the rental care return.

On to Denmark….