To - Arezzo
Distance - 90km
Time - 6 hours
Total - 4495km
Not the greatest nights sleep I ever had! A group of French school kids (probably around 10 years old) spent the evening banging and running around till 11pm. Of course they also were up at 6am shrieking and banging doors again. To make things worse, I spent most of the night hiding under my bed sheets to keep buzzing mossies away. I expected to be half my size in the morning, lying next to a big fat mossie that had sucked my blood and become bigger than me as a result! I thought i had fended them off reasonably well but when I got to Arezzo and showered I saw in the mirror that I had load of bites on my back and shoulder and a few elsewhere! Little bastardo!
Partly due to the fact the French kids had woken me early I got up and beat them to breakfast. I didn't fancy being surrounded by them at breakfast after being disturbed by them at night, I think I would possibly have eaten one of them to teach the rest of them a lesson! This is the last hostel I can stay in on my route and therefore the last time I will have cornflakes in a cup.
As a result of the lack of sleep and the annoying kids I was looking forward to coming home despite the fact I still have a week to go. I got on my bike and the weather was a bit cool but the sun broke through before long to give a lovely day of blue skies and occasional fluffy clouds. The cycling started slowly as I tried to cycle on tracks shown on the Eurovelo 7 route, they were a bit wet and bumpy and I had to keep looking at the iPad map because there were no signs at all. I followed the river Arno as a general direction and eventually got onto roads that I could put some power onto the pedal. I started to climb again but it was worthwhile because the Tuscan views were beautiful with fantastic colours of the brown cut grass, green vines, olive trees and cypress trees.
I went through a few pleasant villages and had to do some climbing. I guess it's very rolling a bit like the Yorkshire Dales but very Italian. The temperature was pleasant and the scenery was great. It made me want to enjoy the last few days rather than wish them away.
Arezzo turned out to be a lovely city. Different again to any of the other places but all the better for it. The centre is very old and in a way more Italian than anywhere else I've stayed. It was very quiet when I entered just around 2pm. There were museums with free exhibitions, I had an ice cream for under 2 euros for the first time since Slovenia and there was no stinting on the portion! The hotel was nice and right in he centre and it had air conditioning, so hopefully I can keep the mossies out tonight.
I showered, put the insect bite cream on as if it was after sun cream and then went out. I had a coffee, bottle of water and a pastry for less than 3 euros, I couldn't believe the price difference from more touristy cities. I went into a couple of churches and the Piazza Grande and saw they were taking own a grandstand so I knew they had finished some event recently. I carried on and went to he Cathedral which had an interior that was far superior to the one at Florence. Then I went into a free museum and was the only visitor. The exhibits were all about the Jousting event that took place in the Piazza Grande on Saturday, mystery solved. The man showed me a DVD of the history of the Jousting in English and all about the modern day event too. It was about 45 mins long but it was really interesting how the city is divided into 4 sections and they compete against each other twice a year in the joust against a wooden Saracen who spins round when they hit his shield with a lance. The jouster who hits the shield closest to the middle is the winner but there are over 400 locals dressed in costume relevant to their own section of the town and there is loads of pageantry, music, flag throwing and parades. It looked a great event. I suppose its a little bit like their version of the horse races around the square at Siena. The museum man took my photo standing behind a costume dummy and let me wear the hat as well. It started raining when I went out and he gave me an umbrella that someone had previously left.... he must have liked me.... not in that way!
I later went out for a lovely meal. I can't remember what the pasta dish was called but it was a thick spaghetti with a creamy sauce and pancetta, the main course was a lovely steak with a gorgonzola and walnut sauce. I'm still licking my lips.
What else do we know about Arezzo? Well cousin Matthew from Heidelberg has informed me that Guido of Arezzo was the man who invented the music notation system and the do-ra-me-far-so-la-te-do system of remembering and recording music on paper around 1000AD (for younger readers, they didn't have CD's or MP3 format in those days, they had to write music down on paper!).
Also there was Pietro Aretino who was a 16th century poet and writer who invented pornographic literature! I guess pornography has moved on a bit since then....so I am told! Lastly, there was Petrarch from the 14th century who is credited as being the 'Father of Humanism' and his works helped to create the Italian language which hadn't existed before this time as a consolidated language. I haven't even mentioned Vasari, but the blog is getting too long!
You can probably tell that I am impressed with the place. More light rain in the evening but it doesn't matter because I have an umbrella now!
You may have thought that now I have left Florence I have missed the chance to nominate Florence and the Machine was song of the day and you are quite right. I remember listening to Boney M sing 'Daddy Cool' whilst I was having an expresso so that's the song for the day. My kids would cringe but they don't read the blog!
Photo 1, no 1 of 3 scenes.
Photo 2, no 2
Photo 3, no 3
Photo 4, I saw several topless women coming out of the factory so it must be Pirelli doing a calendar!
Photo 5, Italian Space Mission, they just need to put the nose cone on. It will probably be an ice cream cone knowing them!
Photo 6, Entry into Arezzo.
Photo 7, Too much skin but plenty of mossie bites! The large swelling on the side of my head is an ear, just in case you were concerned at the size of the bite!
Photo 8, Piazza Grande, where I found out they did the Jousting last Saturday. The scaffolding is the grandstand being dismantled.
Photo 9, Must be washing day on a Tuesday as the shirts were out to dry!
Photo 10, Catheral - it was beautiful inside, better than Florence!
Photo 11, Inside the Cathedral but there was much more.
Photo 12, Me as a jouster, very chivalrous!
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