9th June 2012

 Debs: Our arrival at Alessandra was delayed from 9.50am by about 5 hours so after retrieving our bike our hazy plans of a little Italian breakfast soon became a ‘possibly lunch‘ and was eventually relegated to a panini on the motorway at 4pm!

It was a little worrying setting off in rush hour traffic after all that I'd read of the Italian driving style, but to be honest grid-lock traffic is much the same anywhere I guess.. whatever, we had a relaxed ride as we weren’t in a hurry, the sun was now shining and we set off from Alessandra two very happy people!   It was great to be on the bike again, the motorway towards Livorno and on to Firenze (Florence) was a stunner -  like a good Sunday ride-out with loads of winding bends and tunnels combined with fabulous views that made the whole trip an absolute hoot, and we eventually arrived in Firenze at 6pm.

No trouble finding the Hotel Ibis thanks to Dolly the sat-nav who directed us right to the door. At first sight I was a bit disappointed as we were only a stones throw from the motorway and Firenze was nowhere in sight.  Where was that magical view over the top of the red terracotta roofs towards the Duomo?  I later found out it was because we were 11 kilometers away!

Ho-hum, on the upside we were in front of a huge shopping Mall and supermarket so food and good inexpensive coffee were on hand.. a nice meal, a couple of drinks and off to bed.. Florence tomorrow!