The News
A free day to explore Montecatini. Montecatini is made up of two towns, the lower one is where we are staying and the upper one is perched on top of the hill.
After a good night's sleep and a filling, if unspectacular, breakfast, we wandered through the park to take the funicular railway up to Montecatini Alto. A one-way ticket was less than we were expecting, €4 each one way. It only takes eight minutes, but it is a rickety ride in places.
Poor Jan was clutching my hand tightly all the way to the top (she's not good with heights), but the view from there was spectacular and worth the worry.
The "town" itself is small, steep and quaint. The streets are narrow and cobbled and are surprisingly empty if you go up there early. There are three sites to see; the clock tower, the main piazza and the church. We met a very nice German couple and their dog from Ulm on the way to the clock tower who explained where to go.
It was then steeply downhill to get an ice cream in the piazza where a group of us met. Being of an age where prevention is better than cure, I thought a trip to the toilets was a good idea before we left. I came out to wash my hands, stumbled and pressed tap handle full on. I got sprayed with water making it look as if I hadn't made it in time! Then I had to go out to the others and explain ... much fun was had by all (except one). Still, I soon dried off in the heat.
The final stop was the small Catholic church. Whilst the outside is not spectacular, it is definitely worth going in. This statue is particularly impressive.
We had found the bus times by accident (I had been taking photos!), so we decided to bus it home which was only €3.20 each and we got in another mode of transport. The bus dropped us off at the main station and then it was a short walk up the hill to get back to our hotel.
Jan decided that we needed water and other provisions, as well as an evening meal so we ambled gently back into town to look for them. We had been given a map of where to find the supermarket ... which we left in the hotel! But Jan was confident that she knew the way. We took note of the restaurans as we passed them and saw a couple of possibilities for our evening meal. We walked and walked but the promised supermarket didn't appear. In one restaurant we passed we found a couple from our tribe who had also been looking for the shop and they hadn't found it either. But Jan insisted we carry on, so I trudged on, the obligatory three steps behind grumbling about chasing wild geese. And suddenly, there it was. It was small, packed with tourists but had most things, which made Jan happy.
There were two restaurants we thought looked OK. The first told the couple ahead of us that they had to have a reservation, so that was out. The alternative was vine covered and had a reasonable menu - they got our custom. Unfortunately, the food turned out to be poor and overpriced. I could still taste the sour/bitter taste even after an ice cream.
However, the walk back the hotel took us through a very nice park.
Weather: HOT! It got up to 40°C, despite being a bit cloudy.
Steps: Jan 18,234 Andy 17,907
