Chianti

From Pisa, I caught the train to Florence which, as usual, was tourist hell.  I  know we all love our own tourist trips but it's very hard to love the others doing the same thing.  I stayed in Florence just long enough to take one photo

and get on a bus out into the country.  This is where I ended up

 
and this is what the countryside around there looks like by day

 and by night

I was staying in the youth hostel, not the place with the infinity pool but I did go there for a free wine tasting.  Well it was only free if you didn't buy anything at the end which, given the wines they had for us to taste,  was virtually impossible

One day, I went on a long bike ride with some others from the hostel up and down hills and through vineyards.  Around every curve in the road was another beautiful view

These are my cycling buddies, Charlie, Kalkidan, Mercia and Christine

and here is me, talking while the photo was being taken

and standing in a vineyard.  Don't I look at home there?

Somewhere near this vineyard and in front of the hill,  completely hidden from view

was this, a perfectly private, perfectly safe, perfectly perfect lake

And where were we that day?  Somewhere near here

   

Italy (early days)

Once I got tired of the Swedish no summer, I decided it was time for an Italian real summer.  Arriving in Pisa late one Friday night in early July was like heaven.  The next morning it looked like this - maybe not that picturesque

but just a hundred metres down the road, look how many choices I had

Most people go to Pisa to see the tower and it is hard to avoid - all roads lead to Piazza Miracoli.  There are enough photos in the world of the tower so I photographed the river Arno instead.  Some of it looks quite a lot like Florence

and some of it is uniquely Pisa

As always, I photographed lots of buildings, some old

and some not so old

I particularly liked the detail on this building which included astrological signs

such as this

and this

although the closest I could find to my own was this - just a few days out so good enough.  No one really believes this mumbo jumbo anyway, do they?

The finals of the European cup were on with Italy playing Spain and there was lots of excitement in the air.  Early in the evening, the crowds were gathering in the main square where a screen had been set up so we could watch it live from Kiev

Naturally, there were lots of flags and green, white and red everywhere

 

And it was all quite exciting for a while

especially as more and more people climbed on to this pergola hoping for a better view of the screen.  Eventually, the police were called and after lots of discussion, persuaded them to get down

As it turned out, Italy lost to Spain so the crowds went home disappointed.  I hope these blokes did okay out of the night though

Pisa certainly has its fair share of graffiti,  some of which is easy enough to understand

 and some of which might be street art

Some of it you would only understand if you had been following Italian politics for the last 40 or 50 years

although it's plain to see that the anarchists are good with spray cans

And then there is the down right odd but strangely entertaining

Next stop, Chianti country.