Our drive over to Arrezo took us through more beautiful Tuscan countryside as we went via the back roads over the hills and through valleys of vines…
Arrezo is known to be one of the richest towns in Tuscany due to gold manufacturing (there were a lot of posh shops in the main streets…) and because one of Italy’s famous Renaissance painters – Piero della Francesca – did important frescos in the Basilica di San Francesco…
Snoop took us right to the correct car park by the station where we managed to squeeze Buzz into one and a bit parking spaces – spaces here are made for ‘leetle cars’…Walking up into the town we could see by the shops and general air of the place, that this was no ordinary medieval town…
As we’d had our fill of art in Florence, our plan was to just wander and enjoy Arezzo – the views, the buildings, some art and the shops…
Just one of the many churches…
Florence isn’t the only place for walkways between buildings…
Arrezo’s Il Duomo…
Bronze horse sculpture by the city hall…
View from the city walls…
The Library…
City walls…
Outside the church…
When we arrived in Arezzo, we had rainjackets and jumpers but the sun soon shone and boy, it was warm! Off to the main Piazza Grande for a sit down to soak up the sun…
Piazza Grande – the shields on the buildings are there as they have jousting tournaments here twice a year…
Vassari Loggia – venue for lots of coffee shops and restaurants…
Not one, but two churches in the Piazza Grande…
Shields and more shields…
A pretty roof garden…
Walking back down the main street to the car, we stopped for a coffee…and a ‘something sweet’… 
Only 3 euros – no Florence prices here!
Then found 2 shops selling local produce – the displays were so full of colour and so tempting – Antica Bottega Toscana had some of the weirdest but fascinating displays of cheese and ham I’ve ever seen…and they have a website…
Antica Bottega Toscana…
And to finish off a very good day – a bag shop – full of the most beautiful leather bags ever! And it was closed! Sorry – all I could manage was this photo…
Bags…of every size and colour imaginable… 
Ah well…next time maybe…
On the way back to the campsite, Andrew mentioned that he thought Buzz may have a hole in his exhaust…we’d heard a rumble occasionally but it wasn’t consistent so hadn’t given it much thought…just then, we drove through a village and I spotted a Ford Dealer sign! What are the chances…?! Did a U turn and went back to find a tiny garage and sure enough, it was a Ford dealer – the little chap who came out could hardly see over Buzz’s bonnet and thought he was just the business – very little English but had to say ‘bellissimo’ several times while patting him! Then we started to explain what we thought was going on…hysterical! Me, with my Italian dictionary app on the iPhone, Andrew, with his hand gestures and funny noises, and all the while the little guy was trying in his broken English to understand us – eventually, he said, “Ah, come – we go Google translate!” and with that, marched us into his office where sure enough, we had a very sensible conversation via Google translate…so much so, that Buzz was quickly driven (little guy could hardly see over the steering wheel!) onto the ramp, hoisted in the air and inspected underneath…all this time, another little old chap was wandering around the garage picking up bits as he went, and offering his opinion…he was sent to Buzz’s exhaust pipe to block it off while the engine was running – apparently to see if they could hear any noise…
Happy to report that despite a good deal of revving, inspection with torches underneath and in the engine, we couldn’t find anything wrong apart from a very small hole in the tailpipe – what a relief…while there, new windscreen wipers were installed and we set off back to camp – a delightful half hour with people so friendly and willing to help – and the initiative to think of Google translate – love it!
After spending time sheltering from the rain, we were both a little stir crazy, so when the sun came out today, we set off for a walk up the hills behind the campsite…went for a couple of hours up a winding dirt road and apart from a couple of cars (where were they going…?!) we didn’t see a soul…
More lovely views…
Dirt road – excellent!
The top…?
Poppies, blue sky and fluffly clouds…
All roads lead to….?
A long and winding road….
Yup – middle of nowhere…again
On our way back, just as we were in sight of the main road, a car came zooming around the corner – scruffy little black Ford Ka that had seen better days, driven by an ageing hippy, complete with bandana – screeched to a halt in front of us, and the chap started jabbering away in Italian…gesturing to a box covered with cloth on the seat next to him, we finally understood that he was asking us if we wanted to buy a whole cheese! Still jabbering away, he handed one to Andrew (who is a real sucker for any kind of cheese…) and said it wasn’t to be kept in the fridge “no freddo” (I got that much!) The smell was incredible but the deal was done – 25 euros for a whole cheese – from a chap in a car – in the middle of nowhere – he shook hands with us and zoomed off up the hill…surreal or what? That lump of cheese was about 2 kilos so I guess it wasn’t a bad deal… Home in time for the official qualifying round for the MotoGP in Mugello – and a delightful lunch of bread and cheese in the sun…the cheese is excellent
Bread and cheese – in the sun…perfect…
Tomorrow we’re off to watch the MotoGP in Mugello – Valentino Rossi’s home ground – so very excited…watch this space…!
Tagged: Arezzo, cheese, Florence, Google translate, jousting, leather, MotoGP, Mugello, Piazza Grande, Tuscany
