We hope you had a lovely Christmas and a relaxing and peaceful time with family and friends and the new year has begun well.
As mentioned in our last newsletter we are now on a reconnaissance trip through Tuscany for the new tour that we will be offering in 2025. We left home a week ago and took two days to drive down to Lake Como on the Swiss border. Unfortunately, our next stop was an IVECO garage, because a warning light appeared on the dashboard while we were driving through Switzerland. But as IVECO is Italian made, there were many workshops on the way and the first one found the problem and directly took care of it in a very professional manner and at a very fair price.
Our first planned stop in Tuscany was to the walled city of Lucca where we checked out a local campsite. The campsite was officially closed but the very friendly owner took time to show us around. We spent the night in the Area Sosta Camper (Aire/Stellplatz for motorhomes) in Lucca and had our first real Italian pizza in the evening. Unfortunately, most of the campsites we wanted to look at in Tuscany are closed at this time of the year, but as we had contacted them before we left home, they had agreed to let us come and have a good look round.
So far, we have spent most nights on aires which has enabled us to visit some places we have not been to before. For example, we stayed in the hilltop town of Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci. We walked through the town and spent a couple of hours in the museum dedicated to the artist and technical genius. We then spent a night at the campsite in Florence (the only campsite that has actually been open) before driving down through the Chianti region to San Gimignano and continuing on to Siena and Arezzo to Castiglione del Lago on Lake Trasimeno. As it is January, the whole area is very quiet and there are very few motorhomes on the road, but we have had some beautiful weather and although cold in the evenings we have been able to soak up the sunshine during the day. Of course, in addition to checking the campsites and parking possibilities for motorhomes near points of interest, we have also been able to enjoy the fantastic Tuscan food and taste some of their delicious wine. Next week we will continue our research going further south and then to the coast before starting the journey home at the weekend. We then have a couple of weeks to get ready for the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show 2024 which takes place from 13th – 18th February at the NEC in Birmingham. We hope to see many of you there.
Our “Timeless Tuscany” tour will replace our “Impressive Italian Lakes & Cities” tour in 2025, so if you have been thinking of booking this great trip to northern Italy, we still have a couple of places available and would be pleased to have you join us this year.
If you are interested in any of our upcoming tours for 2024, you can find more information on the tour by clicking on the links below:
Exciting Eastern Germany
Tour date: Sun. 14th April – Sat. 27th April
Calais pick-up: Fri 12th April
Discover Denmark
Tour date: Sun. 12th May – Sat. 1st June
Calais pick-up: Fri. 10th May
Stunning Norway
Tour date: Sun. 2nd June – Sun. 23rd June
Majestic Rhine & Moselle Rivers
Tour date: Sat. 29th June – Sat. 13th July
Calais pick-up: Sat. 29th June
Germany’s Romantic Road
Tour date: Sat. 14th July – Sat. 27th July
Impressive Italian Lakes & Cities
Tour date: Sun. 1st – Sat. 14th September
Calais pick-up: Fri. 30th August
Captivating Croatia
Tour date: Sun. 15th September – Fri. 4th October
All information regarding dates, prices, and itinerary can be found on our website. If you have any additional questions or require any further information, just send us an email. If you would like to book a tour you can do this online, or just send us an email and we will send you a booking form. The Earlybird discount is only available until the end of the year so if you are interested in travelling with us next year and wish to book one of the remaining places, do not hesitate too long or you could be disappointed!
Regards and safe travels.
Audrey & Michael