It was only a few weeks ago when we thought that international travel was a thing of, well, the distant future, and we would be stuck in Czechia for the rest of 2020. But as most borders within the EU opened at the beginning of July, we have decided to take a trip to Chianti, a part of Tuscany, that we had been actually contemplating last year already.
This post is not a detailed list of places we visited and restaurants where we ate at. It’s more a report on how things went in general in post-quarantine Europe. Many people in hospitality were afraid that even if the borders reopened, travel would be looked down on, awkward, inconvenient, strange. Was this our experience? Is future travel doomed to be weird and plagued with self-guilt and self awareness? And will we take another trip this summer? Read on to find out.
The drive
Can you drive from Prague to Tuscany? And can you kick it? Yes you can. The Prague to Florence trip took us 10.5 hours, and we broke it into three 3.5-hour drives: Prague to Munich, Munich to Trento, sleepover in Trento, and drive from Trento to Florence. And yes, if your Google Maps tell you the trip takes a bit longer, you should know I am not against slight speeding in areas I deem safe.
The drive to Munich is fairly uneventful. You can floor it in most parts in Germany, of course, which can be fun. The drive from Munich to Trento is absolutely stunning though. You never realise this, but as you drive out of Munich, you can already see the Alps in the distance. The drive through the Brenner pass on both sides of the Austrian-Italian border makes you wonder how much money did all these tunnels and bridges cost. The drive through the Alps is so beautiful I always feel that I should one day return just for a summer Alpine road trip, preferably in a sporty convertible, James Bond-style. (Ejector seats optional.) Please note you have to buy the Austrian highway sticker. The shortest is valid for about 10 days and costs about 10 EUR.
The drive from Trento to Florence starts in the Alps, than is very flat from Verona on, only to get hilly again once you reach Tuscany. There are tolls on the main highways of Italy. Just the Brenner pass costs 10 EUR, and the rest to Florence is somewhere between 30 and 40 EUR in total. One thing you have to give to the Italians is the way they forecast gas stations ahead: about 5km before every gas station is a board that tells you how far the next three stations are and what the prices of gas are in each of them. Very convenient.
Once you're in Tuscany, the driving is a dream... or a nightmare depending on how you see it. The country roads are narrow, very curvy and steep in both directions. If you love to drive, this is great. If you suffer from motion sickness most of the time, you'll hate Tuscany. I woke up early to take a morning drive twice during our stay and it was great: fun roads with breathtaking views. Last note: prepare to be in the car wash every day if you like your car clean: dirt roads are called dirt roads for a reason.
Travel in the times of Covid
We are hesitant to write about restrictions related to Covid-19 because these texts tend to age very quickly, but here's our travel experience at the beginning of July: our trip in the aftermath of the outbreak was great… and slightly spooky at the same time. To our surprise, we felt worse in Munich than in Italy: you still could not sit inside of a restaurant (but outdoor seating was allowed), and the cloud of social distancing and awareness of an imminent threat seemed to hover lower above ground in Munich: the atmosphere was sombre and restrained.
Italy was a bit more cheerful, but you could still see Covid everywhere: every shop or restaurant had a bottle of disinfectant on entry (sometimes people would yell if you forgot to put it on your hands), there were markers on the ground suggesting where people should stand to keep social distance, and in some restaurants you'd have to sign in with your data to make sure you were traceable later on. (But not in all restaurants. I wonder whether they just didn't follow the rules.) In light of the outbreak, you also notice how old the population of Italy really is. (I checked and it’s the fourth oldest in the world.)
That said, seeing all these popular places without the crowds of tourists is magical. I guess that's how travel in the 1950s looked like: the towns, still full of remnants of tourist traps waiting for their catch, had a much more local, provincial feel to them - mostly locals sitting in the streets that used to be dominated by foreign tourism, eating ice-cream and just being generally happy that they can just be there. That three-hour line for the Uffizi gallery? Forget it. In most of the small towns, our JJ was chasing local kids as we and their parents watched from the stairs of an old church. There was nobody else on the square.
So if there is one takeaway from all of this: pack up and leave if you feel confident about the covid situation, because these streets, these towns and these museums will not be empty forever. At least we hope so. (We're looking at you, the US.)
The stay
We stayed with Zdenka and Martin of Sí Toskánsko, our friends who run a travel agency for incoming tourism to Tuscany, in the small village of Mercatale, about a 30 minutes' drive from Florence in the Chianti region. Staying in a small town in Chianti has many advantages and very few drawbacks. You can buy local groceries in the village markets around. Sounds like a cliché, but you can really get two bags of fantastic fresh produce for EUR 15. (It was shocking when, on our return to Prague, I went to our local convenience store, bought four things, and paid EUR 12.) You can also adjust to the local lifestyle - getting a shot of espresso and a filled croissant in the morning, have a rest between 3pm and 6pm, and that sort of thing. And the Coop supermarkets are open throughout the day.
Two things to note: (1) we have been advised not to drink the tap water. Not sure if this applies to the whole of Tuscany, or just our area. (2) Mosquitoes can be a problem, but every pharmacy in the smallest village will sell a plethora of products that repel the nasty insect. On the other hand, we found Chianti to be incredibly family-friendly if you travel with a kid: every restaurant can make any type of pasta your kid wants (duh), and even the smallest of villages had a nice public playground.
We will not give too many tips because if you speak Czech or Slovak, Zdenka's guide to Tuscany (download it here) is an incredible source of well-researched and incredibly detailed information. But here's just a few observations:
Even if you fly to Florence and stay there, rent a car and make sure you drive around a bit. The countryside of Chianti is beautiful and our visits to the winemakers and olive farmers on hilltops were nearly emotional. Sometimes the beauty was just too much to take in. Seriously.
Take a lot of photos, especially during the "golden hour". Tuscany is stunning and every photo is just sun-basked, fully saturated beauty. If you like to take videos or pictures with a drone, bring it along. The views of the hills with the olive groves and wineries are ridiculously beautiful.
Try to wake up earlier one morning and take a morning drive through the sun-lit valleys and hilltops along curvy country roads. I literally stopped on every hilltop to take pictures. It's incredibly rewarding just to take pictures of the road. Finish with an espresso shot in your village on return.
The same thing applies to Florence, if you happen to stay nearby. Although it was far from packed during the day, it is absolutely empty in the morning. Want to take a picture of Ponte Vecchio without a single soul on it, with the Dome lurking in the distance? This is your only chance.
Plan ahead. Tuscany is full of beautiful small little and bigger towns that are a short drive away. So what we did is we chose a direction with a few spots along the way, and set off. Be careful to plan your meals right - restaurants close between let's say 2:30 and 7pm, so you should plan for a lunch and dinner within those times. The same applies to water. Unlike in the Czech Republic, gas stations in Tuscany don't have proper shops that sell water and snacks, so make sure you have some water before the drive.
Make sure you are aware of bank holidays during your stay, and act accordingly - things will be closed during that time.
Learn at least some basic words and phrases in Italian. Your mileage with English will vary, especially in the small villages. One thing you will notice is how old the population of the region is, and most senior citizens will have no knowledge of English.
Just go
But I think the number one tip is just go. Chianti was absolutely beautiful and we loved our week there. Right now the small towns and villages that used to be packed with tourists are pretty much empty, and just stunning. When we posted pictures of empty piazzas on Instagram, people would send us their pictures where the same places were packed. We had been to Florence previously and did not like it. It was just too touristy. It was fantastic this time around.
Drive around. The little towns are beautiful. We loved Monticchiello, Montepulciano, San Gimignano, Volterra, Arezzo, Lucca, Greve in Chianti, Panzano (with the amazing Officina della Bistecca butcher shop and restaurant), San Casciano... all these were absolutely great, and you could see three in a day quite easily while maintaining a slow pace. Eat out every night. Try to visit a few wineries or olive groves. And let us know how it went, okay? Ciao!
(Full disclaimer: We have been invited to Tuscany by Zdenka and Martin of Sí Toskánsko to fill in for a vacancy. We did not pay for any of their services. We never talked about it out loud but we think the silent expectation was that we would post on Instagram about the experience and maybe write about it here. Which we were happy to do because honestly, disregarding our now personal connection with the owners, we think their service is excellent. We obviously work in hospitality and know how much effort goes into what, and their operation is not only legit, but simply great.)