Charmed in Cortona

(View from the top of Cortona with the Tuscan hills in the background)

We had a free Saturday so we made the most of it by going to visit some more beautiful Tuscan towns. It was Anna, Emily, Shannon, and I who ventured out into the countryside to be wowed (refer to picture below for facial reference). The first stop on the trip was taking a bus to Arezzo. Not my favorite mode of transportation but it works. We don't really have set plans when we go to the cities because we find that just by walking around and consulting Rick Steve's it provides a fulfilling experience. We walked the streets and found the Grande Piazza. This is where Life is Beautiful was filmed. I would question their use of grande in the name of this piazza considering it's pretty small size. We always have to walk around the local Cathedral and wandered through to this library. We realized that they had free internet in the library so we had Emily sign up to do it which was not an easy process actually. But the whole reason behind spending our time in Arezza on the internet was to buy plane tickets to PARIS!!!!! Emily had found 50 euro tickets (including tax) to and from Paris on the weekend that we wanted. We decided not to wait any longer and to buy them immediately. Me and Em bought ours first with it being a grand total of 68 euros flying out Wednesday night October 15th and coming back Saturday night October 18th! We are also following Kennedy Center rules and back for church on Sunday. It was too bad when Shannon and Anna bought their tickets the 60 euro tickets were gone and they had to pay about 100 euros. But hey we are going to Paris and it is going to be great. Since purchasing took longer than expected we then had to quickly see the sights of Arezzo. We walked through this park and climbed a tree. We visited this Fortress of the Medici that was covered in I love you graffiti. The views were amazing and enjoyed our quick stay in Arezzo.

Then we took a train to Cortona. This city is up on the side of a mountain and had to take a bus ride. I didn't know this and I was saying how we should just walk haha yeah right. Now this town is BEAUTIFUL!!! I thought Siena had steep hills but this place had significantly steeper roads. It felt like we were walking up a 90 degree angle. This is where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed so maybe some of you have an idea of what it looks like. Personally I have never seen it. Of course we visited a small Cathedral then started our own little walking tour. It lead us through people's yard's and these trails/walking paths. We found a new way to get up to the basilica of St. Margherita that is on the top of the mountain. Don't worry they had her actual old body on display for a reliquiry. The views of the entire valley were life changing though. It was love at first sight for me! I will definitely be returning to this charming little city someday with a male of whom I am married too. I want to (and will) move to Cortona and live in a cute house covered in flowers haha. I wished that we would have had more time there but we had to be back for dinner since we didn't tell anyone we wouldn't be back for dinner. This time we wanted to avoid the bus so we figured out a train route to get us home. While riding the train we happened upon some terrible smells that should never be encountered by the human nose. The train system is no problem but Siena's local bus systems gave us problems. With that fiasco over I was home an hour later than intended and mad we did not have more time in Cortona. It was an absolutely wonderful day of traveling and I love Tuscany even more.