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What our guests think ...
2.
Chris & Marion (May 2004)
Following
an enthusiastic recommendation, we 'followed in
the footsteps' of Dave and Joan and stayed at
Casa Marginetta for a week as part of
a two week holiday which also started in Venice and
ended in Rome!
To
save a little money, we opted not to have a car
whilst in Venice and instead travelled by train
from Venice to Pisa and picked one up there,
mainly because Dave had said that you can see
much more of Tuscany by car.
He
was probably right, but I have to say that we
were well impressed with the Italian railways.
Very comfortable, clean and punctual as well as
extremely good value!
They
do have a bit of a weird pricing structure
though, based - I think - on the type of trains
involved in the journey.
For
example the lowest fare from Venice to Pisa we
could find was only €15.44 - just over a
tenner - in second class.
Via
the faster Intercity service we chose it would
have been €23.60 in second class!?!
Anyway,
we saw that first class was only an extra €8.38, so we travelled over 200 miles 'in
style' for about £20!
We
booked and paid for our tickets online by credit card
in England and picked them up with no fuss from
a machine at
Santa Lucia station in the heart of Venice -
isn't technology wonderful?
See
for yourself on the "Trenitalia"
web-site!
---
We
loved Casa Marginetta and were especially
surprised at the warm welcome we received from
the locals! No English was spoken, but there
were plenty of smiles!
We were even
given a basket of home-grown fresh vegetables
by a neighbour. Wow, what a taste!
We've completely lost that experience in
'pre-packaged' England.
We
did cook a few meals ourselves and had a couple
of cosy nights 'in' with a good DVD or two and
a few bottles of our favourite sparkler 'Pinot
Chardonnay'. £15 a bottle in restaurants at
home, but only a couple of quid in Italy! Who
can resist?
The
peace and tranquility of the place was amazing
and it was truly a picture postcard view as far
as the eye could see! It would have been good
to get out a canvas and start painting, but I
had to make do with the camera!
We
could still see some snow on the mountain tops
but, alas, we were too late to go skiing ...
maybe next time!
Our
favourite restaurant was 'Il Guerriero' - 'The
warrior' - in Vetriano. Although it's
a bit of a twisty drive
to get there, for us it offered
everything! A lovely ambiance, friendly staff
and, of course, excellent food!
By
the way,
while you're in Vetriano, don't miss
the chance to see 'The
World's Smallest Theatre'
as certified by the 'Guinness Book of Records'.
Anyway,
having splashed out once on the most expensive item on
the menu - prime fresh fillet steak in a creamy
peppercorn sauce - we are now completely
'sold'. The fact that it cost only 12 Euros was a
bonus - it would still be good value at twice
the price - but don't tell the owner!
The
chance to taste that steak again is one of the
reasons we have booked Casa Marginetta again
for 2005!
However, this time we're going to
stay there the whole time as there's still so
much more to see and do in Tuscany.
Chris.
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