Stacy Takes Flight
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Photos

Travel is my favorite kind of bug.

Welcome to my travel blog!  I quit my job in NYC to go on a 100-day travel adventure, and I will be documenting, inspiring and sharing as I go.

Today I am in:  New York City

More about me

DAY 46:  HORSEBACK RIDING IN TUSCANY

6/4/2014

0 Comments

 
Sunday, June 1 (Florence) – I know I say this a lot, but I love the power of friends-of-friends and word of mouth – particularly via Facebook.  Emily M from my equestrian team in college (NYU) saw that I was going to Italy and gave me the best recommendation of where to ride!  She had studied abroad in Florence and went to this place on a weekly basis, so I knew it wasn’t one of the tourist trail rides + wine tastings that I wasn’t particularly interested in, but would settle for if it got me on a horse.

I hopped a train to a town called Montevarchi-Terranuova where I was picked up and taken to the Rendola Riding center.  I was greeted by Jenny, an older English woman who runs the show, and a handful of people from around the globe who were staying at the facility for a multi-day holiday (similar to what I did at the Crossogue Equestrian Center in Ireland).  Since I shipped my riding equipment home weeks ago, I was happy to see they had extra boots and helmets that I could borrow.
Picture
I got on a beautiful mare named Carmen and five of us started going on a 2.5-hour trail.  We walked, trotted and cantered through olive groves and in between rows of grapes in different vineyards!  It was stunning (wish I had my camera but I had nowhere to put it!) and the weather couldn’t have been better. 
Picture
tuscany_horse_riding
After the ride there was a little down time to relax and I met a young couple who was staying there via Airbnb, not to ride, just to relax in the beautiful countryside (great idea for non-riders who want a day outside of the city).  Then we had a delicious, multi-course lunch which had some of the best pasta I’ve eaten in all of Italy – it had a cream sauce with a touch of mint and some cheese.

I went back to Florence completely relaxed and so happy.  I highly recommend any rider who comes to this region of Italy to stop by Rendola for a couple of hours to see the real countryside!  
rendola_riding
Note:   when I was invited to stay for lunch, I originally couldn’t because I wanted to make it back to the city for a bike tour and I had left my mom in the city.  But when Jenny seemed disappointed I changed my plans.  I said I would stay.  When she had given me prices for the ride, she said nothing about the meal and from the way she invited me, I thought it was part of the price.  So I was caught a bit off guard when I paid her and she asked for another 20 Euro (which could have gotten me another hour of riding!) for the meal.  It was a lot of food and delicious so of course I was happy to pay for it, but I was completely caught off guard and would not have paid that much for lunch or stayed that long if I knew in advance.  So keep that in mind – in general in Italy, it is always important to find out all the costs up front (food at the bar vs. at a table, gelato, leather, etc.).
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Hi! I'm Stacy, a 28 year old Manhattanite who quit her job to go on a 100-day journey across the world.  Follow me as I hot air balloon in Turkey, hike the Todra Gorge in Morocco, horseback ride across Ireland, and take part in all the other active adventures I can find!

    Archives

    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    Categories

    All
    100 Days Of Travel
    Accommodations
    Active Travel
    Antalya
    Apartment
    Apps
    Art
    Austira
    Austria
    Beach
    Belfast
    Best Of
    Best-of
    Bikes
    Bike Share
    Bonvoyage
    Budget Travel
    Cappadocia
    Cinque Terre
    Connemara Park
    Cordoba
    Dorset
    Dublin
    England
    Fitcation
    Fitness
    Florence
    Funny
    Galicia
    Galway
    Germany
    Good Food
    Granada
    Grunau Im Almtal
    History
    Hobbies
    Horseback Riding
    Ireland
    Istanbul
    Italy
    Itinerary
    Jerez De La Frontera
    Lease
    Life Lessons
    Lisbon
    Local Delicacy
    Local Sports
    London
    Madrid
    Malaga
    Mallorca
    Marbella
    Marrakech
    Milan
    Morocco
    Music
    Natural Wonder
    Nerja
    Nightlife
    Northern Ireland
    Nyc
    Photos
    Planning
    Porto
    Portugal
    Rome
    Running
    Salzburg
    Santiago-de-compostela
    Sevilla
    Seville
    Shopping
    Spa
    Spain
    Staces-places
    Switzerland
    Touristy Things
    Travel Tips
    Turkey
    Unemployed
    Valencia
    Vienna
    Work
    Zurich

    RSS Feed

© 2014 Stacy Schwartz.  All rights reserved.