by Let’s just say it wasn’t average Mr. Whippy. This gelato came with a embarrassed background history pecorino blave and Salty. The cheese is all over the small town of Pienza, famous for its Pecorino and the perfectly proportioned Renaissance city.
And although I wasn’t mad at the ice, the architecture was a different thing: Pretty Palazzos, a octagonal bell tower that rose from the cathedral, and picturesque alleys full of smell Fromaggio.
In the 15th century, Pope Pius II moved his inconspicuous birthplace of Corsignano and commissioned the era to create his “ideal city”. It’s perfect.
From the walls, the Val d’Orcia in Italy, like the Tuscana of her imagination, rolls lined alleys, hill cities in terracotta tones, steering and chapels that are folded into wavy vineyards and olive groves, which extend to Monte-Amiata, the highest (and in no time) adult grove.
Val d’Orcia offers classic Tuscan landscape – moment RF
It is no surprise that both city and valley are listed on UNESCO. Or that Franco Zeffirelli filmed some of something Romeo and Julia in Pienza. If you are looking for the brood of romanticism and a real drama, this is the stage-one in which you want to stay for a multiple campaign.
Fortunately, although I visited as part of a ship trip, there was no sprint for the coach for a long transmission to the ship. This special cruise add-on was with a bed in the picture itself in Castello di Velona, a 1,000-year-old Hilltop fortress, where I literally sucked in the surrounding landscape from the thermal pools outdoors, which was heated by the volcano-temperature.
3107 cruise coast
My Tuscan stay was part of a new line from Abercrombie & Kent Land Extensions for passengers on Crystal Cruises called “Von A & K”, which I was the first journalist to try.
Our trip had run from Spain’s tarragon to Rome; Now I ended with a flourishing on land where I could call myself with truffles, Pecorino cheese, Brunello wine and these great views.
Other A&K Bolt-ons are similarly tempting: Depending on the cruise, you can mark on time in the Denali game in Alaska, feel tiger and see the Taj Mahal in India or, after the dock in Mombasa, marvel at the migration of Gantebeeste in the Serengeti.
It is far from the openly disappointing excursions that I did on the newly launched cruise line in 2023, which A&K bought the year before, and promised to be extraordinary on both land and on the sea.
A new line from Abercrombie & Kent Land Extensions gives Crystal Cruises a new dimension – crystal cruises
“It took this time because they put all the top guides together with the best hotels and lodges,” said me Geoffrey Kent, emeritus from A&K, on our trip and added that he was originally skeptical about cruising.
“I am an adventure type – I jump out of airplanes and helicopters and dive, so I thought I would be bored if I was sitting on a large cruise ship,” he said. “It is exactly the opposite. And it is very spoiled.”
He is not wrong. Crystal is now celebrating his 35th anniversary and leaning into the traditions of the old cruises. There is a kind of deco lounge for tea, dance and cabaret, a teak-promenade deck, a gym, a spa and suites with butler service. And there are inconsistencies that can be shared a maximum of 606 guests with almost as many employees who take care of them.
It is polished, calm and makes a great basis to explore the medication, the picturesque bank of which is delivered directly to your (very considerable) balcony.
The pool deck on board the Crystal Serenity Ship – Crystal Cruises
In Menorcas Mahón we sailed into one of the largest natural ports in Europe and almost scratched the sides of the Isla Del Rey (now a Hauser and Wirth gallery) and made themselves close enough at the distillery in Xoriguer to imagine a waking junior.
I decided to explore the island by bike and ride 25 km when we were passed through with bougainvillaea designed streets with low white whipped villages and (with battery support) to a watch tower of the 14th century in Sant Lluís. The narrow streets that were lined with dry stone walls were blissful – only our cycling group, the sun and an unshakable turtle.
The exercise has contributed to justifying the food on the ship again. Crystal contains a handful of top restaurants for the price of the cruise, including the only Nobu at sea where you can order Schwarze Miso -Kabeljau, Wagyu, Hummer Tacos and just as you can fashion. Drinks are also free of charge: cocktails, spirits and wine are poured with enthusiasm.
More wine was waiting for Italy’s Cinque Terre. Our boat trip drove under the unlikely stacked vineyards and pastel -colored houses of the five former fishing villages on the cliffs.
We pressed in Vernazza to climb to the old Watchtower, and enjoyed a glass of crispy Cinque Terre Doc in Riomaggiore, but I would have liked to linger on the robust Ligurian coast for longer.
Riomaggioor cobblestone paths have a lively atmosphere – Andrey Danilovich
This made our immersion in the Val d’Orcia of Tuscany, a three -hour trip from Rome’s sights, something special. Time slows down directly in this valley. I spent four hours at lunch in Poder Il Casale without trying to admire the view and learn how to do cheese with Ulisse Branli, who a long time ago exchanged his home of Switzerland with Tuscany.
“Thirty years ago, this valley was only for farmers,” he said. “Then they filmed part of The English patient In the monastery outside of Pienza. Now people come here to see the view and our farm-to-table meal, including cheese. “
Of course, where there is cheese, there is wine. The medieval village of Montalcino houses Brunello Wine; In the medieval fortress there is even vines and a wine shop.
Instead, I tried it at Poderere Le Ripi and tried a handful of biodynamic wines alongside a delicious dinner in the brick winery, which was built in spiral formation with a roof that resembles that of Rome Panthéon.
The medieval village of Montalcino is home to Brunello Wine – Alamy
This vineyard was founded by Francesco Illy from the coffee clan and has a terrace view that should have its own tasting notes. It is a place where you can sit and stare.
But that is the point of A&KS new land adventures: the exchange of boxing tips for something slower, richer and rooted, part of the perfect hybrid vacation, in which both land and sea get their moment in the sun.
It is the future of luxury cruise and it has a glass of Brunello (no pecorino flavoored gelato) firmly in hand.
Essentials
A cruise with eight-day nights at Crystal Serenity costs from £ 3,800, all-inclusive, plus flights. Including stops in Civitavecchia (Rome), Mahon and Porto Venere for the Cinque Terre and Monaco for the Grand Prix.
Four nights on land with three nights in the Castello di Veloni and one night at the hotel in Rome, Regina Baglioni costs from £ 5,730 pages, including meals and excursions.
Departure Marseille on June 2, 2026.
