Today was our full day in Tuscany. We decided that instead of just loafing around at the Estate for the whole day that we should at least go and see another Tuscan village and it was suggested we go the Akone which is the nearest village to where we are. It is only about 3 kms away. There really isn't a lot to see at the village but it does amazes me that someone would think...

Today was just spent around the Villa. Some of the group (including a bunch of my family and their girlfriends) were meant to go riding. But the heat and the difficult roads around here put them off. My hard-earned money down the drain. Helen and Lara did go for a 5km run though and this time Lara was complaining about how difficult it was. It was considerably cooler today so it couldn't have been the heat....

An early start for everyone today as we needed to be at the train station in Rufina at 9:20am to catch the train to Firenze (known to us as Florence). Probably the earliest some people have had to get up this week and especially after a 2am game of poker again for some last night (@Bryan - don't worry it's not strip poker).  Adding in the treacherous road, we needed to leave at 8:30am. We managed...

Today we had nothing planned and we just spent the day around the Estate. It seems Helen is the first one awake each morning and today was again no exception. She went for a morning swim and found Lara in the pool already and even more surprising was that Stephen arrived shortly afterwards. It is surprising because they have been up late most nights playing games or some sort or another and last night they were...

Today was the olive oil and wine tasting day. Four of us headed out at 9:45am for a preliminary wine tasting. We needed to buy wine for the next 5 nights dinners and so my Dad, my brother-in-law, my brother and I went to one of the nearby wine farms for a tasting. The owner's wife did the tasting for us. They produce 2 million bottles a year (which is a massive amount). There are strict...

Today was a leisurely day around the estate. Helen was up way too early and decided to go for a morning swim as her daily bit of exercise. The estate consists of four separate buildings and we have them all. There is the main building (where Helen and I have our bedroom) and then there is a smaller main building and two other smaller units. Breakfast is self-service and happens in one of the two main...

We were up at 4:30am this morning as we needed to leave for the airport around 5am. We dragged our bags from the hotel up to the terminal (and I specifically said 'up' because it seemed to be uphill the whole way. This being Portugal, the check in counters were not yet open though they were meant to open 2 hours before the departure of the flight (which was leaving at 6:45am so they should have...

Helen and the girlfriends went for their usual morning run and seemed to cope better this morning as it was not as hot as previous days. The rest of the morning was just spent packing and doing some last-minute sun tanning (in the case of Helen who now looks Portuguese after a week in the sun). Lunch was made up of eating all the leftovers and then after lunch we hit the road back up to...

Today was our last full day in Vilamoura. Lara & Oli went for a run this morning and Helen chose to remain in bed (for the first time since we got here). It was again a little cooler this morning but by mid-morning it was mid twenties and by the end of the day it was just touching 30. Michael and I had another round of golf this time at Oceanico Pinhal. It was the first...

Helen went for her early morning run as usual (10kms) at some early time in the morning. It was partly cloudy the whole day and a lot cooler today as well (got up to 26 degrees only). It kept looking like it was going to rain but it never did (and doesn't look like it will now) - though the sunset is quite beautiful with the reflection off the clouds (that is the view from our...