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Day Three |
To get a better feel of the country we decided that our choice of accommodations will be a Bed & Breakfast whenever possible. This choice turned out to be a good one. Our first one was called "Il Girasole" and its kind owners were waiting for us outside when we arrived. It was a bit difficult to find but very clean and tastefully decorated. Our room had a little balcony with a view of an olive orchard. |
Montepulciano was about a 5 minute drive from here. It is what would be considered a typical Tuscan hill town surrounded by a rock wall. We were on a hunt for its famous Vino Nobile which is one of the best Italian wines - its taste close to the extremely expensive Brunello which is produced in nearby Montalcino. We found a charming "enoteka" (wine shop) where they let us look at their incredible arched wine cellar and sample their wine and cheeses so we ended up buying a $12 bottle of Vino Nobile which would have cost us over $36 in the US. |
In the morning we left for Florence and our next B&B called Colonica Belvedere in San Donato. According to the map there were two ways to get there and we chose one that seemed to be shorter. Soon we found we were driving on a steep road that was going higher and higher. It was early spring and most of the trees had bright green foliage but that suddenly started to change to no foliage and then to pine forest and then Chuck called our girls and told them that we are so high that he went to pee and hit a goose flying by. What the map did not tell us was that one of those equally long roads crosses the mountain. Later we found out that the mountain is called Pratomagno and is 1450m (4757 feet) high. Somewhere, close to the top, is a famous Benedictine monastery Vallombrosa that we passed so fast that we only caught a glimpse of it. After a trip that was suppose to last about half an hour we finally found our B&B about three hours later then we had planned. The house was a 13th century villa, very clean, wonderfully decorated, and surrounded with olive groves, nested on the slope of a mountain with an incredible view. The whole family waited for us when we arrived and treated us wonderfully all the time we stayed there. |
