Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157622743554940/
6:30am: Sitting on the toilet with feet in the bidet soaking in hot water and I cannot believe there's only a few days left. The sun's rising and it appears it's going to be yet another glorious day. Was worried about weather when that storm for Cinque Terre showed up but other than that one day, it has been pretty amazing weather the whole trip and I guess it's supposed to last the final few days as well. Today, off to Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino, and maybe some important abbeys along the way.
8:00pm: back at the farmhouse after a long and for some reason frustrating day. It was quite foggy and cloudy most of the day, which was a bit of a bummer considering we were in some of the most beautiful parts of Tuscany. Anyway, this morning we left a little after 7 and stopped on the way for breakfast and gas. Fascinating how these gas stations have full bars with huge espresso machines and fresh pastries. Not bad at all. Then we continued on our way to Montepulciano, which is about an hour and a half from our farmhouse. Arrived shortly after 9 but drove in circles for nearly a half hour trying to find the parking Rick Steves recommended. Finally found it. Montepulciano is really quite cute. Lots of wine shops, but the cool thing is the old cellars - we went into two. Contucci, which was cool, filled with cask after cask, and Ercolani, which was so hardcore it has the name "Subterranean City" and they even provide a map. Walking down through these cool dark cellars filled with huge tanks of wine is more interesting than most museums - and I don’t even like wine. This one had marked rooms and told you that this cellar dated back to about the 13th-15th Centuries, if I recall. The cool thing was near the end as it wound back up to their tasting room, there were some etruscan ruins. I bought a vacuum packed set of 2 1/4 liter olive oil cans - one of their own and one organic one. Yay for vacuum packed cans, no mess getting it home :) Took a different road back to where we parked, which took us by Bottega del Rame (I think?), a coppersmith's shop where everything's handmade in town. Absolutely stunning, gorgeous stuff. What I would not give to have a set of those pots. I bet they cook amazingly well, but I'd hate to use them. Instead I bought a little oil can and a teeny knick-nack. I'd seen this place online before going so I knew what to expect, but the stuff was still absolutely gorgeous (and expensive - but worth it for the craftsmanship!). I think, with the purchase of the oil can, that completes my "must buy" list for Italy except for some more olive oil in Chianti.
So around 11:30am we left and stopped at the Tempio San Biagio - which is incredible from the outside and a bit lame from the inside. We then made our way to Pienza, famous for both pecorino cheese and for being this strange planned renaissance city. Only problem is that the town center was taken over by some kind of filming for a renaissance movie. Oy vey. So meandering past the horse and sheep poop, we made it to the end of town to a restaurant recommended by both Rick Steves and the Blue Guide, and it was quite good indeed. I had homemade pici with mushrooms. There was an older couple next to us who had been to Pienza several times and seemed to always eat there. Even some of the cast from the movie made it down for lunch. It was warm enough to even eat outside! And this place had no cover charge, which is always awesome. Our whole check including water came to 16.50. Can't beat that for incredible handmade, homemade pasta.
Then we wandered around a bit more but unfortunately several of the interesting-looking cheese shops were closed for 'siesta' so we went in a couple and then set off for Montalcino, which is a little bit further.
Arrived there about 2:30pm and found a parking lot. Made our way up to town and wandered around. Besides lots of wine shops and a few pottery shops, this was a ghost town of sorts. We went into one Enoteca that had a "wine card" system - you take the card and it has 50 euros on it, then you stick it in the slot and get a taste of any one of 100 wines you want. Then you just bring the card up to the register and pay for whatever you spent. We tried a rosso from Montalcino, which I thought was truly vile, and a Brunello, which is the really famous wine from this area of course. It was significantly better, but still not something I'd pay 30+ euros a bottle for.
Then here's where the annoyance begins. We were going to head up the Via Cassia - SP2 - which is supposed to be some of the most beautiful scenery in Tuscany (and thus, the world). But trusty GPS (she needs a name) sent us a different way and then we figured we were too far to turn around. We were going to stop at the Monte Oliveto Maggiore Abbey then the town of Asciano. Well, we ended up heading to Asciano a different way. Then we couldn't find proper parking and were going in circles so we were like, forget it. Then we decided to go to Monte Oliveto Maggiore anyway but by then it was almost 5pm so by the time we got there it had closed (at 5pm, naturally). By then the light was fading fast and we were about an hour and a half from the farmhouse. At first we thought, why not go to San Gimignano for dinner. Then we started heading in a "wrong" direction (less direct, really, but not "wrong" per se) and turned around and wasted about 15 min, so it was going to be almost 7 by the time we got to San Gim. So we decided instead to head towards the farmhouse and stop somewhere along the way. Well, we didn't see anywhere, really, nowhere at all (much of this drive is on a bigger road, which was nice, but there's less to stop and do), so we just decided to come back here and have our leftovers for dinner, so that is what we did.
I'm sure part of my crankiness is from being tired so I will try to sleep well tonight (as if I haven't been trying all damn vacation) as we head for Chianti tomorrow and Saturday.
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