Tip: The hot and cold water taps are the same in Italy–hot on the left, cold on the right. The taps, however, are marked C for caldo (hot), F for freddo (cold). So you don’t burn yourself, think C for Cross your fingers the water is hot, and F for Freezing!
We spent yesterday driving to a few small towns recommended by family, friends, or our host. It was overcast but we definitely cannot complain about our weather. Many of the roads looked like the others I have posted: beautiful overlooks of vineyards and medieval towns and villas on the top of the hills.
At a half tank of gas we figured we better try to fill up for real this time, and no one was around to help. It was $44 for half a tank in our little bitty car!
So many towns and parks have a World War II memorial of some type. It was all fought here in each village and city. While the USA lost so many people, the numbers in Europe are incomprehensible.
Some of the cities or towns seemed to be doing ok. Others in a holding pattern, waiting for the tourist season. A few were barely hanging in there, with deserted buildings and few people in old dilapidated structures.
Yesterday took us to San Giovanni d’asso, where they had a Truffle Museum. Huh! Turns out truffles are plentiful around here and we have seen signs and people off in the woods with truffle dogs hunting truffles!
Next we went to Montepulciano, a medieval town of about 15,000 people. We had another box to ship home, but finding an open post office had turned out to be really tricky! One in an earlier town was closed on Fridays….but by golly the one in Montepulciano claimed to be open until 1:30 p.m. Google maps had us all over the place and then right up to the edge of one of those NO DRIVING zones just encouraging us to go right through. Agh! Mike is worried we might get a huge bill when we drop off the rental car, but we turned around so fast and if the camera has a photo of Mike’s face when he realized….well certainly they will have mercy!
Anyway, here was Mike carrying my box of souvenirs up and down these huge hills. In fact this city is so steep even the streets have handrails which I was using! You better believe I was hoping my map was right and there was an open post office! Sure enough, yayyyyy, Poste Italiane! Our nice lady didn’t speak a word of English, so I muddled my way through and filled out the forms and for $37 a box is heading home! Mike made it clear this was a last one 🙂
We could only imagine how crazy it is there during the tourist season. Yesterday, however, only about a quarter of the stores or restaurants were open. We found a pretty restaurant with views of the cloudy valleys. I had a Caesar Salad, not really but it was very good! It had like dried chicken on it, feta cheese maybe, croutons, tomatoes, egg, olives. Mike had a steak, with a sprig of rosemary lol, so good thing my salad was so big for us to share! The restaurant had been there since since 1865 and seemed to be fairly popular, or else the only place open haha.
There was a huge lonely church on the outskirts of town. It was hard to get to because it was tucked away. We tried to walk but couldn’t find an open path, so our little Fiat took us downhill to it. Sometimes it is hard to even tell if churches are still open or deserted. This one seemed to still be going; Wiki said it was built in the 1600’s and considered an example of Greek Renaissance architecture.
The sun tried to peep out, but not much luck. The wind started whipping and it was a cold view over Tuscany.
Today, Saturday, we drove to Castelnuovo Berardenga, a small nearby town with a hopeful open grocery store haha. It was darling but had so many places shuttered up. Kids were kicking a ball in an empty square and some of the locals were visiting or going for a Saturday walk. The town had a nice vibe to it so I hope some of the places with obvious potential manage to get going.
We ended up in a small restaurant called Carlos e Claudio. There were 6 tables inside and only one was occupied with 5 men when we arrived. We ordered lunch and pretty soon more people arrived. A couple with a little girl, a family of 7 with another little girl, 2 couples. Soon all the tables were full. We noticed we were the only ones without wine. Mike ordered Primi and Secondi, which is on nearly every menu. You get your appetite going with a big plate of pasta, then you have meat or seafood separately. We were there a long time while the kitchen, featured at top, prepared meals and visited with the locals–we were clearly the only outsiders! They always offer coffee or desert and this time I said yes to coffee. It was, as always, the tiniest cup of espresso, rich and bitter and doesn’t take long to finish because it’s less than a tablespoon.
We tried to outlast the locals, if nothing else so we could see how to pay lol, but when we left all the other people were still there! We ordered a couple desserts from the case and I said to the man, Carlo? No, Claudio. I didn’t know how to say we loved your restaurant and hanging out with your friends, so I did the kiss the fingertips thing and he just beamed as if to say, Yes, I hear that alllll the time! Tuscany has been just amazing!
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