Notes to Auntie: Tuscany

Hi Auntie,

Well, we left Venice for Tuscany. Our day included a water taxi, train, then automobile, ending in "Greve in Chianti", for our first night in the Tuscany area of Italy.

On the water, we momentarily thought we were going the wrong way but in the end, we got off on stop 15 rather than stop 7...so we were good.

Arriving in Florence we picked up the car and Amanda drove us to our first stop:

Greve in Chianti. we had a cool hotel where the hallway to the room was so dark, we couldn't see at all!

Noelle in our room at Greve

But we had fun exploring and shopping and had, of course, a fabulous dinner at Osteria Nerbone Di Greve. You should go there if you get a chance.

We think it was one of the best yet!

The next morning it was raining harder than I've ever seen -- and being from the PNW, that's saying something. My rain coat was soaked through in less than 2 minutes, so we all bought umbrellas to get us through the day.

We also met a man who told us about Brolio Castle that was 'off our route', but it really wasn't (when you're from U.S. you are used to distances). It was only a mere few miles off the direct route to Montepulcino, our next stop.

Tuscany Countryside

Castello Di Brolio

Tuscany

On the road again, we arrived at our destination in Montepulcino.

It is a midevil town on a hilltop (like most of the towns) and the streets were super narrow. We were looking for our hotel which we couldn't find. We found ourselves in narrow, cobblestone streets, passing under archways, filled with pedestrians and barely enough room for the car to fit...it was stressful. At the top of the hill, while fitting our car through an alley/archway that was filled with people, we grazed a decrative turret on the side of a building.

We continued on--because, what else could we do?

Later when we three ladies took a look at the car (and the turret) we were confident that the minor damage to the car could be buffed out easily. The decorative turret was ok -- in fact it had a metal band around it to guard from such mishaps, so we knew we were not alone in our experience.

Checking in, Chilling out

Finally we found our hotel (with the help of two gals at a winery -- sort of a triple translation process) and we checked in -- treated like queens-- and again, Amanda enjoyed a comfy bed! We were delighted.