A Rest Day in Pienza
Trip Start
Unknown
1
5
7
Trip End
Ongoing
Pienza, Tuscany, Italy
Thursday, October 16, 2008
On day 7 we traveled from Murlo to Pienza. The day started with a quick trip to a Abbazia di Monte Oliveto, a working abbey. There we got a tour of the abbey and then had lunch at the restaurant in the abbey. The abbey had hallways around a plaza lined with frescoes that our tour guide explained the history behind. Another interesting part of the tour was the main library in the abbey that had ancient volumes and interesting architectural elements. During the tour the battery on my camera died and the spare was back at bike. I missed getting pictures of some frescoes. We had a nice lunch and then moved on toward Pienza. We stopped at a small crossroads town named Torrenieri where we checked out the church in the town and bought water. We finally got to the climb into Pienza where we stopped for pictures. At the stop we found a couple that were interested in our trip. They were from Denmark but were taking a minivan through Italy where they had visited all 12 Italian national parks and created a picture book of them. This was very nice photography.
We arrived in Pienza, checked into the hotel and got a shower in time for Dinner. We had dinner in town with the Orrs and the O'Callahans. The dinner and wine were great and then it was time for bed.
Italy Day 8
Ahhh, a rest day. Kathie and I took a loop day to get up late but in time for breakfast. It was market day in Pienza so later we went into town to check out the market. The variety of goods was quite interesting. I was like a portable Mal-Mart. We bought some fruit then took them back to our room. We later walked around town with the Orrs, Harpers and others from the tour. We went back the hotel for a nap. We got up in time for a tour of Piccolomini, the home of Pope Pius II. Pope Pius was the person responsible the building of Pienza.
After the tour we had a happy hour in the hotel. We then went on to dinner. We had dinner with the Orrs in town then found our way to the hotel and bed.
