Onwards to Tuscany, land of fine wines that I like
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2010
1
3
8
Trip End
Sep 26, 2010
Castelfiorentino, Tuscany, Italy
Thursday, September 9, 2010
- Onwards to Tuscany, land of fine wines that I like … :-)
Slept like a pig … by the time I was up, it was already close to 9am. Alf woke up around the same time and was snapping pictures from the window as the sun had come out in its full glory, and Lake Como had never looked better in our eyes, given the past 2 days of rain. Markus knocked on the door and said that he and Jana were gonna walk down along the road and stop somewhere for breakfast. Alf and I said that we'd follow him there. We both took a while … one shower only … So by the time we headed out it was already 10-ish. Add to that the hotel wanted us to check out there and then because they needed the room, we did not head out till close to 11am. Managed to catch up with Markus and Jana somewhere down the road, quite a long walk, where we had breakfast with the sun and cool air in our faces. The sun does eat into you, but the cool air @ 20 + deg does chill you off quite a bit … savouring every experience we were getting. There, Alf chatted up with a Latvian girl/waitress who told him that about half an hour north from where we were, was a very nice lookout point atop of a hill overlooking the Lake. Speedy Gonzales was definitely game to go on up, and while I thought it would be nice, it was already past noon and we were faced with a 4-5 hours drive to Tuscany, assuming smooth traffic, hence we told Alf we’d pass.
We got back to the hotel and collected our luggage. Markus, Jana and I were gonna drive down to Tuscany, as they have managed to borrow their bro-in-laws BMW convertible and left the kids in Prague for the week. Alf decided to drive down with us for 1 night, but not before he, Speedy Gonzales, headed the other way to the lookout point, and was to also stop in Bologna as well before meeting us in Tuscany. With the top down, the wind in our hair and the sun shining down on us, we breezed through Lake Como with Irene Cara’s 'What a feeling!’ singing in our heads. :-p
The drive took more than 5 hours … with Markus and Jana swapping driving duties twice. Passing through the rolling hills that is the signature view of the Tuscan hills, we reached Castello Oliveto at around 5.30pm to collect our keys and got the directions to the apartment. The castle was nice, and we wished we were staying there instead. Nonetheless, a 10 min drive down the road and our apartments were located on San Romano Oliveto, in the middle of a vineyard plantation. Nice, serene, and quiet.
By the time we walked around the vines, and settled down in our apartment, it was already 7-ish … Alf had only just left Bologna and his eta was around 9.30pm. Hence we decided to go straight to dinner, and sms-ed him to meet us there directly,
The restaurant called La Canonica was just 10 mins down the road, and was also a horse stable and apartments. We set about ordering our food, with Jana opting for her caprese as a starter, and while they didn’t have bufala cheese that she so liked, the mozzarella they used was also very very good … (yes, we did of course try out each other’s plates … :-) ). The mains worth mentioning was the steak that Markus had which was very nice, but the highlight came in the form of my stewed rabbit, which was exquisite … so much so that we would come back here for dinner on the last night so that Markus could also have a full portion of the hopping animal. :-)
Alf joined us as expected … around 9.30pm. Still full of energy as he came running in. (Think energizer bunny … ). It was fortunate for us that the waiter who was serving us was a Swiss boy who spoke a bit of Italian, Spanish, English and definitely a whole lot of German so he was able to give directions to Alf when he called to ascertain how he should come meet us … :-)
He ordered the rabbit on our advise and loved it as well. Other highlight of the dinner was the wine. The Chianti Classico is made by the family who owns of the restaurant, and the gentleman who served us was apparently part of the family. It retails for Eur8, dining in was Eur16. It was nice wine, medium bodied, simple fruit structure of some berries and hints of tar. Unpretentious, soft wine that was very nice with dinner. We had 2 bottles. And when we were leaving, after Alf had ordered 3 desserts, the owner came by and gave me a bottle of the wine that we had, on the house. It was such a nice gesture that we decided to take a picture together to commemorate our time there. :-p
Got back to the apartment with a little bit of racing / bantering between Alf and Markus … and set around the dining table for a little chat with Alf opening a bottle of port that he got at the airport. Nice way to end the evening. :-)
Day 7 (Friday, 10th September)
Certaldo, San Gimignano and Castelfiorentino
Woke up at 7 am and realized I missed a bit of the sunrise. But fortunately I didn’t miss too much as it was kinda cloudy and not much golden light. So I went back to sleep.
We all got out of bed close to 9am. Needed breakfast … had initially thought of heading to San Gimignano for breakfast, but after consulting with our German neighbours next door who have been here for 2 weeks, we took their advice and headed to Certaldo.
We decided to go in one car and Alf’s rented Lancia was it, since it had a bit more legroom at the back compared to the beemer. Didn’t count on the fact that you put a German in an Italian car and they instantly transform themselves into Michael Schumacher … or they think they are anyway. Going down the dirt road outside the apartment had Jana swinging from left to right going, ‘whoa … !!’. There ain’t no letting up from Alf though as we zoomed in the Lancia towards Certaldo in no time. (ariba ariba, andale andale …!!!). The main attraction of Certaldo is an old castle overlooking the town. We headed straight to the castle to walk around and had our breakfast in a bar there. Cobbled stone streets and a medieval setting instantly brings one back in time …There isn’t a need to spend too much time in Certaldo, but what we got in the hour plus we were there was nice and relaxing. Oh, and the cappuccino we had was excellent.
As we were headed down to the car, Alf wanted to see a little more and hence said he’d meet us at the car in a bit. We made our way down slowly and admired the view and going to the toilet, etc. Then waited for Alf at the car for 15mins before he called Jana asking where we were. Seemed that he actually got to the car before us, and went back into the castle running around looking for us … comedy of errors. :-p
We sped off to San Gimignano … and after difficulties finding parking space, we walked into the old town castle grounds. It was nicer than Certaldo’s castle. But the main drawback was that it was very, very crowded. A lot of tourists. But it’s a nice old town and very well kept. I’d recommend a half day walk around here for anyone visiting Tuscany. The views from the lookout points into the rolling Tuscan hills were breathtaking.
Apart from running around, taking pictures and eating as many Gelatos as he can (he had 3 there), Alf also had to find an internet access point from which he could try to log on to see if he could change his flight and hotel schedules. Else, it would mean he’d have to leave us by 5pm that day. He was unable to make the changes, unfortunately, and hence we decided to leave at around 4-ish and have Alf drop us at Castelo Oliveto for the wine tasting and castle tour, sp that he could head back to the apartment to pack and go off.
We reached the castle just on time about 4.45pm, and they took us on a tour of the castle and showed us the rooms where the Popes had stayed before back in the middle ages, and also to the wine cellar, followed by the tasting. I wouldn’t say I was impressed with their wines … I’ve had better Chiantis for the price. But their dessert wine was wonderful, and their most expensive.
Half way through the tasting though, Markus got a call from Alf, saying that he could not find the apartment and had driven back and forth a couple of times. Poor fellow!! So Markus met him at the entrance of the castle and followed him back to the apartment. Turned out that speedy Gonzales had been so fast off the blocks he failed to remember the road name and landmarks and had missed the small road turning into our apartment despite passing it a few times. :-) (Anyway, he was to make it to his hotel in Bergamo and catch his flight the next morning on time nonetheless) Good for us, was that Markus took the opportunity to take their car over to the castle, hence saving us a slightly long walk back to the apartment to retrieve it and go out to dinner later.
Dinner was at a restaurant that was recommended by the staff of Castelo Oliveto. My pesto was way too salty, but otherwise, dinner all around the table was good. And we had a bottle of Montepulciano to wash it down with ... :-)
Back to the apartment, sleep and wait for sunrise …
Day 8 (Saturday, 11th September)
- Sienna
Woke up earlier at 6ish for sunrise to see if the sky was clear enough. Unfortunately, too much mist and cloud so the light was not good. Went back to sleep at about 7 and got up again at 9, ready to head out to Sienna with Markus & Jana. We thought of driving to the market nearby as indicated on the sketch map given to us by Castelo Oliveto, but alas, drove for more than 45 mins and could not find the place so we headed straight to Sienna, about an hour’s drive away.
Reached Sienna and had to drive round quite a bit before we could get parking. There seemed to be a football match going on at the stadium just outside the city walls … and I was to confirm that with a fellow traveler the next day that there was a Serie B game going on, hence the lack of parking space. We put the fustrations aside once we entered the city walls though, because while there were a lot of tourists, the old town of Sienna is simply beautiful, especially the Piazza del Campo, a wonderful open square where everyone congregated to bask in the cool weather and sunshine, slurping their gelato … us included. :-p
Made our way back in the late evening and as soon as we stopped the car, Markus gleefully explained, ‘hey, come on lah, let’s make some Chianti juice!!’, and promptly walked over to the vines and came back with 2 big bunches of what I would think were Sangiovese grapes. Luckily for us this year’s harvest was late and would likely have been in November, but the grapes looked ripe and juicy already. Went back to the apartment where Markus grabbed a flask and promptly started to squeeze out sweet nectar from the grapes, enough for 2 small glasses per person. It tasted good. Pretty sweet already, so the alcohol content from this year’s Chianti’s might be on the high side.
Freshened up and chilled out downstairs to bask in the sunset before we drove to La Canonica again, where Markus craved for the rabbit. I had a roast chicken in white wine sauce that was very nice too … Markus got a few of their Chiantis to bring back to family in Prague. Nice … :-)
Got back to the apartment and packed up since it was our last night there. Markus and Jana were headed out early at 6am in the morning for a long drive back to Prague, so we said our goodbyes (see ya back in Singapore) since I didn’t have to wake up till 8-ish.
