Wine-ing in Montepulciano

Breakfast at the house has been fairly substantial.  Yogurt, yes, if you want it, but also eggs, sausage, potatoes, polenta, juice, coffee, tea, toast.  And biscotti, of course.  You'd think we were all going out to work in the fields.

Wheels were up at about 10:00.  Our plan is to have a shorter day so we can get home to get the coals going and cook some great-looking steaks we bought at the Coop for dinner.

Italian butcher cutting our steaks.  (Tourists take pictures of everything!)

A little driving lesson is in order.  It seems, in Italy, as though cars just pull over, partly blocking the road in front of a store, and put their flashers on.  You'd think there was some emergency.  We think the emergency is really a coffee, cigarettes or a lottery ticket.  I don't know.  Maybe we could learn something from them.

And also, we began to notice a few women by the side of the road, in a wooded area outside of our little village, who seemed to be trying to attract some customers.  They had plastic patio chairs, but always seemed to be standing up when we drove by.  Very sad, but also intriguing.  We're not sure who stops for them.  We saw them every time we left town, and also when we returned each day.

The drive to Montepulciano took us through some pretty scenery, and the weather was great.  We got into town at around 11 and wandered up the street to the main square.

Marco and Catherina find the secret passageway into Montepulciano

One of our favorite experiences in past years has been to visit Contucci Cantine to taste their wine.  Rick Steves writes about the charming and charismatic Adamo who has been making wine there since 1953.  Adamo is semi-retired now, so we didn't get to see him, but the younger folks in the tasting room were very charming and friendly.  We enjoyed the wine - Vino Nobile de Montepulciano - and bought a few bottles to take back to the villa.

The group outside of Contucci Cantine

The wine cellars here were very fun too.  Oak barrels as tall as giants, in cellars that have been in use since the 1500's.

Marco and Catherina look like Lilliputians next to the wine barrels.

We went on to visit the cellars of Cantine del Redi.  Their cellars were ancient, and even included some Etruscan caves.  Hundreds of oak barrels lined the cellars.   We enjoyed their wine too, and bought a few bottles to take back to the house.

In front of the well in the Etruscan part of the caves at Cantine del Redi.

We were told that scenes from the Twilight movie were actually filmed in the caves here at Cantine del Redi.

We had a nice lunch on the square, and a few of the more adventurous in the group climbed to the top of the tower.  The view was wonderful.  The rest of us would just have to see it in the photos.

The walk back to the cars was easier.  Downhill all the way.

We got back to the house, and all 4 of the guys got busy lighting the coals for the barbeque.  It's always tricky on a strange grill, and it seemed like it took hours before it was ready for the meat.

Giovanni (John) prepping the steaks for the barbeque

Dinner was excellent.  We had nice wine that we'd purchased at the tasting rooms, instead of our usual, amazingly inexpensive stuff from the grocery store.  Not that anyone is complaining about the cheap wine and beer.

It was another great day in Tuscany.

Settling in and our first excursion

Our house in Tuscany, surrounded by olive trees and grape vines

No "wheels up" today.  I forgot we needed a day to get situated.  We stayed at the house to do some laundry, and get settled.  The Coop supermercato closes at 12:30 on Sundays, so we needed to get our shopping list made and head out.

It's great that we have a washing machine at the house, but it takes an hour-and-a-half to do a load, and then there isn't a dryer, so clothes take many hours to dry on the drying rack.  It's an all-day process for the 8 of us.

The grape vines and supports work well for laundry too

There are always at least 4 of us going shopping.  Good thing, because we have about a ton of food and beverages by the time we're done.  Amazingly, the money we spend on all of this is about the equivalent of one lunch for the group at a restaurant.

We were exhausted by our few days in Rome, and our attempt to see as much as we could in those few days, so a laid-back day at the house was enjoyed by all.

Dinner was much like last night.  Chef Ricardo, prep staff, clean-up crew.  We had turkey cutlets, potatoes, salad, and chocolate and cake for dessert.

Our kitchen, our favorite beverage, our dessert!

Today is Monday, and our first excursion in Tuscany.  We decided on Volterra, since it looked like that was the longest drive, and since we'd had a day to rest up for it.  The drive, which should have taken an hour or so, actually took almost 2 hours by the time we were parked.  We did get lost on the way, but only once!

We were ready for lunch by the time we got to Volterra.  "Wheels up at 9:00"  actually turned out to be departure at 9:30.  We ate at a place recommended by David Wagner, of Italia Roadrunners, called Il Sacco Fiorentino, which was very good.  Nice house wine.  Italian beer is turning out to be a favorite with some of the group too.

Volterra's main square, with the city hall building from the 1200's

On the edge of town are the ruins of a Roman theater, which are pretty fascinating.  They fell out of use hundreds of years ago, and people started tossing their garbage over the wall, into the theater.  After 800 years of this, the stage, the amphitheater, and all of the outbuildings were completely buried under the garbage.  In the 1950's an archaeology buff, working at the local school, started investigating where the theater would have been, and excavation began.  It's a very interesting place.

Roman ruins over the city wall in Volterra

The stage of the Roman theater

The shopkeepers and people working at the churches and museums take a few hours for lunch each day, at least in the small towns.  Of course, we Americani want to hit the ground running after lunch.  It's disappointing when the cathedral isn't open, or the cute shops aren't open.  There were several small churches and chapels in town that were open though, and they were beautiful.  We didn't feel like we'd missed much.  The few shops that were open sold a few things to our group.  Oh, and Volterra is known for alabaster, so there are many opportunities to purchase things carved from it around town.  We all bought something to remember our visit.

Volterra has also become famous as the setting for one of the Twilight movies.  We didn't see any vampires, but we know they were there somewhere.

On the way back, we stopped in Monteriggioni, a small walled hill town that was fun to see.  They had some ramparts built along part of the town walls, so we paid to climb up and see the view.

Marco on the ramparts

Our trip home was uneventful, but we needed to stop at the Coop again for provisions.  All eight of us invaded the little store.  I wonder whether they'll be happy or sad when they realize we're gone at the end of the week.

Dinner was leftover chicken, with some additional chicken, potatoes, salad.  Good, cheap wine.  John picked out some profiteroles at the Coop for dessert.

Arrivederci Roma

We're headed out of Rome today.  The Termini station isn't far from our hotel, but we decided to pay for taxis to take us, and all of our luggage, to the station.  Our goal was to catch the 8:58 train from Rome to Chiusi, where we'd pick up our cars.

We purchased tickets, without much confusion, at ticket machines in the station, then headed out to find the track we'd be leaving from.  The ticket didn't have any info about that, but a girl standing near the machine told us the track number.  We argued later about whether she was an employee of the station or a gypsy.  She didn't ask us for money, but she didn't look very official either.

We were glad we'd taken a cab over to the station, since the walk out to our track was pretty long.  As we were standing, pondering which direction to go, a gentleman approached us and asked if we needed help.  I asked if he worked there, and he said yes.  He reminded us to validate our tickets at the machine, and pointed us in the direction of the track we needed (wrong track, as it turned out.)  We thanked him, and then he held out his hand, asking for money for a coffee.  No way, I said.

We got to our train, and got situated for the 1-1/2 hour ride out to Chiusi, in Tuscany.  The scenery outside of Rome wasn't very pretty - graffiti on the walls of plain, ugly buildings - but once we got well out of the city it started to get scenic.  We sped past green, rolling hills, with a glimpse of a hill town or monastery or winery every once in a while.  Get used to it, kids.  From now on it's just cute, cute, cute, quaint, quaint, quaint, and pretty, pretty, pretty.

On the train.  Mark is always smiling, even when he's sleeping.

Trying to find the car rental agency was a bit of a challenge, but we'd allowed enough time before they closed at 1:00.  We got directions from a policeman in town, and picked up our two station wagons.  We'd left some of the group at the station with the luggage, so went back to pick them up.

We headed up the road to our little village - Badia Agnano - near Arezzo.  More cute, quaint and pretty along the roads.

We knew we couldn't check into our villa until 4, so we looked for a place to stop for lunch.  We'll try the Autogrill one day, but hoped to find something more unique for our first lunch in Tuscany.

We pulled off the road and headed to the village of Monte San Savino.  Walking around the village, we couldn't see any possibility for lunch.  Rick asked a young man walking with his wife if there was a place to eat, and he pointed to what looked like a butcher shop - Le Delizie di Aldo.  He said they had seating downstairs, and it was a good place.

It was a great place!  We were seated downstairs, in a charming cave-like room, and there were hams hanging on the walls - real ones, not decorating props.

Real hams on the wall behind us

Our waitress, Christina, tried to tell us about the menu in halting English. She helped us to understand what she could - meat of moo being one of our favorite translations.   Finally she ran upstairs and came back with her Ipad, where she'd plugged in the translation of what she was trying to tell us.  They had a typical Tuscan tasting menu, she said, which was a good way to try the meat that they specialized in at their shop.  We all had it, plus wine and dessert.  All great.  We bought some ham to take to the house with us.  We'd go back there, for sure, if we were in San Savino again.

You may have noticed our celebrity traveler - Nick Cage.  He's been happily accompanying our group all along, and has been welcomed with open arms by the Italians we've met (at least the females, and even they sometimes wonder why, out of all the handsome men in the world, we're drawn to Nick.  Who can explain that magnetism he has?)

Everyone loves Nick

We arrived at our rental villa, Podere della Fraternita, at just about official check-in time - 4 p.m.. Our landladies were here, along with Roberto, the husband of one of the ladies.  The house was remodeled a few years ago, and was beautiful, comfortable and up-to-date as far as the bathrooms, laundry and kitchen were concerned.  There is a view of the surrounding hills, dotted with lights at night.  What did I tell you?  Cute, cute, cute.

After checking in and getting instructions, mostly in Italian (!), one of the cars headed out to the nearest supermercato - Coop - for provisions.  What did Ben Franklin say?  Thirst is a terrible thing?  Or was it, God loves us and that's why he gave us beer?  Either way, we made sure there would be no thirst or hunger at our place for a few days.

Chef Ricardo (Rick), along with a great prep staff, put a good dinner on the table.  Chicken thighs, cooked with tomatoes, served with ravioli and ribbon pasta.  Salad.  Chocolate and some kind of pastry for dessert. We are never without biscotti here either.  They're appropriate for any meal.
The kitchen is too small for the large clean-up crew that is always insistent on taking care of the after-dinner chores.

To bed late, in spite of the fact that our plan is "wheels up" at 8:00 tomorrow morning.  Mark is retired from Boeing, and we love the jetliner inference.  I don't think we really have our wheels up at the right time, but it's the thought that counts.

Papa's place

We're up early today, having breakfast at 7.  The breakfast was good again.  Unfortunately, it was raining hard.  Today we're visiting St. Peter's and the Vatican Museum.  Papa - Pope Francis - is much beloved here in Rome, and even the cab drivers will tell you so.  We decided to take taxis to the Vatican to meet Ioanna for another tour today.  The taxi got through the city traffic in good order, so we had plenty of time before our 9 o'clock tour.  Luckily, the rain had stopped by then.

Just like yesterday, Ioanna gave us lots of Vatican history, and stories of the masterpieces in the basilica and the museum.  By the time we got to the Sistine Chapel, we all agreed that what we had learned from using a guide helped us enjoy our visit so much more.   And because we were with a guide, we could duck out of the back door and cut through to St. Peter's without going through the huge security line there.
We stopped at the cafe in the museum for a coffee.  There was a sign at the checkout saying that since it was Friday (during Lent, I imagine) there was no meat on the menu.  

Laurie and Emmett at St. Peter's

St. Peter's is so overwhelming in size that we could never really see it all, but we saw lots in the hour or so that we were there. 

Huge security lines to get into St. Peter's

We said goodbye to Ioanna, (Ioanna Nicolaou at ioanna.n@hotmail.com) and all felt the money spent on two tours was worth it.  Since we only had two days in Rome, cutting through two long lines allowed us more time for seeing the actual sites.  

The weather had improved as the day went on, and we decided to walk back to the hotel so we could see the Pantheon, one of the big attractions in the city.  I shouldn't say we decided to walk, because we first checked at the taxi stand to see if we could catch a cab and save several hundred steps.  For a 5 minute cab ride, they wanted to charge us 30 or 36 euros.  No way.  On the other hand, it's understandable that the cabbie wouldn't want to give up his spot in line for a small fare.

Lunch was nothing special, but pizza gave us the energy to continue.   

Our walk took us through a nice neighborhood of shops and restaurants, through Piazza Navona - hopping busy on a Friday afternoon - and over to the crowded square in front of the Pantheon.  We avoided the guys and gals dressed as Roman Centurions, hustling for money when you take a photo with them.

The Pantheon is an amazing building, built 2,000 years ago as a pagan temple.  I can't believe they had concrete that long ago, and could engineer a dome that has stood the test of time.  I love the open top of the dome that lets the rain come in and the drain holes on the floor to let it out.  We wished we'd been able to see it earlier today when it was pouring.

The Pantheon in Rome

Inside the Pantheon

Since we were walking near the Trevi Fountain on our way back to the hotel, we stopped to see it again, and give Laurie and Cate a chance to throw their coins in.  They had both missed the visit on our first night in the city.

Back at the hotel we had happy hour in one of our rooms again.  We'd be going out to dinner at an appropriately late hour.  We got another restaurant recommendation from our hotel, and ventured out.

This time we ate at Ristorante al Boschetto, a place that was crowded with locals.  We haven't had any trouble getting our group of 8 into any of the restaurants so far.

Some of the group had the 2-course menu, which turned out to be too much food, but we're trying lots of different things, at least.  I think we're still operating under budget.

To bed late, but excited about our early morning adventure tomorrow.  

Stoned in Rome

Oops, I meant STONES in Rome, not STONED in Rome.  Just wanted to get your attention.
We were all up for breakfast early.  Breakfast at our hotel was very nice.  Good coffee, of course.  Caffe lattes or cappuccinos made to order, great pastries, yogurt, cereal.  We couldn't have asked for much more.

We walked over to the Colosseum to meet our guide, Ioanna Nicolaou (e-mail her for rates and info at ioanna.n@hotmail.com), at about 9.  The skies were overcast, but no rain.  Ioanna filled us in on the history of Rome, and the purpose and politics of the events at the Colosseum.  The shows were free to the citizens, as a way to placate the masses, and probably to scare them into behaving. It sounds like all of the entertainment ended with death for the participants - or at least most of them.  The Colosseum held 50,000 people, and could be emptied in 17 minutes.  Ioanna really made Ancient Rome come alive.

The Colosseum

Our great guide in Rome, Ioanna Nicolaou

Becky and John at the Forum

After the Colosseum, we walked over to the Forum.  There's not much standing after many centuries of "recycling" the stones from many of the buildings.  Wouldn't you love to have a piece of the Forum as a cornerstone for your house?

Overcast skies at the Forum

We had lunch at Bibo, a few blocks away from the Colosseum, and ate outside in the sunshine.  It had good pizza and spaghetti.

Since we'd walked by the Victor Emmanuel Monument, we decided to backtrack after lunch to see it. The walk up the steps gave us a nice view of the surrounding city.

The Victor Emmanuel memorial

We're getting more familiar with the walking route to and from our hotel, meaning we don't get lost every time we venture out.  Good thing, because our "dogs are barking" at the end of each day anyway.

After happy hour in one of our rooms, we checked with the front desk and got another good restaurant recommendation in the neighborhood.  We ate at Al Viminale, a nice, small place that seemed to be serving lots of locals, and a group from the local police station.  Simple food, and we felt really safe.

When we tried to pay the bill with a credit card, the owner, who didn't speak English, said something we didn't understand.  Emmett, thinking we were getting some kind of discount because the hotel had sent us over, got up and gave the owner a big hug.  We laughed about this for days.  The owner was really trying to tell us there was a cash machine around the corner.  He did hug all of us on our way out though, after we'd figured out that we needed to pay our bill!

We stopped by the Irish pub in the neighborhood (Guinness fans) and spent as much on one drink each as we'd spent on lunch that day.  Sheesh.  I'm really trying to keep us under budget.

To bed late, even though we need to be up early tomorrow.

Bella Roma

I know I'm way behind on the blog, but I need to tell you about our time in Rome.  Just don't let me forget to tell you about "meat of moo" in Tuscany.

So, going back to the beginning, the group all arrived in Rome in good order.  We came in on three different flights; two couples arriving in the morning, and two couples in the evening.  It worked well, and was more economical, for us to take cabs (2 couples sharing the ride) right to the hotel from the airport.   We already knew, thanks to Rick Steves, that the cabs registered in Rome can only charge 48 euros for the ride.  Beware of companies saying they'll charge that same rate, but will also need to add 10 or 12 euros for the luggage.

Our little hotel, the Hotel Dorica, is located in the Termini neighborhood - that's the area around the train station.  It seems convenient to the sites of the city, but may not be the most charming part of town.  The rooms are small, but clean and comfortable.  The staff is friendly and helpful.  We paid about 120 euros a night - a good value in such a big city.

Dinner the first night was at Antica Boheme, a trattoria recommended by the hotel.  It was just around the corner, and we had a good meal.  Rick and I shared some rabbit (my apologies to my friend involved in Rabbit Rescue, back in the states), with a plate of cacio e pepe - a simple Roman dish with pecorino and spaghetti, seasoned with, you guessed it, pepper (pepe).  Mark and Laurie had a scampi pasta, that had skimpy scampi needing to be peeled.  No wonder dinner takes two hours!  Becky had minestrone soup.  Emmett had spaghetti with clams.  John had ravioli.  Our bodies were still on Pacific time, so we were essentially having dinner at 10:00 a.m., our time.  Some of the group finished off the meal with a glass of grappa.  Rick and Mark were already familiar with this lighter-fluid-like beverage.  Rick loves to order it in Italy, since it costs about 3 euros a glass here, and several times that in the U.S.

It was a nice evening, so we thought we'd walk to the Trevi Fountain from our hotel.  It wasn't very far away, and jam-packed with visitors when we got there.  Becky said she'd read that the best time to visit was after midnight, but good luck getting a group of middle-aged tourists to stay up that late on our first night there.

Trevi Fountain

The friendly crowd at the fountain

There must be a million coins in this fountain!

Rick and Kathy plan to be back someday

We had an early appointment with a tour guide the next day, so were off to bed at a reasonable hour - except Becky, John and Emmett, who checked out the beer in our hotel bar.

Italy April 2014

We're visiting Italy for a few weeks, together with three other couples.  We've been planning the trip for a year (!) and finally, we're actually here.  Some of us have visited Italy before, and some have never been here.  Our Italian language skills are minimal, to say the least!

Here's our itinerary:
Fly into Rome (on three different flights), arriving April 2
Three nights in the Termini neighborhood of Rome
Train out to Chiusi where we pick up 2 rental cars
Stay in a villa near Arezzo (central Tuscany) for a week
Drive to La Spezia and drop the cars off
Train to Monterosso in the Cinque Terre
Stay in Monterosso for two nights
Train to Milan, where we leave one of the couples.  They stay one night and fly home the next day
Train to Varenna (Lake Como)
Two nights in Varenna
One couple heads for Venice from there, stays two nights, and flies home
Two couples pick up a rental car
One night in Bergamo
Two nights in Verona
Three nights in Venice
Fly home from Venice

The trip evolved around our week in Tuscany.  That was the priority.  Early April may be a little too early for good weather there, but we're restricted by school vacation schedules for one of the couples. The weather is always a gamble, really, but summer is sure to be plenty hot, so we're happy to avoid that.  
As with other trips, we used Rick Steves' books, videos, and radio shows to get ideas.  Budget-wise,  we tried to use Frequent Flier Miles for our airline tickets, if possible.  That's why the trip planning started so long ago.  
We had our plane tickets, six hotels, the rental house, cars and a private tour guide in Rome booked ahead of time.  We have some great resources for day trips in Tuscany, so we'll play it by ear when we're there.

 At home, we watched movies filmed in Rome and Tuscany, just to whet our appetites.
"Tea with Mussolini" had some great shots of San Gimignano,  "Three Coins in the Fountain" showed the Trevi Fountain, "Roman Holiday" had lots of great shots of Rome,  "Under the Tuscan Sun" had some scenery from Tuscany, and some from Positano, on the Amalfi coast.  "Letters to Juliet" had some very nice scenes from the countryside in Tuscany.   
We're ready.

Stay tuned!

  The travel group - first day in Rome.