MAY 10: – DAY TOURING

The next day’s weather was perfect, so we checked out some nearby towns and an abbey.
Driving in the Tuscan countryside is often difficult because the scenery is distractingly beautiful while you are driving on 2 lane roads that twist & turn. The views seem like a procession of postcard views of green rolling hills dotted with an occasional ancient red brick farm house, each at the end of a line of cypress trees which mark their long driveways.

Our first stop was in the small hilltop walled town of Pienza. We were there at a perfect time – before any tour busses but after the shops opened, so we felt almost like locals as we strolled along the main street peaking into the many small shops. The town is ringed by an ancient wall, from which we could view an endless vista of Tuscan farms.

We had a picnic lunch of pork sandwiches, locally made salami, pecorino cheese + vino on the grounds of the picturesque Abbey of Sant Antimo near Montalcino. Following lunch we listened to Gregorian chants by the monks. The abbey reminded me of Mont St Michel because of the way it suddenly springs into view.

Dinner was in a small restaurant in Montepulciano. We continue to dine family style, and with 7 people, that usually means that each person orders the item that sounds best to them, then we sample them all along with as much wine as we can handle. An additional benefit is that so far no dinner has cost more than 20 Euros (about $26) per person. This night, our table was too small to hold any serving plates, so we played musical plates by passing the various dishes around. I doubt that the restaurant staff had ever seen this done before, but we managed to eat everything just the same.