Today we were up and out early because we wanted to go to Tuscany. We started out our day long adventure in Montepulciano which was about 1 1/2 hours from Florence. We drove through green rolling hills dotted with cypress trees and fields of yellows flowers. It was spectacular in every direction. It didn’t hurt that the weather was perfect.
Of course as soon as we arrived in Montepulciaono we had to have a coffee. Across the street from the restaurant was Ercolani, a winery store. Below the store was an “underground city”, underground passages dating back to medieval times. We went along their self guide tour which mostly has wine barrels in underground passages.
After we finished the tour we tasted some of their wine. It was good but we didn’t buy any. We continued up the hill that is Montepulciano.
The streets were winding and old. Here are some pictures of the town.
While we were walking Nancy and I went into a shoe shop and found an awesome deal on a pair of boots for her (if you have been following the blog you know that we have been looking for boots for her). We continued up the hill and came across a restaurant that we had wanted to go to but didn’t think could fit it in given the seating times. The restaurant was featured in a Rick Steves episode and specializes in steaks. Luckily they had a table available for us. We ended with a 3kg or 6.6lb steak for the 4 of us. It was amazing, a little smokey and really, really tender.
After lunch we walked the rest of the way up the hill to Piazza Grande.
From there we had to rush back to the car because our parking time was expiring. Once back in the car we followed Rick Steves’ Tuscany drive to Bagno Vignoni. Again the countryside was spectacular with its gently rolling green hills.
Bagno Vignoni is a very small town with hot springs.
Known since Roman times, these hot springs were harnessed for their medicinal properties in the Middle Ages. Just outside the main square there is an area where we dipped our feet into the hot springs just before they plunged over a cliff. We talked to a nice Canadian couple who were doing the same thing.
Back in the car again and this time we set off of Montalcino so that Rick could do some tasting of his favorite wine, Brunello. Once in town we went straight to the tourist information office where they can set up appointments for tastings and tours. We wanted to go to Banfi which is the brand we usually buy. Unfortunately it was too late for a tour but they were available for tastings so off again to Banfi. Once at the winery we found the wine we usually buy and discovered it was about the same price, once we included shipping cost, as the price at our local liquor shore. We decided to taste some wine that wasn’t available in the US and compare it to the Banfi that we buy at home. It turned out that we like the wine that is available in the US the best. The other wine might have been better if we bought it and waited a couple of years to drink it but we really don’t have a good place to store it so we ended up leaving empty handed. Oh well!
We had one last stop on our big Tuscany day and that was Pienza. By this time it was pretty late so we walked around a little bit but really we just had a very good pizza dinner there.
After a long but great day we returned to Florence. I think all of us came away feeling like we would like another week or two to explore Tuscany! Maybe the next European trip . . .