First, a few words about our lovely Italian villa: living room, 1/2 bath, kitchen, dining area downstairs, full bathroom, two bedrooms and a dressing area (though it’s in front of a window) upstairs. The full bath is newly renovated and has a great glass shower stall, which is unbelievably small; the second bedroom would be a bit small for two adults, but makes a great dressing/luggage area. Nicely furnished, cozy and private, to make it truly feel like we’re in a real home, which is awfully nice after the 20 hotels we’ve just visited.
Anyway, another home-made breakfast, then off to San Gemignano, Italy with wonderful sweeping views of the valley, villages and vineyards along the drive there. It is an ancient walled city that is Siena, junior, or the Italian Les Baux if you prefer, with the requisite mix of 500-year-old buildings containing - at street level - galleries, gelaterias, wine stores, restaurants and plenty of standard tourist fare.
We did stop to taste the local specialty of wild boar salami, which was quite tasty and came made with either wine/nuts/truffles and probably others we didn’t sample. Then it was already time for lunch (isn’t it always?), so we took Fred’s advice and tried a local place where, again, we were the only non-Italians. The mixed antipasto was mostly cold meats, and quite good. Primo platas were tagliatelle w/wild boar and ravioli w/tomato sauce; both were good. Secondo were a venison with a vegetable puree, and osso buco; both were great. The mixed dessert was damn good, with the chocolate mousse and creme brulee being the favorites. (the waiter, who was young, kind of kooky-looking and a fun guy, came over with a mineature flame thrower and flambe-ed the top of the creme brulee) Had a nice chianti, which was fairly light and dry; think we’ll stick to the brunellos.
We walked to the end of town to check out a recommended church, but it was closed until 3:30. Although sitting around and waiting appears to be the national pastime, we instead prowled the back streets and stairs of this neat remnant, then headed back since we were going to try to squeeze in a hike this afternoon. We found a ticket waiting for us on our windshield, which we felt was better than not finding the car. We’ll probably let Avis take care of it along with all the border paper-work. The chianti and Milton’s soothing driving along all the twists and dips left Wendy pining for a nap, not a hike in a pine forest, so we stopped at home to tuck her in, and Milton then set off solo.
Began from Lomole and did some serious uphill walking, with,of course, ever-present Italian vineyards at the side. Then into a fragrant, dry forest with views to the left and right over the many ridges of the valley. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy/hazy today, so the views were not as crisp as the first few days here, but that actually served to soften the whole look, which had been sort of harsh and sun-baked. The whole walk took about 2 1/2 hours, but 1/2 hour of that was probably attributable to the time spent picking wild blackberries, which were fabulous!! Quite pretty woods, and some of the best panoramic views of the Chianti region to be found. Shared the last bit (actually a short-cut through a few vineyards) with some older women from Tasmania, then drove home watching a big orange sunset.