To Get Caught Up

December 1 - with this blog we should be caught up.  Note, you can see pictures from Italy by clicking on the left

Our first day in this area…not sure what to call it. Tuscany I guess. :).

We were surprised to find it sunny and windy and kind of balmy feeling this morning.  All day there were dark clouds coming and going around us but we managed to avoid the rain for the most part.  We did have a downpour in one town we were at but it was not bad.

We started the day just driving around heading towards a town that had a spa, or hot springs.  It had a lot of hotels, most of them closed for the winter but it was a beautiful place to walk around and soak in the beauty of this area. 

We happened to see a large castle on a hill in the distance and so set out driving and aiming to find it.  It was called Rocca d’ Orcia Castle.  On the top of the hill stood an amazing corner of what used to be some fortress.  We were not sure if it was a church or castle.  Unfortunately they were doing some repairs and had it closed off to the public but the town area below it was very fun to walk through.  We found a path that was heading uphill toward the castle so we went for it and made it to the top by the tower.  The scenery was….INCREDIBLE!!!  I thought the mountains around Barga were amazing…and they were but so is this area.  Just different.  

It is fall here obviously but still so pretty.  I keep thinking that it feels like the countryside is at rest.  I wonder what it would be like to open my window and have that view everyday and then see the seasons change as well.  Wow!!  It’s just hard to describe.  I wanted to just sit and take it in…but there was also many places to visit and you just never know what you will see from a different spot.  Not only are the hills beautiful but the olive tree orchards are so pretty too.  Maybe I have a new appreciation for them since we got to help a bit with the picking but they are silvery and have small leaves and they are willowy so blow in the wind as well…enough of the olive trees already…

We moved on to a town called San Quirico d’ orcia.  So many of these little towns are under the “rulership” of bigger towns and the whole area seems to be under Siena…or was long ago..

S.Q was a cool town but basically closed for the winter and we had the hardest time finding a place to eat so we headed to Pienze, another small walled city.  We walked around quite a bit and had lunch in a small “bar” where you can get sandwiches and such.  The day continued like that…from one little town to the next.  I imagine in the summer they are all busy and bustling and crowded but everything has definitely slowed down for the winter.  Many of them are promising Christmas festivals this weekend and at the town of San Quirico they are having a Olive festival this weekend so maybe we will get in on that on Saturday.  I hate to think that I will miss the Chocolate Festival in Barga this weekend…bad planning there.

We stopped by a grocery store on the way home…  It was 3pm and it was closed which we thought strange for a grocery store but it reopened at 3:30 like everything else does around here. Most shops close from 1-3 or so every day. We bought some bread and dipping spices for the olive oil we have and had bought some cheese in a shop in Peinze (that is a lot more complicated than it sounds by the way) and I bought a giant sweet bell pepper…I know its random but it looked good and you can eat it raw…and so that was our dinner this evening....really quite yummy…and there is always clementines of which we bought a whole case of them a few days ago so need to keep eating them.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring…I hope sunshine J