Southern Tuscany weekend

Southern Tuscany was absolutely gorgeous. I have never been to a prettier part of the world-- seriously! Although there was not much to do in this area, it was more than made up by the beautiful vineyards, the countryside, and the architecture.

We left for Southern Tuscany on the buses around 7:45 in the morning on Friday and the ride was about two hours (A lot less than past weekends). We first stopped at Montalcino, which is a small medieval town. It is known for their Brunello Wine. Once we got off the buses, Peter (one of my travel coordinators) led a group of us to a nearby historical castle (See picture above of me and Lillian in front of the monument). We then looked around for a cheap place to get something small for lunch. Me and Lillian stumbled across this little cafe which served sandwiches, coffee, and pastries. We ended up getting a caprese sandwich which consists of tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, and spinach on foccacia bread. It was so yummy!

We were there a little over an hour so we just looked around at the open-air market and local stores or bottegas as they call them in Italian. Once we all loaded unto the buses we were off to Sant'Antimo for a 1.5 walk, which led to a gorgeous Romanesque Church. This hike was mainly downhill the entire way and it first started off on a rocky path and then it narrowed down to a steep rocky terrain. I ended up getting quite a workout going on a downhill hike. I was actually very sore the next day! Quite the surprise... once the hike was over we visited the old church which had amazing architectural columns on the inside. There is a picture of the Romanesque church below.

We got onto the buses again and headed to Bagno Vignoni, which was the home of a small medieval spa that had hot springs. It costed quite a bit to get into the hotel-- 14 euro! But this included a lovely swim cap (see picture below of me and Lillian) that was required to wear inside the springs. I am still in awe of how the springs are continuously hot (like a sauna) all year long. How does it stay so hot all year?? haha. Apparently in the winter the hot springs steam all over. I think the hot water comes from underneath the earth or something scientific like that. Anyways, it was pretty cool and it was very relaxing. It smelled a bit like sulfer but it wasn't too bad.

We were at the springs for about 2.5 hours and then we finally headed to our hotel at Vescovado di Murlo. The town we drove into was extremely small-- there was only one bar in the entire town! It was almost refreshing though that there wasn't a huge night life; it allowed our group to finally relax and enjoy the nature surrounding us. We relaxed for about an hour and then our hotel provided dinner for us. It was alright-- we had pasta with meat sauce and then pork slices with gravy and green beans. The pasta was good but I am not a fan of pork so I was still pretty hungry after dinner. For desert we had ice cream cones. (kinda random-- reminded me of american icecream "drumsticks".) After dinner me and a few friends met at the one bar in the town and socialized for awhile and then me, Lillian, and my friend Elliot explored the town and my friend accidently fell in a construction site (see picture of her struggle below haha) She's OK-- don't worry! It was really funny at the time.

We had a curfew at our hotel for 11:30 so we made sure to get back by then. This is not your typical "hotel". The hotel was apparently opened just for our group because this is not a typical time of year that tourists visit. I'm not sure why-- Fall is so pretty in Southern Tuscany! The next morning we had breakfast at our hotel as well. It wasn't really a very satisfying Breakfast though-- it was just a croissant and yucky coffee. I really miss American breakfasts. We are talking your typical bacon and eggs, and omelets! Oh yes, and of course pancakes and syrup. I am not much of a Breakfast person, but I sure do miss my dad's eggs in the morning! (or the cog's omelets back in Spokanistan) Once we all got on the bus and headed to the vineyard where we were having our wine tasting. Peter suggested for us to where comfortable shoes, so it probably wasn't the best idea that I wore my cute new flip flops, but I ended up being OK (Hopefully the tendinitis foot doesn't come back!). It was quite the schlep up the mountain to the vineyard but it was definitely worth it. This place was phenomenal! We tried three types of wine: a white, a red, and a reserve red. I am not much of a wine drinker yet, but these were pretty good. I ended up buying the white and the red for my parents so we can share them when they come up here on the 31st.

After the tour and tasting at the vineyard, we stopped at the smallest town I have ever seen, Murlo. Basically we walked around an Etruscan museum for like half an hour and then walking around the town literally took less than 5 minutes. The town did not have any stores, or restaurants... just a museum and cute little houses and a great view of Southern Tuscany vineyards. The last thing we did as a group is visit Pienza, which is a Renaissance town of Pope Pius II. We were given a ridiculous amount of time at this location-- almost 5 hours! Me and Lillian basically just went shopping crazy and had a bite to eat at another local cafe. The town was quaint and had another great viewpoint of the countryside, but we were exhausted from walking around for that long. After Pienza we had dinner at our hotel again which was friend pork, french fries, and some red-sauce pasta. It was alright-- I am not always a fan of the planned dinners but at least I dont have to pay any extra out of my pocket.

That night I just hung out at the hotel (because there is literally nothing to do except go to that bar) and just chatted with some friends. The next morning I had Breakfast, and as a group we made one final top at San Galgano where we visited the abandoned Cistercian Abbey and the Chapel of Monte Sipei with the sword in the stone. Now don't get too excited-- the stone is one of five that claims to be the "real one". There is a picture of the abbey below.

That pretty much concludes my weekend in a nutshell. Sorry the entry was so long- its hard to write one post about an entire weekend that was full of things that I saw and did!

Ciao raggazzi!