Heart of Tuscany

Our Rick Steves guidebook to Florence and Tuscany has some suggestions for seeing the sights in the general area. We decided to follow a couple of the routes he outlines, and headed for the hill town of Montepulciano, about a two-hour drive south of Florence.

To get the rental car, we walked about three blocks to the tram stop near the train station. The tram goes directly to the airport, where we caught a shuttle to the rental car location. I was hoping for a map, but they didn't have any. Thank goodness for GPS on the phone, it was invaluable.

On the way we stopped at Montereggioni, one of the old small towns on the top of a hill with the fortress walls still intact.

Here is a view of the town as we approached. Sorry for the tree blocking part of it!

We found parking on the edge of town and walked through the entry portal. There was a lot of work going on repairing the wall; scaffolding was covering much of it. We walked through the central piazza and to the other side of town (it is really small). There we could see the arrangements for walking along the wall, but everything was closed and locked up. So we didn't stay long. There was nothing open in the town. We saw a couple of people walking around, but that was it.

So, back on the road to Montepulciano. We passed the outskirts of Siena, a city we enjoyed visiting in 2015.

As we neared our destination, we had multiple switchbacks going up the hill to the main part of town. In this picture you can just see a car coming up; the turn to go on up the hill is truly a hairpin.

We finally got to the top of the hill and the entry into town. I had reserved a room online at the Albergo Duomo, and it was right there on the main street. But, alas, it was dark inside and locked up tight. I phoned the proprietor and he said they were closed, I couldn't have made a reservation. I asked him if he knew of an alternative, and he said yes, the Cameri Bellavista was just down the street. I called the number he gave me and Gabriella said she would meet us there in ten minutes (she told us it was her son who runs the Albergo Duomo). We found it quite easily and she came soon. She unlocked the front door and ushered us in. It was obvious there was no one else around. She checked us into a nice room and gave us keys to the room and the front door. We asked her about a restaurant nearby, and she shrugged; everything is closed up. She gave us a parking pass for a lot just around the corner.

We got back in the car to see if we could find some food (it was about 2:30 by this time, a long time since our breakfast!). We found a parking lot back near where we had entered the town and started walking (down, down, down). After finding nothing, we went back up and ran into two couples from Arkansas. When we asked them about an eating place, they told us they found one, and walked us to it (back down the hill). By this time the parking meter was nearly run out, so Dan went back up to feed it.

The woman who ran the little wine bar made us some pasta, which was wonderful! We had her make us a sandwich to take back to the hotel, because we didn't think we'd manage to get out for dinner.

This photo is the cheese and meat cupboard right near where we were seated. The proprietor pulled cheese out of here for our sandwich. Some of the cured meats looked very old to me.

Once back at our hotel, we just decided to stay there for the evening. This is the view out our window over the valley. There is a small lake down there.

The same view at sunset.

...And at night, showing the buildings below us. Yes, there is a street down there in front of the gray-lit houses. Everything is steep, narrow, and with tight corners.

Coming soon: a drive through the heart of Tuscany.