Distracted1

Coffee, juice, showers and packing. It’s clear and dry and a good day for a drive. I bid farewell to Catrina and Lorenzo… and to Pinto who is so distraught that we are leaving he just lays on the ground, and to Luna with whom I have formed a true friendship… she can’t even look at me when I say goodbye. I shout out to Missy the cat, where ever she is and we are Cortona bound again.  

It is a lovely, leisurely drive with no wrong turns. (well… one. But if you make only one wrong turn here you get to count it as none.)

We arrive in Cortona in time for lunch. The best parking here is in a big public free lot that almost always has space. It is a few stairs, a little path and two escalators to the Via Nazionalle entrance to the city. Cortona’s front door and only about 20 yards (“meters” in Italian) to Jeanette’s place.

Our arrival in Cortona is celebrated by the authorities shutting down the escalators from the parking area to the city entrance for maintenance. Yay! Slow and steady wins the race and after about 20 minutes of doing our best sherpa impressions we appear at Jeanette’s door just as she is about to take Carlotta and Daisy for a walk. Perfect.   

We had booked the one room with a washing machine so we could get things cleaned up for the next week. (We only do carry on so once in a while …. ) Jeanette had to move some reservations around so we weren’t able to get the room with the washer but true to her wonderful helpful style she took our bag of dirties before our suitcases even made it to our room and through a load in her own washer. 1 hour and 20 minutes later clean clothes drying on a rack in our room in front of the open window.

We settle in to our room and head out for a slice and some… shopping. Oh joy.

Some hours later… Salami and cheese and beer in the room while we catch up on a little reading and correspondence before dinner. Half way from Jeanette’s to the piazza it is sprinkling rain and looking ugly so I trot (not really, I walk pretty quick though) back for my jacket and an umbrella. This of course insures that it won’t rain at all for the rest of the night.

The first restaurant we look at is recommended and new but looks a little too new… too, innovative. The second place hangs out a “Completo” (no more room) sign as we are reading the menu in the window. Pane e Vino is familiar and has room. The food was OK… the wine was good… nothing special but we’re fed.

A few minutes taken at the piazza in front of the duomo to look out over the valley and the cemetery all twinkling with votives after which two weary travelers are ready for bed.

Note… Cortona rocks on a Saturday night. We drift off to sleep around 11pm to the sounds of soccer chants from the bar at the end of the street and the peels of laughter and shrieks of children chasing one another up and down.

Thank goodness for earplugs.

Have I mentioned that I actually love driving in Italy? It’s crazy… it’s as fast as you dare and the roads are generally in really good shape. Wish I had a decent car… Hertz failed on this trip… wimpy old Opel Astra.

Arezzo…

The morning after one of the biggest and richest meals yet, is not exactly frenetic. Breakfasted, washed and pressed, our south-easterly journey begins as we head north. There are no main roads into Greve or Borgo di Sugame, so every trip starts on the narrow twisty road running south-west to north-east. When we get to Filigne we decide (with the help of a lack of signage to the A1 Autostrada) to take the surface road to Arezzo instead of the autostrada… for the scenery don’t you know. Oops. Many traffic lights, many cross streets, much traffic… cosi va. (so it goes.) We arrive in Arezzo about 45 minutes later than planned. Arezzo was bombed by both sides in WW2. There isn’t much of the old city left. We have lunch in the first piazza we come to. (Remember, restaurant, duomo or gelato.) The waiter is weenie and makes a big production out of doing our table as three separate checks for the three separate couples. We do not feel sorry for him.

After lunch and more whining and heavy sighs as we pay our 3 separate checks, Ken and the ladies head up hill towards the duomo. Darryl and I head down hill to buy more parking time. We found a perfect parking spot directly across from the duomo… directly across the entire city. Parking in Arezzo is a tale of trial and tribulation too long and disturbing for this family friendly publication.

 The duomo is still beautiful and the chiesa di francesco with the Pierro della Francesca frescos of the true legend of the cross were, as always moving in their stark and austere restoration. 

And… that’s about all there really is in Arezzo for us. It is a real example of post war reconstruction and as such it is not a pretty town and just a little sad. 

Somehow we find our way straight out of town and right to the A1 Autostrada.

 We dash in to the Coop (grocery) in Figlene (for those of you in Michigan, imagine a big Meijer store with parking spaces the same size as the cars, no bigger, that’s mostly groceries but also everything from bicycles to underpants to TVs… put it all in a language you don’t understand… require that you have to wear plastic gloves to pick up any produce, weigh and price everything yourself and bag everything yourself and you have to bring your own bags or they charge you for those too) for a few things to make dinner.

A simple chicken cacciatore and salad is the plan because Nelsons and Vardas are leaving at 6am for Spain and we have to be out of the apartment by 10am for Cortona. It’s a delicious simple dinner and an early night.

Pool Day!

The weather has finally really broken and it’s sunny and hot all day. We have a lazy breakfast (have I said that before?) and venture out around late morning:30 for a walk in the vineyard. There are poppies blooming all over the place and what look like bluebells, there are little orange ciquefoils and several flowers we can’t identify.

There are tiny baby grapes just starting on the vines. The vineyard is of course on the side of the hill and those of us that weren’t complaining about the cool temperatures (that would just be me) are soon ready to head back to the shade of the patio and the pool and the deck chairs. The water? Too cold.

After really working up the appetite turning pages and taking pictures, Darryl and D. and I take off for Dudda to pick up some pizzas for lunch and come back with sandwiches and olives. “no pizza to take away”… ? (see video  “Returning with Sandwiches.”) 

After lunch, back to reading by the pool and wandering aimlessly around the garden.

I see a remarkable number of hummingbird moths. Like tiny hummingbirds they hover and dart over the blooms sipping as they go. I have seen only one of these little guys in the states and I’m quite surprised to see half a dozen of them at once.   (I tried to catch them on video… kinda did)

Dinner… Pretty much the point of this day. Catrina and Lorenzo tell us that their friend Massimo has a place in La Planca called Le Cernacchie and on Thursdays it’s fish day. Massimo is from Elba and really loves his sea food. Darryl is jonesing for some fish and it sounds good to the rest of us. Lorenzo calls ahead for us and when we drive up Massimo is in the street waiting for us. A good start.

The restaurant is remarkably upscale for a village with 5 buildings. Thursday is a set menu and a set price per person.

First we choose a wine which is a very nice Vermentino di Toscana from Castelina. This my new favorite white.

And so we begin.

White fish carpacio, (sliced raw white fish in oil, vinegar and seasonings.

Anchovies with red pepper sauce and muscles stuffed with bread and pancetta.  

Second course.

Ravioli stuffed with local goat cheese and fava beans covered in a seafood sauce.

Third coarse

Artichoke and green salad with fresh seared tuna. A drizzle of oil and balsamic.

Desert

Strawberries in Chantilly cream 

then grappa, lemoncello, espresso and cookies.

Probably one of the finest seafood meals I’ve ever had and on the top of a hill in the middle of Tuscany just to make it that much more unexpected.

Another lazy start. (It’s a vacation, remember?) We roll out of the borgo about noonish headed for Greve and lunch. We sit outside at one of those little roadside places that somehow get away with putting their portable fences partway past the curb and annexing part of the actual road for their al fresco dining area. We are not IN the street, but pretty darned close. Catrina at Borgo di Sugame recommends this place so we give it a shot. There is a small quick waiter for beverages and table settings and a tall, pierced, gaunt waiter with the voice (and demeanor) of Lurch from the Adams Family for food. The food is quite good and the place is oddly entertaining. AND, the toilets have seats! Double bonus!

We wander around Greve for the first time (though we’ve driven through it at least 3 times) We check out the church, we stop into some shops ($625 antique cork screw?) and pose with the plywood polizia.

We sent some post cards. Note to all of you looking for post cards. A post card costs about 1 euro ($1.27) Stamps to send a post card to the US cost 1.60 euro ($2.03)… sending a post card to the US costs about $3.30 each. We’re not sending a lot of post cards. Deal.

 Off then to Radda. How do we pick what towns we are going to visit you ask? Well, that’s easy. Donna picks them. Maybe someone tells us about it or D. comes across it in a book or it’s just not too far from where we are at the moment. Easy. Radda turns out to be a charming, tiny hill town with 1 church (rare) a bunch of tourist shops, a strange little shoe shop, a hardware and a couple of coffee shops. We wander the town till we’ve seen just about every street. (less than an hour). There are many lovely corners and doorways, tiny little alleys and a very nice little central piazza with a cool fountain.

Here we find our first gatto. There seems to be an odd scarcity of cats in Italy this year. .

After a bit of espresso therapy we reform the parade and take off for home.

A “quick” stop at the Coop (grocery) for the evening’s dinner fixins get’s us home at about 7:45pm, just in time to fire up the grill. Pork tenderloin chops with lemon and rosemary, and zuccini on the grill, roasted asparagus and fried pototatoes… with a drop or two of the house wine, mmmm…

A third 4 legged furry resident of the borgo makes her appearance while we are out grilling. Missy the cat checks us out, accepts her adoration and moves on up the path on whatever cat business a cat in Tuscany might have. We end with a little lemon sorbeto and chalk up another day as well lived.

Repentant

5 days in the old country and I realize we haven’t been in a single church yet. This is notable. In past years the first place we would go in almost every town was either a restaurant, gelato shop or the duomo.,,

So today we head off to San Gimignano. Yes it is full of tourists, yes going through Poggibonsi is a driving… well not quite a nightmare, way worse than a challenge… starts with ‘cluster’ … anyway, a beautiful sunny day and San G. is as lovely as always in it’s medieval authenticity. 

We wander through the duomo (whew, finally) and find a woman in the courtyard playing guitar and singing Tuscan folk songs. Time for lunch.  Things are looking up. And so up we go… well some anyway. Vardas and Kathy climb the tower at the museum. Everyone who visits San G. should do it at least once. The view from the open top, 210 steps above the city is gorgeous on a clear day. I’ve done it twice, once in February (a tad chilly up there) and once in May… lovely. This year I sit on the steps of the duomo and just watch the people go by. (Why do so many people feel the need to carry so much stuff around with them? If it doesn’t fit in a pocket, it doesn’t go with me… just wondering).

Darryl and I decide to hang out in the piazza while D. and Jane and the Nelsons tour the Torture Museum. Again, one of those things in San G. that one should do once and one of those things not soon forgotten. It is disturbing and it is educational and it is something you will talk about later.

All of this leads to the inevitable… gelato time of course. San G. boasts a couple of really good gelato emporiums and a cup of vanilla, dark chocolate and coffee fortifies one for the drive home.

Poggibonsi again… we are pulled into a vortex of roundabouts and one way streets that spit us out onto dead end roads or mysteriously heading straight back towards San Gimignano. After stopping at 3 gas stations for directions and committing at least a dozen traffic infractions we give up and turn on the GPS in Varda’s car… (affectionately known as ‘The B*tch in the Box’) whence we find ourselves on a completely non-intuitive route that takes us straight home.

Bah.

 Another day in Tuscany that I wouldn’t change a bit.

Day 3, Rainy joy.

It rained most of the night, colder than we expected but I would still rather be cold and rained on in Tuscany than Grand Rapids… I’m just sayin’

We heard what we thought was one odd roll of thunder in the night that turns out may have actually been an earthquake. Nothing much to speak of here in Greve, just a couple of grapefruit sized rocks in the the path up to Nelson’s and Varda’s apartment but north of here took a pretty hard hit. The peninsula is prone to quakes but for us it is yet another first on our 10^th visit.

After a leisurely breakfast and a bunch of doing nothing (it is a vacation…) we pile in to our cars for the hour drive to Lucignano. Alternating spits and pours as we wind through the narrow switchback mountain roads towards the autostrada south.

It’s lunch time a the Autogrill which is an Italian experience all it’s own. Autogrills are truck stop/rest area/restaraunts on Italian frenetic steroids. You can get anything at an Autogrill. This one had a restaurant where you could get a porterhouse steak done to order, rissoto, caprese salad, all pretty good or you could get a vending machine sandwich. It’s chaos of the most perplexing efficiency.

Lucignano is a typical ancient walled hill town with narrow winding stone streets and calf punishing hills so we were most intrigued by the idea of a parade with floats and bands and folk dancers. And we heard that they have an interesting take on their tree trimming as well. Somewhat Seus-ian I thought

We were not disappointed! Again with trumpets and drums!

There was a pony and cart, folk dancers from several regions, flag throwers, little flag throwers, a team of HUGE oxen pulling an ornate wagon and four very respectable flower covered floats depicting regional activities.

The whole show wound it’s way around the inner wall until the beginning of the parade met the end and then they all went around again completely encircling the town. Next weekend they’ll do the whole thing again and after the winning float is announced, they’ll tear them apart and throw the flowers at eachother in a mock battle. Then they’ll argue about who one and who should have one until next year. 

Though it rained pretty much the entire time it didn’t seem to dampen the festivities or detract from the afternoon at all, in fact, it may have added to it, soaking the experience into our memories.

Pizza dinner at a little osteria in Greve and that’s about all we could handle.