Sweet Diversions

Last night at dinner we decided it had been way too long since our last wine tasting and since we are in the Brunello do Montalcino wine region, everyone's favorite, it was time to divert from hiking and do some tasting. Seven years ago Tammy and Ed were married in Florence and went to a winery in San Gimignano called Tenuta Torciano. So she gave them a call and they said they would have a car here at 9;00 am to take us to Siena, Monteriggioni, and to Tenuta Torciano for wine tasting and food pairing, after lunch the driver would then take us to San Gimignano for the best gelato we have ever had!!

At 9:00 am there was Luciano with his very clean Volkswagen van ready to spend the day with us and what a day it was!!

Nickolo, the young man that has organized our hike showed up at the same time bringing other hikers luggage. He wished us well and sent us on our way. 

Siena was beautiful, we went in the museum, climbed the very narrow spiral stairs for a view of the city, went down in a cript and went in the Duomo, which was georgeous of course 

Tomorrow our hike will end in Siena so we will finish seeing the sites there then

Then Luciano took us to a cute little walled village Monteriggioni, we were only there long enough to look in a few shops and it was time for wine. 

When we arrived Luigi, the owner, was all ready for us. The table was full of wine glasses, we were poured one white and two reds and given a plate of cheese, sausage, salad and bread. We were asked to taste each food item with each wine and write down our favorite combination. I wish I hadn't spent my life eating hamburgers so I would have a more refined palate. Then Luigi's niece took over and gave us a lesson in how to hold a wine glass for aerrating, sniffing and tasting the wine and then she started pouring the wine and serving the food. It was all coming fast and furious. Each wine and each dish better than the last. Needless to say our heads were spinning

Orders for wine were placed then it was time for Luciano to take us for the best gelato we have EVER had. I remembered the shop from last year when I was here but it was easy to spot anyway as the line was clear out into the piazza. The line moved fast and before we knew it we were eating the best gelato we have EVER had!

Then it was back to the agriturismo for a nap and dinner. We celebrated Joanne's 60th birthday at dinner with a bottle of Brunella wine, a card, cake made by the staff and the whole dining room signing Happy Birthday!  Great Day!!

Deliciously Scared

These hikes have been pretty strenuous the last few days with steep up hills and the same on the downside. Down hill can even be more difficult at times as your toes get jammed in your shoes and cause them to go numb or even worse can cause blisters under the nail. So today I woke up wishing for a day of strolling through fields and just some gradual up hills. And that is just what we got, it was such a pleasant and relaxing time. We did have one stressful moment when we came across a fence blocking our trail. Do we go through the fence and risk being on someone's private property which also had a pack of barking dogs just daring us to enter or do we back track and see if we missed something on a sign. Well being the hardy hikers that we are there is no way we want to go backwards and add any extra steps to our trip. Before we started our Italy hike we were warned about these dogs. They are called the maremmano dog and are herding dogs that will defend their sheep to the end. There must have been four or five of them up ahead but Melissa and I had our trekking poles to defend ourselves if needed. I made sure someone else was between me and the dogs at all times. They just barked loudly at first, Joanne was in the lead, then they started coming at us, Sue loudly hollered NO, the dogs still kept coming, so Joanne just veared us out into the field further away from the dogs. Tammy kept talking to them like they were her house pets and Melissa just wanted to take pictures of the abandoned farm house, like there were no dogs around. We made it past them with all arms and legs intact, maybe they were just trying to herd us together now that I think of it??

When we felt safe we took the time to look at the old farmhouse and then we noticed the old Billie Goat standing there wondering what all the commotion was about. We saw lots of sheep, each with bells on their necks that made a very melodic sound when they all moved together. 

We had to be transferred the last couple of days to different locations and our driver was the cutest little old Italian man who didn't speak any English but just smiled at us all the time. If he is around the next few days we will have to get a picture of him.

Our stay tonight is at Fattoria Pieve a Salti, an Agriturismo, which is an active farm used as a bed and breakfast

Gun Shots in the Early Morning Fog

The fog has not yet lifted as we get on our way this morning. We have a difficult trail to walk and we have to be at the Sant'Antimo Abby at 4 pm to catch our ride to Montalcino where we will spend the night. We are walking through some heavily wooded trails and we hear gun shots going off all around us. We have been hearing them for the last three days but today they are much closer and there are a lot more. We have to keep reminding ourselves, Italians like Americans don't they?? Then we start to think what are they shooting at so much , if there are a lot of animals around are we going to see them? Then we come across the sign, watch out for wolves. Yikes!! Really, we are six strong Alaskan women so we were not worried. 

Did I mention we climbed a lot of hills today? We were in back country all day so took sandwiches with is for lunch. We had to ford a creek right around lunch time so after successfully crossing with no one falling in, we thought, this is the perfect time to stop for lunch.  It was so relaxing sitting in the woods by the babbling creek enjoying the food and country. We only passed a few hikers today, one couple actually admitted they were kind of lost. 

We made it to the Abby by three o'clock and I am do glad we did because we heard four monks doing an afternoon prayer with Gregorian chanting. 

Little pool and water fall of mineral water along the trail

We will be up there in an hour or so.

This part of the trail went up forever and looked like it had been a roaring river bed during last nights rain storm

Wolf warning!

We have now climbed to that castle and are going down the other side.

The Abby

The monks out for a stroll before prayer

Under the Tuscan Sun then not

It is really hard to put into to words the feeling one gets while walking on a back country road in Italy on a beautiful sunny day. The walk was described to us as walking across a calendar-perfect Tuscany landscape and that is just what it was. We walked 10.3 miles, the .3 is important to mention, in the most pleasant weather until just as we arrived at Bagno Vignoni and then it poured rain. We can't believe how lucky we are sometime. But let me share Melissa's start to the day. Each place we stay provides a beautiful breakfast of meats, cheese, yogurt, granola, breads, fruits, toast and other small items. Today Melissa put her toast in an unusual looking toaster and waited, and waited, and waited. She started to think we were going to have to go on without her and she would catch up when all of a sudden she noticed her toast had come out way at the other end of the machine. Italian appliances can be so confusing. 

On our walk today we passed two different groups of walkers, one group from France who had guessed us to be from Canada or someplace in the north. Now why would that be?? Another group had an Italian guide and were from Virginia. We had two French gentlemen pass us that had the El Camino De Santiago shell on their packs which told us they had done that pilgrimage at some time.  We stopped for lunch, pizza, salad and drinks in a little village called San Quirico d'Orcia. 

Our best reward yet came when we got to Bagno Vignoni and checked into the Hotel delle Terme. The hotel has wonderful relaxing mineral hot springs. Just what our tired muscles needed!

Hiking the Tuscany Hills

Today was an 11 mile day with elevation gains of 1108 ft and the most surreal scenery you can ever imagine but I have to admit It was obvious I hadn't hiked much in the last two days because I was ready to be done and sit with a nice glass of wine. We hiked from Montepulciano to Pienza stopping for lunch in Monticchiello. The weather was beautiful with a breeze blowing occassionally. We hopped rocks across a little creek and even came across a wild boar. Wait, maybe it was just a pig, it was kind of far away. We walked past farms where little dogs would come out to greet us, one even wanted to come along. How lucky are we to be able to hike through such a beautiful place without a seeming care in the world! When we reached Pienza at the top of the hill we took a short rest then Sue, Renee, Tammy and Joanne went out and bought some wine and snacks. We finished our day on the terrace again, enjoying food and wine.