Day 34 26/4/06 - Italy

Greve -> Pienza -> Montepulciano -> Pienza -> Montalcino -> Siena -> Radda in Chanti -> Greve

Highlight

• Visiting a Pecorino direct sale factory and trying ewe's and sheep's milk pecorino.
• Slokky is really scared of driving in Tuscany. He always move really far into the ditch or take ages and give way for turns. Maybe it's because he keeps stalling the car. All that caution comes to nothing though, he still managed to scratch the side mirror because he was moving so far to the right to avoid the other cars.
• Be careful when travelling with GPS in Italy. It keeps taking us on "roads" which are filled with rocks, dirt, and supposed to fit one car. I'll hate to see what happens if a car comes the other way. We didn't see any cars coming from other directions though, I think only we are stupid enough to travel on them.
• Pienza is a really small town but very tourist oriented with LOADS of wine and produce bars, possibly more bars than locals... which weren't opened before 9am though :(. They are renowned for their sheeps milk Pecorino.
• Our next stop was Montepulciano. This is a typical Tuscan town, very hilly with rustic (i.e. run-down) buildings. There are some nice churches and cool bread shops.
• Montalcino is not as charming as Montepulciano, but there are lots more tourists there, possibly because this place is closer to Siena, where a lot of tourist groups base themselves.
• Tonight is the castle dinner, which is held once a week and is a big event, not only for guests of the castle, but from people who come from all over Tuscany, as we met throughout the dinner. It starts with a tour of the wine making area and the cellar, where we received detailed explanation of the grape variety and the different alcohol produced there. We got to peek at all the equipment and breath in the divine smell of maturing reds. This was followed by pre-dinner drinks and dinner in the castle's grand dining room, with each course of typical Tuscan cuisine matched with the castle's wines. The food was "typical" Tuscan, it was good without being excellent, the standout being the pasta. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, there were lots of tourists from Australia, although none from Sydney. The American couple who sat with us lived in Mosman for 2 years though when Merryl Lynch sent them to work in Sydney. They were very charming, and it's nice to hear what Americans think of the rest of the world (i.e. they don't!). Their Italian friends joined them later and we were told pretty amazing stories of their lives. It makes me realise there is still so much to see and so much to explore. I should really work in a company where they will pay me to travel. The only downside was getting soaked on the way back to the castle from the tour as it started to pour in the middle.
• Finally, and very importantly, we were able to wash clothes in Siena. It's quite funny really, as we can't park inside the city. We had to lug our laundry for about 1 km to the laundromat, then lug it all back.

Food

• Bread with strawberry jam and pecorino pascoli del Chianti.
• Taste test olive oil, bread, cheese.
• Panini with wild boar salami and pecorino pascoli.
• Raisin studded flat bread (.45).
• Olive studded bread (.35).
• Cappuccino (1.5)
• Dinner at Castello Vig:
  • assorted appetisers:
    • tomato
    • mushrooms and cream
    • tuna
    • orange unidentifiable substance
  • cold cuts of salami and prosciutto, pate and bread
  • spinach risotto
  • tagielli with wild boar ragu
  • Tuscan style beef coated in pine nuts
  • beans and roasted potatoes
  • ricotta cheesecake with caramel sauce
  • biscotti and vin santo
  • espresso