Into Tuscany looking for vino!

And we found some!!  I signed up before my trip for an all-day wine tour which went way down into Tuscany to Montepulciano, Pienza, and then Montalcino.  The two "M" towns were for wine tasting, the "P" town was for lunch.  It was a long but fun day.  I enjoy these small tours - they're never more than 8 people (this time 7 - I was odd man out) and that makes it nice.  One nice thing about being the only single was that I got to ride in the front seat and have the best view, I'm sure.  Of course the weather wasn't real good for a fair amount of the trip but it started out pretty and ended up pretty and it was about the wine anyway.

So first stop was a winery in Montepulciano where we would be tasting one of the two most outstanding wines being produced by Italy apparently - the Nobile.  And my understanding is that only this area of Tuscany centered around Montepulciano can sell wine with the Nobile label.  It's not limited to one winery but the scope of the production area isn't all that large.  Our winery was the Ercomani and they gave us a very nice tour of their "underground city" they call it.  It's where all the barrels are kept but originally it was (and I'm probably not 100% accurate with all of this) beneath the homes of 5 noble families.  And when they were attacked or whatever, they had escape routes through this warren of rooms beneath the surface.  And it truly was a warren.  But there was water available (still there but not used now, of course), they had a little jail, they had a little torture chamber, and they had an exit out the back.  All intreesting and fun in its way. So I'll post what pictures I took down there and wish I could tell you exactly what we were told but I can't.  Our guide was very good but had a lot to say and said it quite rapidly and she was from the Phillipines!!

We start by going down the first flight of stairs...

 I knew this wouldn't show up well, but is an actual chain mail jacket or whatever it would be called.

 These are 200 L barrels - and are so pretty in their way...

She explained this grape vine in detail.  If you look at the red fabric where it meets the barrel, you will see a yellowish thing sticking out from the grape vine,That is because the vine developed a, I don't think she called it a virus, but something that was attacking the vine from inside.  Rather than treat it with chemicals and risk the wine's flavor, they make a slit in the vine and insert a smooth flat rock when then warms up in the sun and slowly kills whatever it is.  I think that is fantastic!

 I guess most of the artifacts found were always here.  This was an old grinder for the grapes.

 These were the 400L barrels...

 And this, unbelievably enough, is where the women cleansed and combed the woof of their sheep.  This would have been before the entire basement was used for winemaking I assume.  But all the stuff hanging on the walls is things that were used for that process.

 These were the smallest barrels and I think these were the ones that the Nobile went into if it considered worth another year or maybe two of maturing.  I could be totally wrong but it was for something that not all the wine went through.

 I think the barrels along the side walls were the oval barrels and were also the largest capacity barrels.  And I totally don't remember why.

 The stuff here was for the making of pecorino cheese which this winery also makes and sells.  It involves burning leaves, smoke, I don't know what all and I don't know why - she did go on so fast!  but we had a taste of a quite aged cheese because she wanted us to taste it with a sweet dessert-type wine and boy it was good - very salty so perfect with the sweet wine.

The one above and the one below were both sort of hidey-holes.   I think the one might have been a burial chamber and the other the prison.

 After all that we were turned loose to wander the town a bit.  I wasn't about to wander off the road we came in on, so the rest of these pictures were taken here and there on that road.

 I went into what looked like a store and also a restaurant and discovered these wonderful displays of shells and acquatic "stuff".  They're basically fossils because they are so very ancient.  Somewhere is a card explaining a bit about them so read on.

 I found it fascinating that they believe Italy was a group of islands way, way, way, back.  That could certainly explain its very strange shape.  If you don't read it all, please note that they're talking about 5.4 million years ago!!

 This sure was a beautiful one...

And I can only assume that somehow this was a fish-like creature because you could see scales.  Even in the picture a bit.

A few more as I walked to the meeting place...

 It turned 12:00 while I was taking this picture and you could see the bells ringing.  I like that a lot more than the recordings.

And the fortified entrance and exit to Montepulciano.

So then it was off to Pienza for lunch!  I never did learn the name of where we had lunch but it was a beautiful spot and I think probably a fairly swanky resort type place.  Our food sure seemed to support that theory, as did the large swimming pool, many tables with umbrellas, outdoor lounge chairs, etc.

It's funny, though - my guess would be that at one time it was a monastery.  It just sort of has that look about it, especially with the bell tower to call them to prayers.

 Beautiful, beautiful views, especially as the weather got clearer.  Obviously the picture above and the one below should be switched but I'm not going to bother with that.  It was a great view either way.

What we had for lunch was very yummy but I can only remember two things - I don't think we got anymore.  And they were the very "gourmet" type servings - two little bits of a rolled ravioli that the chef makes and then slices which was in a delicious cream sauce.  And sort of almost the same thing, again - a bowl with maybe 5 or 6 small gnocchi in a very delicious sauce not quite the same as the first one but pretty darned close.  I think maybe that's all we had - I don't remember any dessert or anything else.

So after taking pictures of the same view over and over, I finally followed after the group and we got started towrds Montalcino and the Brunello - king of the hill in Italian wines.  Actually I was kind of put out because the people at the first winery were supposed to do Nobile which they did and very well, but then she gave us a taste of Brunello and since I didn't like it as well as one of the Nobile I had tried, I bought that one and so couldn't buy a Brunello at the Brunello only place.  It doesn't really matter, but I did wonder if the first place knew we were going on to a Brunello winery.  I will say for the first place, they had an absolutely delicious spread for crostini that I was going to buy a jar of for me and the kiddies but they were out of it.  It was made with dried tomatoes, olive oil, pine nuts maybe?, and I can't remember what all but boy, it was really superb!

 So now here we are at Montalcino - home of Brunello wine which can only be made with 100% Sangiovese grapes - it's the law, ma'am.

The four pictures above were just getting to the place!  Now we start the tour and tasting.

 These are small barrels obviously.  You can see the name Brunello and 2017 on the first one.

This winery was beautiful, inside and out - and it smelled so good, again, inside and out.  I could never figure out what the scent was but I felt like I recognized it and I don't think it was just a wine scent.  The picture above was a decorate and I would assume fairly old, cactus-type plant.

I don't know why I have so few pictures of Montalcino - probably pretty tired out by then and somewhat full of wine. :)  But then it was the long drive home and a fairly quiet one with everyone else being tired too.  One of the two couples from Seattle were even older than I am so they must have been zonked.  It was a fun trip - the tour guide was nice although unlike other groups I have been with, he didn't stay with us for the tours or the lunch or anything.  He would drop us off and then do I don't know what but he was always Johnny on the spot meeting us. 

Wow!  I'm pretty well caught up.  I'm up to Friday which for me is today.  And I won't get it finished tonight, but I'll probably work on it a bit.

For now, buono sera!

Lyon, France - and I'm actually still here...

and getting my first batch of photos posted.  But I must also get out and see some "sites" which I haven't done yet due to, yet again, spending a lot of Wednesday wandering around looking for the "tourist information" place.  But I got these photos while wandering. :)  You'll see more of a few of these in m next post but I'm not going to try and figure out which ones to pull out.

Wikipedia has this to say:  "The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière is a minor basilica in Lyon. It was built with private funds between 1872 and 1884 in a dominant position overlooking the city. The site it occupies was once the Roman forum of Trajan, the forum vetus, thus its name."  It is way, way high up on a hill and fortunately there are funiculars running up and down for the less powerful.  And I have read several places that it was built because whoever was ruler in that era prayed that the Prussians would not conquer Lyon and if they did not he would build a basilica to Mary.  They didn't and he did.  But I can't find that story anywhere now, of course.  I'll post more pictures from my 9/26 outing once I get finished working on this one.

 Another lovely church right on the river and I don't know its name.

 There are two rivers that run through Lyon - the Saone and the Rhone.  They run separately until they reach the "confluence" at the southern end of the city.  In between there is an island, I guess you could call it and that's where I'm staying.

The middle structure with the rounded front is the very old Cathedral of Sainte Jean.  I went there today (9/26) so will have more pictures of it also.

 Hmmm, a very crooked picture showing the juxtaposition of the two cathedrals.  And then that church I don't know the name of is right down on the left from St. Jean about a block or two.

I took this picture because of the stone arches above the lower buildings.  There is much mention of ancient Rome's part in this area and I wondered if these were leftovers.  Tomorrow I hope to get myself out to the Roman museum along with 2 Roman "arenas" or theaters that are in pretty good shape.

 Another strange building front.  What could it originally have been for?  Women's clothes? (tee hee)

 And this one is just to show how you look down a street and there are all sorts of elaborate buildings.  This whole city makes me wonder which city was built first (as a city I mean) because Lyon sure reminds me of Paris.

Just gorgeous!

And I didn't have one horrendous problem today with the place where I'm staying so that made it a nice day.

Au revoir for now! 

Verona

Here's a break for all of you who suffer through my very lengthy posts.  I don't have a single picture of anything in Verona and after really straining my brain yesterday, the only thing I pulled out of my it was the shower in the B&B where I stayed - mainly because it didn't have a wrap-around thin curtain like Padua had.  It had a door and a bright blue and yellow pad on the floor.

After the way too long trek to the train in Padua (because of misdirections) , and then the horrendous walk to my B&B, (no misdirections just very long and lots of construction, etc.) I decided that since it was mid-afternoon when I got to Verona and I was leaving the next morning, I would just stay in. 

Needless to say, I took a taxi to the station!

The End!

Italy 2017 - it's a wrap

Just a few pictures I took with my phone and just got around to downloading them this morning (12/11) while waiting to leave for the airport.  I gave up trying to sleep at 4:30 this morning, it's now 5:20 and we'll leave for the airport at about 7:15, with Chris dropping me off on his way to work.

This is buon Natale from Italy... this one and the next two were taken on my walk back from my evening cooking class.  I had pondered taking a bus, calling a taxi, etc., thinking did I really want to walk that far at that hour of the night but I was glad I decided to.  I didn't make one wrong turn, there were far fewer people out and about, and it was a clear, lovely evening.

I love Italian shop windows whatever city I'm in.  And I loved these little dresses that look like little girl dresses rather than women's dress-up clothes cut down to size.  (That's showing my age, isn't it?)

 And the Ponte Vecchio at night...

This isn't a clear picture - the fluffy bumps of the clouds were very clear-cut - not fuzzy like this.  After taking it, I wondered how high we were and looked up the flight details and here's the scoop:

 Check out that temperature!  Glad it wasn't THAT cold in Florence. :)

Yeah, I was pretty bored, although actually this was probably the best flight I've had in my traveling history.  There were many empty seats on the flight and I ended up having three seats to myself which meant I could put all the arm rests up and stretch out!  How great is that?  And the crew were just fantastic, laughing and joking with the passengers, constantly bringing drinks, food, treats, etc.  I told the woman sitting across the aisle from me that I probably had put on about 5 pounds just on the trip.  And I told the crew I thought they were the best crew I'd encountered in my travels and the steward laughed and said "they have happy pills in Paris" so if that's what happy pills do, I'm all for them.

By this time we were headed into Maine as far as I could tell from the map they show on the flight tracker.  This was land I was looking at and a very snowy land.

And that is well and truly the last post for this trip.  I'm about 99.9% positive it was my last trip to Florence.  If I go to Italy again, I would pick a new place to explore and if I just had to see the Duomo, eat at Enzo & Piero, or whatever, I could take a train up (or down) for the day and do it.  I'm still trying to figure a way to end up being able to drive around the countryside, visiting little hilltop villages, and smaller towns with good things to see (and eat!)  I can't imagine driving a rental car out of a large city like Rome but I think if I could get out of the city and then rent the car, I would probably be all right.

At any rate, I enjoyed this trip and, as with all the others, will have plenty of wonderful memories!

A bientôt!