We were off again!

Although our touring of Montecatini and Siena had been pleasurable, I was longing for the countryside. D accommodated me by making the long drive to Montepulciano. I did not know a whole lot about the community itself but had heard a great deal about the Val d’Orcia, the valley where the village is located from my friend Tuscan Muse, who operates themed tours in the area. She happened to be in Rome that day so we missed meeting in real life.

As it was another rainy morning the streets were deserted.

My favourite part about the time spent in Montepulciano was actually the views from the town to the valley below.

We were fascinated by this exquisite cart that was all by itself in the square.

Upon inquiring we found out that a TV set had just packed up the day prior and they hadn’t had a chance to remove the prop. You can see the back of the cart next to Dustin Hoffman! We had missed seeing him in action by a single day….groan. The TV drama also featured a popular and handsome fellow from The Game of Thrones.

 

The rain continued and we were not quite certain what to do in Montepulciano in the rain, so we found a vineyard store and did Vino Nobile and Brunello wine-tastings, with a couple of bottles secured to take back to Canada.

I couldn’t get enough of the surrounding countryside, so I stay near the town’s edge to capture as many digital memories as possible. I must admit, I was disappointed in the weather and the fact that I hadn’t researched the area well enough to know exactly where we could go and just sit and enjoy the valley. By this time though we were getting peckish and decided to start our search for a trattoria while at the same time knowing that we were almost out of gas.

We made it as far as the neighbouring community of San Quirico d’Orcia.  We stopped at a Hotel/Bar/Restaurant called Il Garibaldi as they had gas pumps out front. We were told that we could not get gas until the attendant returned from what we thought must have been his siesta. Since we couldn’t go anywhere anyway, we decided that this was the perfect place for lunch.

For 12 euros each (including aqua, house wine and cappuccino) we were served the collections of items listed here. We thought we got to chose one of the items but no, we were served everything on the board!

We think that this pasta was boar over polenta which I was not partial to.

So I shared D’s pasta casserole with a variety of cheeses.

We were also served a blend of spinach and peas, a casserole of pureed broccoli, roasted chicken and fish in a tomato sauce. D was delighted by the find and thought that lunch was one of the highlights of the trip.

The stop may have been a highlight for me as well but for a different reason-the view from back of the hotel and gas station was absolutely breath-taking! We now have a gorgeous black and white framed photo of the Val d’Orcia on our kitchen wall.

Kath’s quote: “Any arbitrary turning along the way and I would be elsewhere; I would be different.”  ― Frances Mayes

Love never fails.

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