Chianti Country and more (5/18/09)

We started early in Siena this morning, and since the breakfast at the hotel wasn’t anything special yesterday, we ventured over to a café for some delicious pastries and Cappuccinos before heading out into the country. We drove straight to the famed ‘Chianti Road’ and immediately stumbled upon an amazing Poppy field. From there we stopped at Castello di Brolio, the place where Chianti was invented. The castle however, isn’t a winery, which we didn’t find out until after we paid for admission to the gardens. So we wandered around the castle and the gardens, which really had some great views, and then we discovered that our tickets came with a wine tasting, but down the hill. So we had our first Chianti tastings, and they were fabulous.



From there we headed towards a small town called Castellina in Chianti, which was very picturesque, and fairly untouristy. We had a light lunch and found a shop run by a winery called Rocca della Macie, which was the Chianti that the Marriott gave us in Rome. So we gladly sampled a number of varieties and chatted with the host about the wines before selecting two bottles for purchase. I’m sure we’ll drink them somewhere in the Cinque Terra later this week.

We left the Chianti road and headed to the hill town of San Gimignano, which is famous for its towers. The town itself was beautiful, however Lisa and I both felt it was very touristy and overrun with ugly Americans. Still, as we wandered around the back side of town, we stumbled upon a small church where an American Wedding was taking place.



After leaving San Gimignano, we decided to start heading towards Florence as it was starting to get late and the Hertz closed at 7 pm. On the way we found an American Monument and Cemetery from WWII. It was serene and surreal. We were both fairly overcome with emotion, especially once we realized it was about to close and they played taps. Visiting was really something special.



Before pulling into the Hertz, we drove up to a hilltop with views over all of Florence, which was beautiful.



We had to return our little Fiat, but we had the opportunity to stroll around Florence after we ate some dinner. Tomorrow we see the David, and head to the Uffizi gallery.

Ciao!