No, seriously. I am currently sitting in the lounge in a castle...our hotel is inside the walls of San Gimignano, a really really old (again with the old, I just cannot get over how old everything in Italy is. Comes from living in baby America my whole life) castle in the middle of the Tuscany area. It is gorgeous. If it looks like this in the middle of January, I can't imagine how it looks in June! We have been driving through the Italian countryside on our way to Florence, and even though it is probably only a 3 or 4 hour drive from Rome to Florence, we've managed to make it last from 4 pm yesterday til about 9am tomorrow :) It is just beautiful, and we are taking our time and enjoying the scenery. We began our day by putting our hands in the Mediterranian (AH! first time ever!) in Orbetello, and then continued on our way through Siena up toward Florence. On the way, we got hungry and stopped right past Siena to grab a quick bite.
On a side note, a quick bite in Italy does not translate into fast food. A quick bite means walking into a little cafe, sitting at a table, and eating real pasta off real plates with real silverware. And then finishing the meal with a double espresso. And getting some very obvious stares from the other patrons as we spoke English in the middle of their little town.Anyway, in this cafe, we asked the best way into Florence from the owner, who thankfully spoke enough English that we could almost understand him when he gave us directions. He suggested that instead of staying in expensive, busy Florence, we stop by a few places on the way and stay outside of the city and just drive in for the day. So, we took his advice and began looking for the towns he had mentioned....good choice on our part!
We ended up (after a few turn-arounds and many many bends in the road) at a castle. It looked exactly as you would expect a medeival (I know I spelled that one wrong) castle to look-but the surprise was that it was open, and there was a whole little town inside! Where people actually lived year-round! Most of the stores were closed, since this is the very very slow season for tourism, but we stopped in a little store and talked for a bit to the owner. She told us that 48 people live in the town, and that the castle walls were almost 2,000 years old, and that all of the buildings inside were at least 1,000 years old. We also had a little wine tasting in her basement, which used to be a barn, as she pantomimed to us by mooing and imitating a cow eating :) the ways you manage to communicate...
A little tiny graveyard outside the walls of Monterregionni
drinking local Tuscan wine in a 2,000 year old barn
The view off the top of San Gimignano-you could see for miles
Some of the towers in San Gimignano
I really need to start uploading pictures, as we are taking hundreds, but it is kind of a daunting task so I think I'll procrastinate a little longer on that. But when I do you will have such a better idea of what I'm talking about-my words are so not doing this trip justice.
Tomorrow we really are going to go to Florence, like we've been saying we were going to for the past two days. Hopefully driving our little Ford into an Italian city won't give Dad a heart attack-I'm going to have my fingers crossed the whole time.
By the way, I learned another Italian word-trattoria. I kept seeing it on restaurants all over, and it wasn't defined in my phrase book, so I gave in and asked our waiter tonight (who I am sure immediately made fun of me when he went back into the kitchen, but whatever. He probably already hated Americans anyway). It is the Italian word for somewhere that is like a nice restaurant, but cheaper...good thing to know if I'm ever traveling in Italy on my own buck :)
Maybe tomorrow I will post some pictures...maybe not. I know you're on the edge of your seat.
Buena notte!
So Molly has become a princess living in a castle!
ReplyDeleteOMG I went to San Gimignano too!!!!! It was so pretty, and it's just as beautiful in the summer time too!! I can't wait to see your pics!
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