Saturday 30th May olive oil museum and tasting opportunities (and buying opportunities of course!)

We had an educational but very fun morning at the olive oil museum. Cost €20 each including the museum, tour of machinery to process Tuscan olive oil ….and then tasting oils and Tuscan delicacies.

It was an interactive museum with fun explanations and videos …. So much more to olive oil than we had realised.

Its health benefits were amazing. Extra virgin olive oil is the best for health. 1 tablespoon a day. I could give a lecture on it now!

Cooking, beauty, health all benefits of olives. The olive tree wood, the planting, the seasons for tending the plants, the harvest…. Vince and I know it all now( we were the only 2 people there and had a great talk with Chiana our host. We got on well with her and she appreciated our interest)

We got the message only buy Italian olive oil and Tuscany olives are the best 😉

We were there for a good two and a half hours and it was so interesting not boring at all. 

We spent the afternoon at Arezzo and in the park. 

Then headed back to pack up ready for an early start tomorrow. 

Tomorrow we go to the Dolomites for a week. 

Lucignano, designer village at valdichiana  and pienza and one of the worst thunderstorms I’ve ever been in 

Well I’m sitting here in our car and just arrived back at the holiday home. 

Vince has driven through a horrendous hail stone thunderstorm. We had to stop once as you literally couldn’t see the road ahead. It’s right over head and if we get out of the car to reach the door we will be soaked to the skin! So we are watching the lightening and listen for any sight of it stopping anytime soon. Just so pleased we got here safe and sound. The temp had dropped 12 degrees just like that 

In the house no and no sign of it stopping. There is a yellow warning for storms until tomorrow. I would call it a red warning event!

Anyway today was another lovely day. We went to the town nearest to us on the top of the next hill. It surprised us how different it is from our local village. I have taken a few pics to remind myself what it is like. There were lots of cyclists there and little shops not obvious tourist shops. 

Next we visited Valdichiana the designer village nearby to us. It is very American mall like and had many designer clothes shops mainly. I wanted some mugs etc but no kitchenware shops at all. There were coffee designer cups in a coffee wares shop but too tiny!

Next stop was Pienza. This is a lovely town with fab views from the town walls. We walked along the walls and had our pasta lunch there as we were hungry. This town was full of tourists mainly bussed in from cruise ships. Lots of Americans and Asian people. 

Lastly we explored the Val d’Orcia as there is so much Beaty to be seen

We could see the storm approaching as we travelled back! 

Tomorrow is going to be dry and sunny and our last full day here in Tuscany 

Ps the storm has passed over just hope we get no more tonight xx

Montepulciano and Val d’Orcia

Thursday today and fresher after a thunderstorm I slept through!

Mostly it was about 26*c with very stormy skies at times. We managed to avoid the downpours somehow and only caught a few drops of rain now and then .

As we got to the city we were very lucky to find a car park space. On the other hand yesterday there were none to be found and we gave up. So pleased we returned today as it is a very interesting place. 

We went to the tourist info and bought a map of the city, asking if there were any steps to climb. The girl said no just a long set of streets for 2.5 km. Well she was correct but the long roads were all on a slow uphill incline. I managed this ok and it wasn’t until we turned round we realised how high we had walked along and up. 

First stop was a coffee and cake. This is starting to be a habit now 😉

The cafe had a grand piano in the room and frescos painted on the ceilings very smart. 

Here are a few of the shops and ancient buildings we saw.

The art gallery featured a Salvador Dali exhibition all free to go in.

Mostly there were wine merchants,leather goods, designer clothes and shoes, artists shops, and many restaurants.

The views from up there were phenomenal. We sadly didn’t get right to the top to the grand piazza. …. Too tiring to go any further. 

I’ve included some sights we saw yesterday of the curves leading up to a wine shop. It looks so different with stormy skies. 

We also saw different views of the hills as we explored. There is so much to see and do here.

Wednesday around Val d’Orcia including Montepulciano and Montalcino

Although beautiful architecture and Catholic cathedrals are everywhere in the whole of Tuscany you can have too much of a good thing!!!

We really came for the landscapes too and so today we travelled slowly through the Val d’Orcia.

We wanted to see the rolling hills and the tall thin cypress trees in lines and curling up the hills. We were very lucky and had many opportunities.

Our regrets are that we see an amazing landscape view but there is nowhere to stop off the road. Nevertheless we had a brilliant day. 

We stopped for 2 coffees and 2 custard filled croissants and it only cost us €6!

Back at our holiday house we had a huge salad and Valpolicella wine. 

Another hot day today 33*c 

I think I need to get used to these temps from now on.

We travelled south to Assisi today to explore the cathedral and Saint Francis life. 

We have seen so many medieval towns and beautiful  churches. This town is in Umbria.

The Saint Francesca cathedral is painted with frescos all over the walls and low ceilings. It has marbled floors and is not dark inside like other Catholic Churches we have visited.

We explored the church and went down the steps to see his tomb. There are strict rules about silence and not taking photos but I sneaked a few on my mobile!

Above the church is a courtyard and a museum. You were allowed to take photos in there, as long as you don’t use flash.

To finish off the morning we had lunch outside a hotel. 

There was a mouse scampering about under tables and along the surrounding wall Ugh! The waiter was chasing it with a brush….

To get away from all the “holiness “ and the little mouse 🤣, 

we came back to our house through the Alpinines. A beautiful winding road with steep hairpin bends. (Vince called it a Janet road. ) 

There were no lay-bys to stop the car to take any photos of the views sorry. Perhaps we will get some tomorrow…

Here are my photos of the buildings and parkland.

This is the grand piazza

Inside the cathedral

The park behind the cathedral so cool in the shade as it is 31*c today

Arezzo

All the area we are staying in is reclaimed from marshland and once the ocean covered it. It is a huge plain with a few steep hills. All these hills have old walled towns built on their tops and are surrounded by modern buildings at their base. 

There are many statues and paintings of Saint Francis of Assisi. It is here that he lived all his days in the forests with the animals. 

We have seen so many jays lizards egrets swifts and swallows and martins nesting. 

So today we spent the day in Arezzo. 

I wanted to take impressions of Italy in my photography. So here are some I took with my mobile phone in Arezzo. I have many more on my cameras!

Very hot today 31*c 

Crossing the Tuscany border into Umbria at lake Trasimeno

Only a short drive away is a large lake south of Arezza. 

We found a town called  Castiglione del Lago with access to the lake and up the hillside the old town. 

First we did our shopping and went to see the lake which seemed to be attracting mosquitoes.😩

So we climbed some steps from our car park and through the towns wall at a gateway into the old city. 

It has one Main Street leading to a theatre at the other end and views down to the lake. The lake is a green colour!

The buildings were just as they had been built in medieval times times and very picturesque. 

We stopped by a restaurant before we descended the steps and had our late lunch in the shade outside the restaurant. Pasta and salad mmmmm

On our way back we attempted the steep winding road up to Cortona but it was a bit scary near the top we were tired and so decided to to forget this idea. I fact the view to the lake was not so good from this side and there was too much haze in the mountains. 

On return we sat outside in the sunshine on the houses patio and relaxed with a cup of tea….. wine comes later!

New day new holiday house

Today we moved on south towards Arezzo (Still in Tuscany ) I felt sad to leave San Gimignano appartment as it was so comfy and big but onwards and upwards. Here are my last views as we travelled down the winding road from the tour at Di Montauto. Where we stayed. 

It only was a fairly short trip to our next location and we reached there in 90 minutes. As we are 30 minutes from Arezzo  and we intended to spend the day there. It is so hot now in the thirties but the tall buildings and narrow streets with shadows help to keep it cool. 

Well Arezzo is a dream of a place. It is divided into piazza squares with joining streets and loads to explore. It wasn’t very busy and the crowds were not there. I managed much better here! 

A wedding was in progress as we arrived in the Grand piazza and the cake was cut in front of everyone on the steps of the museum. Then the wedding guests were in a restaurant at the side. You should have heard them and seen all the bottles of wine in readiness for the reception.

We picked up lots of useful info from the tourist information. It’s the first one that’s actually been open since we arrived in France and Italy! 

We made our way up above the cathedral duomo to Parco il Prato. It has a huge white statue of Saint Francis of Assisi. 

The cathedral was so overpoweringly beautiful with frescos and painted ceilings and I’ll let the photos speak for me. 

We had to leave Arezzo to meet the lady at our apartment but we will return several times over the next 8 days I think. 

Our new house seems modern and has everything we could possibly need. 

So a new part of Tuscany to explore I’m so loving Italy and all we have seen so far. 

A day in Tuscany hills

Our last full day near San Gimignano so we explored the hillsides and visited Monteriggioni

Last night there was a deep pink sunset and here are a few snaps of it from our holiday home looking towards San Gimignano. So rich and vibrant. 

Monteriggioni is only a half hour journey for our home. It is a walled hillside medieval town with an intact continuous wall enclosing the town. 

It is on a cycling route and so was full of cyclists and other tourists. We managed to park at the top of the hill so we didn’t have to walk up the hill as people were doing.

Some of the scenery again of this part of Tuscany. 

We have seen lizards egrets and heard owls and a cuckoo each night. Lots of jays and magpies and a few birds of prey. 

Fields of barley and oats covered in poppies. The lines of vines sometimes have rose bushes at the ends of their row. 

The smells of roses and jasmine all these things are what I’ll remember…