Blogs from Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 3

We made it to Montepulciano just in time for a late lunch today. After our big day in Florence, no-one felt much like revving up early. Don't tell, but as we got up so late and it was SOOO hot, we stopped and had ice-cream for breakfast in Asciano on the way! Montepulciano reminded me a little of San Gimignano, but felt a bit less touristy and was certainly quieter. I felt like we had earned lunch after parking the car and making our way up the steep, winding little streets and stairs to meet Steve and Astrid, who had been exploring for a while by the time we got there and were starving. We hit on yet another good restaurant and enjoyed fantastic pasta with mushroom and truffle ragu while sitting outside under vines and ... read more

Left Positano today and our driver, Vincenzo was a greate guide. Naples train station is very large, crowded and a bit daunting. Caught train from Naples to Chiusi Chianciano via Rome where we had to change from the fast (300KM per hour!!!!!) train to the regional train (slow at 135KPH!). Uneventful ride, surprsingly warm on arrival in high 20's. Had a beer each while we waited for the guys to arrive which was about an hour later. Villa is large and very old, an original butter factory from the 17th century. Have visited Montepulciano, Assisa, Sienna and now in Sienna as the only place we've managed to find an internet cafe - hence this blog. We are considering leaving the villa a day earlier and heading off to Florence early so that we can squeeze in ... read more

Montepulciano It was a quick train ride to Montepulciano - truth be told the train station was actually in a town called Chiusi, which was about 20kms from Montepulciano. We were actually staying in a little town called Chianciano which was was smack bang in the middle between Chiusi and Montepulciano and we had to take the bus - I'm sure you'll be surprised to know that there were a few dramas getting to our hotel once again, including a little issue in that we thought Chiusi was actually Chianciano, which created a large amount of disorientation, but I wont bore you with those details again... Needless to say a good lesson was finally learnt - not a lot happens on Sundays in regional Italy and public transport is pretty minimal. It was quite overcast when ... read more

Okay, I've died and gone to heaven!!!! forget "Under the Tuscan sun"...the movie that inspired me was "Stealing beauty". And the villa with the pool....I think I found it. This is the place is everything I've imagined. We slept in and stalled this morning in Florence...and spent about a half hour in the parking lot setting up the GPS. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled to drive in another foreign country but I figure if I could drive in Ireland last year on the wrong side of the road....I could drive in Italy. Rick Steves is right though...Italians are aggressive drivers and htey like to ride right on your ass. They come out of nowhere!!!! Luckily Montepulciano was only about an hour away from Florence so we drove straight there, settled in, explored the grounds of the villa, ... read more

After our trip to the Il Borro winery we headed to Montepulciano, where we were to spend the night at another winery. We finally got there. This guest house was definitely the nicest place we stayed during the trip. However, it was in the middle of the winery, which made navigation difficult. By the time we got there I was getting super crabby since I had pretty much not eaten anything that day. The owner of the winery had arranged for us to have dinner in the actual town on Montepulciano, which is basically a town on a hill. Since it was dark by this point, navigation once again proved difficult. Finding the restaurant was also difficult. The dinner was excellent, and I was feeling better after getting a little bit of food and drink into ... read more