Advertisement
Published: July 13th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Entry
to the Castello di Verrazzano This morning we left the hotel, all excited and anticipating the day that lay ahead. Mostly because this was our winery tour day. We had been told that the tasting would involve pairing wines with various foods from the region.
The bus travelled up some long, winding roads, and stopped us outside a gate on a hillside. We had arrived at the Castello de Verrazano. We walked through the gates and were in some little piece of heaven. Butterflies floated past to lang on lavender and lemon trees. Bees buzzed around a central fountain, while the red and white roses climbed taller than most of us. The Castello itself is built in traditional Tuscan style and was absolutely gorgeous to look at and walk through. The gentleman (Gino) giving us the tour was smart, funny, and very passionate about everything, including music, and actually cried when we sang the slow bit of In Meeres Mitten for him. He told us that our motto for the next couple of hours should be to eat, drink, and love strongly, and for the next few hours, it almost seemed totally possible.
The tour was finished by quite possibly the best meal I
Inside the winery
Everything still done the old way have ever eaten. We had our own private area in which to eat. The food was wonderful and fresh, the wine excellent, and the company wonderful and funny. The only downside was being asked to interrupt our meal to go sing for another group... But they were appreciative, so it wasnà t all bad. There was an appetizer course (buschetta, all sorts of meats), a pasta course, a main course (a bean dish, salad, pork), a cheese selection, and, of course, grappa to finish it all off. It was bliss. I could easily have spent the rest of my vacation just repeating that experience and I would have been happy.
Sadly we had to get on the bus (although not without first ordering some wine shipped back to Canada - expensive, but at this point I'm willing to pay for convenience for something that good!) and continue to San Gimignano. Random side note - we stopped at a grocery store called Coop on our way in (this is probaby more significant to my western Canadian readers).
Let me tell you, I have seen a number of medieval towns and cities now, and San Gimignano wins. The town square still
View from the top
of the city walls of San Gimignano has a well in it. Churches still have original frescos. There are alleys that are narrow and dark. There are bell towers. The windows are still shuttered. It doesn't seem to have changed much in the last 8 centuries or so. You can walk the walls and look out over the expanse of Tuscany and just marvel in the beauty of the rolling hills.
RR and I spent much of the evening just wandering the town. Along the way, we found a set of original medieval springs, with fish swimming in them, and the water still flowing. Apparently the oldest bit is from the 11th century, with subsequent additions from the 12th and 13th. We stumbled upon an alley as we were walking towards the top of the city walls, and paused to listen to someone practicing the harp. And at the top, we stumbled upon preparations for a rock/alt/punk/metal concert in a small park. We didn't stay for the concert, but wandered back to the square for gelato, and then to turn in for the evening.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0493s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb