Steam Trains and White Truffles

November 13^th Don and I spent the day on a steam train excursion to San Giovanni  D’Asso to attend the town’s White Truffle Festival.  The Steam Train was fun and we travelled for 3 hours through the Crete Sensi south of Siena.  When the train arrived at the tiny station we climbed the hill to the town and walked down the main street  to an area reserved for those of us on the train who had signed up for the special  lunch offered that included dishes featuring white and black truffles.  The food was delicious and there were so many courses I lost count.  The wine flowed freely and everyone had a great time.  Afterwards we explored the town a bit and then heard music so we walked towards it to discover a female percussion group making their way down the main street to the town square.  We listened for awhile and then made our way slowly down the hill to the train.  

The trip back to Siena seemed shorter and we arrived just as the sun was setting.  We got a hotel room and stayed a few nights in Siena.  Our impression of the city is that it is very commercial and very expensive.   The Duomo is spectacular both inside and out.  The streets in Siena seem to be a jumble and the hills are incredibly steep.  We ended up parking the car inside the old city at a public lot and it cost us 60 euros for 2 days.  The hill we had to climb with our luggage was unbelievable.  We got lost several times as well.  Siena is not a favourite destination for us.

I have not been able to post new entries to my blog lately because the internet point at the hotel is not working and the one in Pienza is closed.  At the best of times, internet access and even cell phone reception here is sketchy which is incredibly frustrating.  I did not expect that communicating would be such an issue here.  The Italians seem to accept this and when a call is dropped they just shrug their shoulders and call back or move on to something else.  This would never be acceptable in North America.

There are far fewer people around now and on occasion when we have visited small hill towns it seems as if we are the only ones there.  The trees are changing colours and the vineyards are shades of gold and crimson.  The olive harvest is still in full swing and new oil is available everywhere.  I find it has a slight peppery taste.  Yesterday while driving through the countryside I noticed a vineyard being prepared for winter.  The vines had been removed from the stakes and wires and laid on the ground to be covered over with compost and soil as protection against freezing.  This reminded me of home where this is common practice as Canadian winters are much more severe than in Italy.  The weather here has been unusual, having hardly rained in the three months that I have been here.  Farmers are concerned that the winter winds will further dry out the vines.  Hopefully this will not damage the vines or next year’s crop.  That would spell disaster for the locals who are already struggling with current economic conditions here.  It is not an easy life for them here.  Don has remarked often how difficult it must be to work the farm land here as it is so hilly.  Many tractors here don’t have wheels, they run on tracks like tanks and still it is remarkable that they don’t tip over while working the incredibly steep hills.

My next entry will be about the 3 days we spent in Florence.

Ciao for now

Hilltowns and Castles

Don and I have been touring around the Tuscan countryside and visting nearby hill towns.  This time of year there are not many people around.  A couple of times now we have felt as if we were the only people in a town, nice, but also kind of creepy....like a ghost town.

Yesterday we went to Pienza again  as we could not seem to connect to the internet at the hotel.  The town seemed deserted. We found an internet cafe and checked email and I posted here. I am still trying to find the organic farm that Isabella brings her clients to, but my GPS does not recognize it's address.  Perhaps I will give up and visit another  farm instead.  I know there is an organic farm near Montipuliciano which sounds interesting.  I was hoping to find a local market nearby but they dont seem to occur often now that the tourist season is drawing to a close.  Even Castelmuzio is different now.  There are far fewer people around and the locals seem to be wearing heavy coats already, but it isn't even cold here yet.  The olive harvest is in full swing and apparently there is an olive mill near town although I havent found it yet.  The vineyards are painted in colours of gold and red and the colourful leaves have started to fall from the vines.  There isn't much fall colour here compared to Canada, but the landscapes have changed from even a week ago.  The ploughed fields were shades of beige dirt last week but now they are various shades of bright green.  The winter wheat has sprouted and a field's colour is dependant on what day it was planted. The brighter fields were planted first.  From a distance it looks like a patchwork quilt of greens and beiges.  The bright green is a sharp contrast to the grey green of the olive trees and the dark green of the many cypress trees. 

The woods are painted in rust and gold with a few oranges and reds spead about sparingly.  The air is crisp but not particularly cold, perfect weather for walking.  The evenings are colder and we are enjoying the fireplace and preparing our evening meals together.  There will be a full moon tonight so we may venture out for an evening walk.  This afternoon we will visit Montipuliciano.(photos below)

Caio for now
Diane

November in Tuscany

The weather has started to remind me of fall at home.  The days are still quite warm but as soon as the sun is gone the temperature drops to between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius.  It’s still warmer than Canada this time of year.  

Olive harvesting is in full swing now and it is interesting to watch the method used here.  Huge fine nets are laid on the ground under the trees.  Frames are used to hold nets up to catch olives that might roll away on steep hills or where branches reach out over the roads.  Workers use ladders to reach into the trees where they use small hand rakes to gently pull the olives from the trees.   The ladder may need to be repositioned many times while working your way around the tree to reach all of the olives. This work can be quite precarious as most olive groves are planted on steep hills where it is difficult to find a level spot to position a ladder.  It is also a slow process as it is all done manually.  When one section of the grove has been harvested, the big nets, full of olives, are gathered up and emptied into large bins.  The full bins are taken to a local olive mill where the fruit is cold pressed to produce precious olive oil.

I had hoped to participate in the olive harvest but apparently there are insurance issues due to the danger of falling.  I suppose it is just as well as I am afraid of heights anyway, and now that Don is here I have been quite busy.  We have been touring around the area and visiting other local towns.  Don is wishing he had his Goldwing to drive on the twisty roads, just as I thought he would.  However, I would rather he didn’t drive my car like he was on his bike....he is a great driver but it seems these roads make me more nervous as a passenger than as a driver.  We drove through the Crete Sensi the other day and my heart was in my throat the entire way. We were on our way to visit Siena.  The views are spectacular but the landscapes there are so different from elsewhere in Tuscany. The hills are so steep that farm tractors have tracks like tanks or bulldozers and the soil is lumpy clay varying in colour from red to pale beige.   We watched a farmer planting a crop of winter wheat which is the reason for the emerald green often seen on the hills of Tuscany in winter.  There are few trees in this area, save for the beautiful cypresses surrounding houses and lining driveways.  Ploughed fields stretch for miles, their fluid contours rippling as if liquid.   Blacktop roads snake around hills and along ridges between deep valleys. White roads, intersecting them at steep angles, lead to distant farmhouses and villas.  It almost seems like a desert here with so little vegetation, hills resembling dunes, and soils the colour of sand.

In Siena we reserved a trip on an old steam train to a nearby village to enjoy the white truffle festival.  The scenery is apparently spectacular and, since neither of us will be driving, we will be able to enjoy it together.  We will also book a tour to see castles in Chianti with wine tastings, and a dinner of Florentine Steak at an agritourismo.  We will stay a few nights in Siena to give us time to take in the sights and visit other towns nearby.  From there we are off to Florence for a few days to take in the Academia, where Michelangelo’s statue of David is housed, and the Uffizi gallery.  Of course we will also visit the Duomo and Baptistery doors and visit some leather and jewellery shops too.  We also want to visit Venice and maybe even Milan.  We are both taking lots of photos so I will have plenty of things to paint when we get back home.

I have been enjoying Don’s company and having someone to cook for. We have only had dinner out once in the past week.  The time is going by so quickly, it’s hard to believe we will back home in 27 days!

Ciao for now

Diane