A Tuscan Christmas eve

 I couldn't wipe the smile off my face this morning as we woke in Tuscany. The views over the valley were even more beautiful than I had remembered. This morning, the first thing to do was head to the local supermarket for a few supplies, like breakfast things, snacks to have in our apartment, etc. A trip to the supermarket in Italy is something else - especially at Christmas time. Along with the regular items to be found were aisles full of Christmas treats, speciality pastries and Pannetone in every flavour imaginable. 

We returned to La Maesta and enjoyed reuniting with our favourite place, taking a walk around the property. It is of course, Winter here, but the weather is not intolerable. We sat outside and enjoyed the views, and Shannon called home to check in with the Walshs. We joined Stefano, Rosalinda and Virginia for coffee and met Stefano's sister and brother-in-law, who had arrived for Christmas. This then rolled into lunch which we thoroughly enjoyed. Rosalinda made a delicious fettuccine ragu, followed by roast beef, salad, and slices of Pannetone with coffee.

It was nice to spend time with the family and help Virginia with her English homework! Her English is excellent, and her knowledge of grammar is most likely better than mine ;-)

For the afternoon, we decided to visit Arezzo, a beautiful city nearby, only a ten-minute train ride from Castiglion Fiorentino. We took our time wandering the streets, brushing shoulders with the locals who were busily buying last-minute Christmas gifts and enjoying the atmosphere. In the main piazza, we came across a Christmas market, which was quite similar to those we had seen in Germany. There were stalls selling Christmas decorations, gloves and hats and of course plenty of food. We stopped at a small cafe on the main square for 'Aperetivo'. This is the time in the late afternoon that Italians enjoy a cocktail or wine with snacks before dinner. Shannon had a Negroni, and I had my favourite, an Aperol Spritz. We sat and enjoyed watching the people go by and many, many dogs. It got dark by 4:40pm, and the beautiful lights came on. We got the train back to La Maesta and will soon join the family for a Christmas eve dinner.

It had to rain eventually....

This morning started our last day at La Maesta. It was a little windy and very grey, the clouds were threatening rain, and we had laundry to do.

First off it was to Castiglion Fiorentino where we did a load of washing and met with a lady in the laundromat.  She was originally from Dusseldorf Germany, had worked in Africa and now lives in this region after relocating here as a pharmacist. Now retired, she saves her money and travels as much as she can. She has been to Hong Kong and Australia and is currently reading up on Japan, her next trip. As we left the laundromat the rain started and we had a thunderstorm for the next couple of hours.

We then returned to La Maesta and started packing our clean clothes. Then it was back on the road to Arezzo to return the Fiat Panda I had been driving the past week.  In this time we had covered much distance and seen many new places.  All up we covered around 850 kilometres.

We then walked the streets of Arezzo looking for a nice place to have lunch but found many were in fact closed.  This is one thing travelling in winter we have found, most places have shorter hours or don't even open some days.

In the end, we got to the top of town and found Ristorante Arezzo La Lancia D'Oro on Piazza Grande was open. 

The weather by now had cleared and we chose to sit outside where the waiter promptly dragged over a gas heater to the table.

The menu was modern Italian and at first, we didn't know what to expect, however, the food was nothing but exceptional and unexpected. We both had pasta dishes for an entree. Katie chose tagliatelle with Black Truffle sauce and I had a potato ravioli, with a fine sauce and crunchy topping. Our mains were impressive and presented beautifully. Katie enjoyed her herb crusted lamb with roast artichoke and yellow tomato and I had the juiciest pork with a crispy skin and caramelised apple cubes. When the waiter asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu we declined, so she brought out some sweet delicacies of her own accord! Smooth vanilla moose, cream puffs and biscotti.

 

After this delicious lunch, we were stuffed and thankfully had done all the uphill walking before lunch, so only needed to walk back to the train station.

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The night train served its purpose, only just.

Neither Katie or I had used a sleeper train before and were unsure of exactly what to expect.

The train served its purpose and allowed us to get some sleep and transferred us from Munich to Arezzo, here are a couple of the downsides.

You can't have your seat and bed set at the same time. Initially, the compartment is set for seating. About an hour into the trip the stewardess comes to get the breakfast orders and also asks if we would like the seats switched into bed mode. 

Once this is done you only have the option of sitting on the bed with your feet dangling off the edge. This is uncomfortable.  

Next problem is actually in the bed, with the twisting and turning of the carriage I often felt like I was going to roll off, especially when the driver used the brakes to slow the train. Also when the train goes around corners the carriage tilts one way, sending blood to the feet and the other, blood to the head. 

The next problem is with all this rocking, rolling, twisting and turning it is basically impossible to use the shower facilities without falling and hurting one's self. We both opted to not shower on the train and wait till we reached our accommodation. 

The breakfast service is well organised and served in the compartment or made for you to take away. We dined in the carriage. Before bedding down, you get to choose from six items on the menu, any extras are about 1.50 euro each.  Options available are bread rolls (2), coffee, tea, orange juice, butter, jam, honey, Nutella, salami, mortadella, cheese, sausage, yoghurt and bircher muesli.

Overall as I have stated previously the train sleeper was ok and served a purpose, however, if we did it again we would not do it on a windy line through the alps! We are both glad of selecting this method of transport to have the experience first hand.

After the journey, we collected our car from Arezzo AVIS and purchased some items for lunch then headed to La Maestà Tuscan Sun, where we met with Rosalinda.

The rest of the morning we settled in and washed some clothes and in the afternoon headed to Castiglion Fiorentino for a short walk and to get some supplies for the next week.

There was also a breif moment of fair wether to fly the drone over La Maestà Tuscan Sun (click he YouTube video below)

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Happy Anniversry Baby - Cortona and Arezzo

Cortona, made famous by Under The Tuscan Sun and many other things of course, was our first destination today. As in the past we were transported in the black pope mobile, however this time we were with the Canadians Kerry and Kathy.

A 'La Maesta' at the back of our accommodation titled La Maesta

Starting at the top along side the Church of Santa Margherita, we followed a different route down this time, rather than taking the pilgrimage route we went through the steep streets of the town until we reached Piazza Garibaldi and Via Nazionale. This street Via Nazionale is also the only flat street in the town all others are on an incline of up to 40 degrees. 

Photos never show how steep a path is.

This rock is fitted in the corner to stop men urinating, if they do it will run onto there shoes.

This lady was having a conversation with her neighbour, by shouting at her one floor below.

We wandered the streets and made a few souvenir purchases for the kitchen at home.

We decided to have lunch at a place that had lovely views. Walking in we spoke to the waiter and he advised the kitchen opens in 20 minutes but we could have a drink and wait. That sounded good to us, so we took a table along the rail overlooking the Tuscan countryside.

At 12:20 he gave us the menus and as we placed our order we advised we would need to be out of the place by 1pm as our bus was coming then. He said no problem the kitchen will cook fast. To make things easy we went non Italian and both chose the hamburger.

It was around 12:50 and we started to get worried as the meals had not arrived, after gesturing to the waiter he indicated it was coming. 

Waiting

Waiting...

Well by 1pm time was up our bus from LaMaesta had arrived, the Canadian couple were waiting and we didn't have lunch on the table! At this point we decided we weren't going to be walked over and went to the bar.  We advised the waiter we would be leaving and as the meals had not arrived as promised we would like to pay for the drinks. Then with a whir and a ding the "dumb waiter" behind him opened and the hamburgers appeared. Standing our ground and knowing people were waiting on us in the piazza, we refused the hamburgers (which looked lovely) and asked for the bill of the drinks.  The waiter jumped on the phone and we could tell he was giving the kitchen a blast. He returned the handset to the telephone and could not apologise enough to us, he even offered them as takeaway.

In the end we asked to just pay for the drinks, he said no need to pay as the restaurant had made a mistake and the drinks were free, no need to pay. We then said thank-you and goodbye and within moments were in Rosalinda's van being whisked to the house where the Under the Tuscan Sun story as based on. 

The afternoon was spent in the town of Arezzo, taking in the sights.

Piazza Grande

Piazza Grande

Parco della Fortezza Medicea

View from Parco della Fortezza Medicea

 

Arezzo Flag

Tomorrow - Montalcino, final day in Tuscany.