Continued from Pienza and Beyond- Pt. 1
Taking our leave from Montepulciano, we made our way to our stop for the night- San Gimignano. It was obvious by now we’d not be arriving before dark which was our goal. Wish us luck.
Pulling into town, we spent some stressful and somewhat grouchy and tense moments trying to find parking. We did and paid, then contacted our Airbnb hostess to help guide us to where we needed to be. Yes, we had gps and Google maps, but if you’ve ever been to a small >Tuscan village…. Well…
Turns out after she gave us very clear and specific directions to the place, we still took the long way around. The roar of our bags clacking on the stone streets alerted the entire 3 adjacent districts of our arrival. The only way we found it was our hostess yelling across town…. IT’S OVER HERE….!!!!!!!
Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad but what should have taken us 4 minutes from the car, took us 30. Because it was dark. And it was all uphill. And there are 4,402,023 little turns and winding alleys there. And it was dark. Finally, we were safely in our cozy little room inside a much bigger apartment which had a common area, open kitchen, and small balcony. Zero of which we used. It was very well decorated and certainly comfortable enough. Here are the few photos I took of this lovely AirBnb:
We’d arrived much later than we’d hoped and were starved and exhausted. Luckily, there are also 4,402,023 cafes and restaurants to choose from so, after stowing our bags, we walked until we found something that looked good. It was certainly busy enough and it had fresh pasta hanging at the entrance, so it had to be right?
Because we were starved, we naturally over-ordered. Which is fine, we enjoyed our leftover cheeses over the next days.
I did, in fact, order some Nobile and enjoyed it quite a lot, thank you very much. I don’t know when I’ll ever get another $5 glass of Nobile from Montepulciano. This one was like $4,500 if you throw in travel costs, though. 😉
And here’s where a bit of grief happened. Tuscany is also known for its wild boar. Every year there’s a wild boar hunt, it’s big sport, quite the community thing. And as they say, when in Rome…. Or Tuscany as the case may be. No, I didn’t go on a wild boar hunt. (Wouldn’t THAT make quite a trip report!!) But I did order some. I’m an “adventurous eater” and thought I’d really enjoy this.
I did not.
It was just a bit too much on the gamey side of flavor for me and while I did eat until I was full, I wouldn’t order it again. I washed down my sorrow with another sip of Nobile. Anara, on the other hand, loved her Bolognese and ate very bite. Except the one I tried. It was her turn to have the superior meal. Ya win some, ya lose some.
Finding our way back to the Airbnb was just as ridiculous as the first time we looked for it on our way into town. We should have channeled our inner Hansel and Gretel, but instead pulled a Kingston Trio and became the (folks) who (almost) never returned.
It was still dark.
We both slept pretty well as I recall, and I was up far earlier than she was. Stay tuned for Day 2 in Tuscany…
