Chianti Country

We had a real nice lazy morning--woke up with the sun and had breakfast on our terrace. 

 

  

 

Our wine tour wasn't until later so we wandered around and came upon the Basilica of Santa Croce. It was completed in 1385 and is the principal Franciscan basilica in Florence. Galileo is buried here, as well as Michaelangelo. 

This is great example of a place to visit in a big city that's amazing but not the main tourist attraction. Everyone goes to the Duomo (including us) but it's so jam packed with long lines and you feel so rushed and annoyed. This place was busy but now crowded, far more interesting that the Duomo, had good sinage in English, and felt much more accessible. 

 

Next up: wine tour in the Chianti region. We boarded a bus with about 70 like-minded Americans (and two Canadians who I have learned DO NOT like to be called Americans) and drove about 30 minutes outside the city to our first vineyard, Tenuta del Palagio. 

(Note--In Orvieto when I heard two Canadians accidentally accused of being American by a Filipino tourist, one responded "We're Canadian. We are not responsible for Trump.")

 

They've been making wine here continuously for more than 200 years. 

 

We sampled several wines, in addition to olive oils and balsamic vinegars. We really want to bring home some of this amazing 20-year aged vinegar but all the bottles seem to be more than 3 ounces and #kdubsistersdontcheckluggage. 

 

Next up, we stopped at a small town called Greve where we grabbed a quick snack of little prosciutto sandwiches and gelato. 

 

Why yes, that is a vintage Fiat coming down the lane behind me. 

Next up, winery #2. Wish I could recall the name of it because it was really amazing, but I was kind of in a car-sickness death spiral after bumping along those windy Chianti hills in the back of a charter bus. It took me a while to recover and I had to hang outside for a bit as everyone started the wine tour. 

 

 

 

 

Next stop, the charming town of Castellina. No cars are allowed so we parked the bus and walked in. 

 

It was supposed to rain today (actually the whole time we were set to be in Florence) but we really have had the most amazing luck with weather. 

 

(You can't make this stuff up. It really looks just this adorable.)

(Not pictured: when I stopped into a "farmacia" to ask for ibuprofen for my headache, the pharmacist asked if I'd like some water to take it with. Assuming she was asking if I would like to purchase a bottle of water, I said "yes! How much?" And she just looked at me funny and poured me a cup of water. People are SO NICE here.)

We had about an hour bus ride back to Florence and arrived at 8pm. It was still light out and we headed back to the hotel and then ventured out to Ghibellina steet for a late night dinner (side note for DC friends: this is where the DC Ghibellina restaraunt gets its name.)

 

If you come to Florence, every restaraunt on Ghibellina street is pretty amazing. You can google and Yelp and research restaraunts to death but save yourself the trouble, find your way here, and just wander down the street until you find a place that's in your price range, doesn't have bright lighting, and most of the people are speaking Italian. 

 

Tonight we went to Il Teatre Restaurante Pizzeria. Started with a dish which translated to "big crouton with beans and black cabbage" but turned out to be amazing. My rule of thumb here is the odder is sounds, the better it probably is. It was a bean and braised kale crostini and definitely something I'll attemp to recreate at home.

Alexis skipped the appetizer all together and went for the pizza. She declared this the best pizza yet. And that's saying a lot. 

 I also enjoyed pasta e fagioli soup, which, humble looking by this iPhone photo was the best soup I have ever had. I have no hope of recreating this one but I hope to one day come back for it.

Oh, and those roses? Purchased from a flower vendor--the kind that usually accosts you while you're dining but since Alexis and I are two women together they assume we don't want to buy flowers for each other--by a large table of Italian men in their 40's and sent over to our table. EVERYONE IS SO NICE HERE. 

Tomorrow we're off to Siena. Please send tips as we literally have done zero research and I don't have an advance team. Or we'll just stumble our way through by the compass of our stomachs which has worked pretty well so far. 

Buonanotti, EKW