We had no set itinerary today, but Tom did want to explore
deeper into Le Crete, possibly to see if the (significant amount of) money he’s
invested in new cameras and lenses since our previous visits will improve his
photos of the area. That remains to be
seen, but we did have a wonderful day driving off what pass for main roads
here, up narrow, cypress-lined lanes, to borgos (small hamlets) that don’t show
up on our maps. Truly, this could go on
forever, with one gorgeous vista after another, around every bend in the road.
So, no big guide book sights to report on today, but it was
memorable nonetheless. We did stop at a
spot along the road and immediately recognized it as one where we’d paused
before, probably in 2005. That was a
summertime trip, and we recalled that the hay had already been rolled into
large round bales then, but the site was very familiar. We spent quite a bit of
time there today, and enjoyed our lunch and the scenery at the same time. Interestingly, on our previous stop there,
we’d noticed much of a nearby borgo undergoing massive reconstruction, with
cranes and other heavy equipment on the scene.
Today, it looks like a slice of heaven, perched on a low hill
overlooking an equally heavenly scene below.
All it takes is time and money, and for those of you will an excess of
either commodity, there are lots of money pits here, just waiting to be turned
into your own private paradise. We’ll
waive our finders’ fee for a free bed when the work is done!
We wandered further south this afternoon, through the Val
d’Orcia, with pretty San Quirico d’Orcia and the massive Rocca (defensive
tower) overlooking the valley at Castiglione d’Orcia. As we looked across the landscape, it seemed
as if every hill had its own tower; must have been a whole lot of fighting
going on!
Our next direction was up, as we drove up Mt.Amiata, a
heavily wooded mountain road, pretty deserted today, that leads to a ski
area. There were still occasional
patches of snow in evidence near the top, and a community of ski chalets, as
well, though all was pretty quiet there, too.
Then, it was home amid some gathering clouds, via
wine-famous Montepulciano, for our last night in our hill top agritourismo (and
the last drive down the HORRIBLE road leading to it!) This was a glorious day, almost summer-like
(NOT Scottsdale summer, mind you), and, after more than three weeks of
lingering cold weather, the heat felt just great!
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