Montepulciano in Tuscany 9th Sept

This morning we left our apartment in Soriano and headed up the autostrada to Tuscany . It was very foggy . Our first stop was Montepulciano and we wandered again up and up through very cute streets to a Panaramic view at the top,the fog was clearing. Went into an ancient wine cellar and had coffee in the piazza (sound familiar).Wanita had a taste of the famous Brunello wine.There was a really good art gallery here,  artist was guiliano censini.(google) .We took lots of photos and then drove to a lunch spot that was recommended at the gates of the nearby town of Montechiello. We found a fig tree and picked some. We then drove to our accomodation at Il borgo de Vescine halfway between Castellina  and Radda in Chianti arriving around 5 pm after briefly getting lost around Sienna and ending up in the middle of Sienna instead of bypassing it. Our accomodation had a complimentary wine tasting for guests which Wanita enjoyed. We had dinner the restaurant here and a bit of a late night.

Spoleto &Todi 8th Sept

This morning we drove to Spoleto and happened upon some markets . Wanita bought a scarf and there were interesting cacti. We also bought some candied fruit ,kiwi and cumquat. We walked up to the top where the church was and on our way back we passed a Roman theatre and Wanita went into a Roman house excavation. We had coffee in the piazza and then continued on the road to Todi. Here we walked again up and up to the church at the top ,had lunch in the piazza and Gelati before walking back down. Magnificent views from this place. I was not feeling 100 per cent today and was pretty wrecked but when we got back to Soriano we headed to the forest for a walk but not a big one. Beautiful huge old beech trees ,

Italian Cooking Day 7th Sept

We were collected in the Piazza at 10 am by Floriana for our cooking class. She drove us to her mammas house and we had coffee , pecorino cheese to be eaten with pear and honey, a type of salami. Then we made pasta from scratch without any pasta machines and cooked a bolognase  sauce (very different from what I do at home).
Next was a crumbled turkey and a vegetable dish, then chocolate biscoti. The husband a and son, koined us then to consume it all. Of course we had to try their homemade limoncelo and myrtle liqueur. A huge meal but normal for them. It felt like we had just spent the day with their family. Very authentic italian feel. When that had finished we were in time to see the procession into town for the celebration if a piece of the previous popes garment coming to town. Celebrations began at 3.30 and continued until 7.30pm concluding with a mass in the Piazza, all of which we could hear and see from the window of our apartment through an archway.

Lake Bolsena and Civita de Bagnoregio 6th Sept

This morning I skyped Jim  then we set off for the train to Viterbo to collect the rental car. We caught a taxi to avis and drive to Lake Bolsena taking the long route as we took the wrong road out of Viterbo and weren't game go back into the city for a second try . We went via Tuscania and met the Kake at Capidemonte. We had coffee and pastry then walked around along the shore and up into the old town. Then we drove to Montefiascone with great views over the lake and countryside. Then we drive to Civita de Bagnoregio where we have been bere but it us sych an awesome place. We had lunch at a restaurant in the village. At one point 6 cats had joined us nearby. We started to drive to Orvieto but decided to head home as we gad done enough and didn't want to get home too late. When home we went to  for a castle tour . The big castle at the top of Soriano. Then Gelati in the piazza (we think this will be an evrning ritual)and bought food for a home cooked salad on the terrace with pigs trotters. Another successful day.

Soriano 5th Sept

After a solid sleep today we explored Soriano. We went to the food market  in the piazza and bought food for lunch, mozzarella, tomatoes,prosciutto and tart for dessert . We then went to another market and bought  a handbag each. We went to the train station and purchased our tickets for tomorrow then came home for lunch which we ate on our roof terrace. In the afternoon we took a bus ride around soriano and then walked up to the city gates and had Gelati and cappuccino. Then went to the terrace which overlooks the countryside .

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Arriving Rome/Soriano 4th Sept

After a long walk to the terminal in Abu Dahbi we left nearly on time and arrived in Rome 15 min early . I watched Life of Walter Mitty but struggled to stay awake so dozed the rest of the flight. We flew over  Suez canal ,Cairo, Alexandria and Amalfi Coast. We managed to get a good connecting train that went straight through to Orte without a change in Rome and we're picked up and driven to the apartment where we will be staying in Soriano nel Cimino . apartment is in the centre of thus hilltop town with large church nearby on one side and castle on the other. There are many stairs leading to a rooftop terrace were we had afternoon tea then got ready to go out for tea . We had pizza and then wandered around the streets and we're offered a free tour of etruscian caves 1600's which was very interesting and we had dessert there.
Creme Brulee.

Departure 3rd Sept

Lyndie drove us to the airport at 4.45pm and mum came along for the ride. Our flight to Melbourne was on time and without incident, apart from a guy having a severe nose bleed and air hostesses running up the aisles finding tissues and water. It was a nippy 9 degrees in Melbourne and it felt like it as we walked off the plane and into the terminal building .There was not a lot of time for the connection in Melbourne and by the time we got through immigration our flight was boarding.  We realized we had only had crackers and cheese for tea so we supplemented this by sharing a cherry ripe and we were all good. Soon after departing we did get served a proper tea and I watched a good movie 'face of love'. Also some monty python and the Lego movie. Abu dahbi greeted us with 29 degrees and an interesting control tower see photo # end

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