This is where I'm sitting as I write. What a setting! The sun is shining, there's a delightful breeze and I'm taking a break from the hectic touring we've been doing. A forced break because after 12 days on the road, it's absolutely necessary to do laundry.
We were on the go early this morning to visit a privately owned hermitage. We were able to get in because the owner of the property is the son of the owner of Cretaiole.
We met the group at the family farm and explored a little in Pienza (mostly the views from atop the wall) before hiking over to the hermitage. There was always talk about "something special" in the area but by the time Carlo took ownership, it was covered with trash, several feet high. After a little clean up, he realized he'd found something special and spent the next few years, with the help of Luciano and a cousin, thoroughly cleaning up the site.
Unlike in the US when you find relics while cleaning up a site and the government steps in, here the thought was, "Thank you for cleaning up. Now you maintain it." And so he does.
There are many parts to the hermitage and the thought is that if digging continued deeper that there would be Etruscan ruins as well. Picture which don't do it justice will serve better than my words.
After the hermitage, Carlotta, our awesome guide and companion took the group to something called the People's Church. Not a Catholic Church so it had different engravings and decorations. We went to walk back the way w came and couldn't. Paving of the road had started and it was impossible to enter the area. Carlotta found us another route which involved walking through a field and climbing up a very steep incline. Much more than we had bargained for.
We need to pay for Cretaiole in cash at the end of our stay and since last night we've been having problems with our debit card being unauthorized to make international transactions. Not a good thing. This is our brand new debit card that we went to so much trouble to get!
Today rain or shine, I knew I needed to get laundry done. It had rained early morning and I hoped for fairer weather later in the day.
After a bunch of false starts, I got the first load started. Lou had prepared lunch for us, tomato salad and ricotta, the likes of which we never get at home. We ate outside with fellow guests and devious cats keeping us company. Lad one is hanging to dry and load two should soon be ready to join it. And ah, the sun is shining!
This evening we went to an olive oil class and tasting. During the class, we got our ATM issue resolved and it started thundering. Luigi rushed to get the laundry off the line. Somehow I doubt the damp items will be any less damp in the morning.
We walked through the olive grove. Many of the trees are over 600 years old. Amazing! They say this year looks to be a great year. Harvest begins in a few weeks. Then we came inside and learned about what to look for when buying olive oil. Finally we got to learn about the attributes of oil (fruity flavor, bitterness, spiciness, viscosity, and sweetness and were tested to see if we could identify these attributes in 3 different oils. It's unfortunate that we didn't get to taste a great olive oil.
After that, we headed to Pienza for dinner. We parked at Luciano's farm and walked to town. We got money out of the ATM. Yesterday, our walking tour guide, Ilaria showed us the location of the restaurant we wanted to try so we were easily able to find it.
Shortly after our return, Luciano came banging on our door. Time for grappa. I think we both stuck to vinsanto tonight. When everyone else left, Luciano asked us to stay. And so we did... for a little while.
Buona notte. Siena in the morning.
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