Day 14: San Quirico d'Orci
We all sleep well in the guest house in San Quirico d'Orcia and enjoy the great breakfast spread served at the hotel. It's Diana's birthday and she gets a present of Vestri chocolates from Seth and Kerensa. We have a leisurely morning..made even more leisurely for some of us when we discover that the hotel now has high speed wireless service that we can use in the lobby and in front of the hotel.
We head off to Pienza around 11:30 for our get together with Ulf and Magdalena. I think that the main road from San Quirico d'Orcia to Pienza is one of the most scenic in Italy....the beautiful vistas just go on for miles in both directions....and we make a couple of stops for photo opportunities.
We park in the pay lot in Pienza and meet our friends in front of Duomo. The young people take off to explore the town and the four "older" people find a bar, have a drink and talk. We eat on the outdoor terrace at Dal Falco, a nice trattoria just outside the walls, and have a very good lunch....the local pasta speciality--pici--are particularly good, Diana very much enjoys her proscuitto and melone and vegetables are very well prepared. After a group picture,
I make a quick stop at the hotel next door where I have a group coming next week just to make sure all is ready.
We say goodbye to Ulf and Magdalena but we invite them to come over to San Quirico d'Orcia the next day to see the town and visit us in the hotel garden.
Driving back to San Quirico, I take the alternate route through the valley and we discover one of the largest fields of poppies that we have seen....it seem to stretch out along the valley floor for miles. (This picture doesn't do it justice....better ones will be in tomorrow's report.)
Back in San Quirico, some of the group take naps, others sit in the garden of the hotel and read and a few work on their computers. Later in the afternoon, there is some strolling around town and shopping. Seth sets out for a hike through the country and ends up at a castle--Ripa d'Orcia--about five kilometers away. He decides that it is too much to walk back so he calls and asks Jonathan to come and pick him up. We all gather on the roof terrace, drink some wine and eat some cheese and bread, fruit, olive oil and lots of chocolate.
Kerensa sings "When I'm 64" to Diana for her birthday and after the sun sets,
we regroup downstairs in the ground floor sitting room where Michael and Seth play scrabble and the rest of us read and talk.
We have eaten enough bread and cheese, etc. to make dinner unnecessary but around 10 pm, we all walk down to the Bar Centrale--the local hangout bar/gelateria/game room for some gelato and some "piazza sitting".
Tomorrow we are planning to visit Montepulciano.
We head off to Pienza around 11:30 for our get together with Ulf and Magdalena. I think that the main road from San Quirico d'Orcia to Pienza is one of the most scenic in Italy....the beautiful vistas just go on for miles in both directions....and we make a couple of stops for photo opportunities.
We park in the pay lot in Pienza and meet our friends in front of Duomo. The young people take off to explore the town and the four "older" people find a bar, have a drink and talk. We eat on the outdoor terrace at Dal Falco, a nice trattoria just outside the walls, and have a very good lunch....the local pasta speciality--pici--are particularly good, Diana very much enjoys her proscuitto and melone and vegetables are very well prepared. After a group picture,
I make a quick stop at the hotel next door where I have a group coming next week just to make sure all is ready.
We say goodbye to Ulf and Magdalena but we invite them to come over to San Quirico d'Orcia the next day to see the town and visit us in the hotel garden.
Driving back to San Quirico, I take the alternate route through the valley and we discover one of the largest fields of poppies that we have seen....it seem to stretch out along the valley floor for miles. (This picture doesn't do it justice....better ones will be in tomorrow's report.)
Back in San Quirico, some of the group take naps, others sit in the garden of the hotel and read and a few work on their computers. Later in the afternoon, there is some strolling around town and shopping. Seth sets out for a hike through the country and ends up at a castle--Ripa d'Orcia--about five kilometers away. He decides that it is too much to walk back so he calls and asks Jonathan to come and pick him up. We all gather on the roof terrace, drink some wine and eat some cheese and bread, fruit, olive oil and lots of chocolate.
Kerensa sings "When I'm 64" to Diana for her birthday and after the sun sets,
we regroup downstairs in the ground floor sitting room where Michael and Seth play scrabble and the rest of us read and talk.
We have eaten enough bread and cheese, etc. to make dinner unnecessary but around 10 pm, we all walk down to the Bar Centrale--the local hangout bar/gelateria/game room for some gelato and some "piazza sitting".
Tomorrow we are planning to visit Montepulciano.
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