We arrived back in Florence on Sunday night about 9:30pm and were absolutely starving. Walking back from the station to our apartment, we thought stuff it we'll just pop into a restaurant for a quick bite to eat on the way home. We picked a restaurant that Anna had been to previously that she thought would be nice and easy, and it was perfect, a few bowls of pasta, few cans of coke and we were satisfied.
The funny thing was walking in and out of the restaurant with our backpacks on, boardies, singlets, thongs, sunburnt skin, we looked like typical Aussies and we were stared at by everyone!
Monday morning Anna was back at school and Jules and I had planned a road trip. After a few issues at the rental car place, we were off on our way down south to our first stop Pienza.
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| the hill town of Pienza in the background |
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| posing next to a statue of Pope Pius II |
Apart from finding the history of this town a little interesting, it really wasn't much chop, so we didn't waste anytime in getting to our next destination, Montepulciano.
Anna and I had been here before and had one of the greatest lunches of all time, so I felt it was necessary to have Jules experience it as well.
Luckily Anna had phoned Osteria Acquachetta a few hours earlier to book a table for us because again it was packed. We were both starving and although Jules thought it was crazy in ordering so much steak, we opted for the almost 1.8kg bistecca alla fiorentina (t-bone), it was massive!!
As is custom in Tuscany, the owner went back into the kitchen, got his meat cleaver out and hacked away at half a cow laying on the counter and brought us back a piece of meat that could sink a ship. Jules was amazed and thought it was way to big, but I looked there owner in the eye and said "perfetto!"
Not more than 10-15 minutes later, our meat had arrived, along with the pear, lettuce and parmesan cheese salad and plate of roasted onions, we were in for the meal of a lifetime!
As can be seen from the photos, they certainly like their meat red! Lucky for Jules and I that we like our meat cooked that way, but if someone else was to complain and ask for the meat to be cooked medium rare or well done, it would not go down well at all!
Surprisingly Jules struggled to get through the last few mouthfuls of his meal, but I was still powering away. This was perfect as it meant I had right to chew away at the bone. Dad would have been very impressed as he hates any meat to go to waste.....and I made sure there was none wasted!
With the fullest of full bellies, we needed to go for a decent walk and with it's great views and pretty buildings, Montepulciano is not a bad place to do this!
Walking back down the hill I remembered an amazing wine cellar I had visited last time and I was sure Jules would love it. Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano is one of, if not the oldest wine maker in Italy and it's cellars certainly showed it!
We tasted some amazing wine and I even bought a bottle for Jules to take home to Mum and Dad.
Walking back down the hill to our car, we stopped for a coffee and even though we were as full as a goog, we managed to fit some sweets in as well.
The drive home through the Chianti was even more beautiful than I remembered it. Vineyards and olive groves surround you as you wind your way back to Florence.
We stopped on the side of the road for a few photo's, but stupidly forgot how much it had rained earlier in the day. We managed to accumulate more mud on our thongs than you could ever imagine, lucky we were driving a rental car hah!
We finally made it back to Florence at about 8pm and had 15 minutes to change, clean all the mud of us and make it over the other side of the city for dinner. In the end we just thought, stuff it, we'll be late.
After dinner Natalie came with us to a club called Twice which was just around the corner from our apartment. They had happy hour from 11-12pm and under Jules' coercion, he and I managed to down at least 5-6 drinks, plus that many in limoncello shots.
Anna and Natalie went home and again under Jules' coercion, we stayed on for a few more hours.
Jules tried his luck on the dance floor, but after an unsuccessful attempt to make friends with a young American, we decided to call it a night.
The next day we woke with throbbing heads, but we had to be up early to drop the car back.
On the way home, we stopped off at Chiesa di Ognissanti, a Franciscan church completed in the 1250's. It was full of amazing frescoes and the decorations on the ceiling were pretty impressive as well.
Next door there is a convent and in the refectory is a huge Last Supper painting by Domenico Ghirlandaio.
The rest of the day we spent wandering around the streets of Florence with no real plan of action.
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| Arno river and Ponte Vecchio |
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| finally gave in and bought a belt from the market |
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| best nutella crepe I've ever had |
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| Patting the Cingale (wild boar) which is supposed to bring you back to Florence |
Jules was up at 6am the next morning to get his train back to Milan for a 1pm flight back to Melbourne and after a hectic few weeks, we spent the day doing absolutely nothing.
That night we went out for aperitivo with the girls at a new place called easy living, right on the river. It was a great spot to chill and the mojito's were pretty good, but the food was pretty ordinary. Lucky it was cheap as!
Afterwards we walked around town for a while and then hit the sack for a reasonably early night, ready for another adventurous weekend ahead.
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