The Villagio Turistico and other adventures

 Sorry I haven't posted in almost a week...it has been a busy last few days! Our weekend was quite the adventure to say the least. Our program took us on this optional free trip to Umbria which included transportation, 2 nights, dinners, and activities in each city that we visited. It seemed like a no-brainer at the time, but we really weren't quite sure what we were in for. Our bus left on Friday at 1:30pm from Piazza Santa Maria Novella, which is near the train station. Our first stop was at a winery in Montepulciano where they took us into their wine cellar and we got to see the barrels of wine in the process of aging. Then they took us upstairs for my favorite part--the tasting. We tasted three different red wines and were given pecorino cheese, an assortment of prosciutto and other meats, and bread with amazing olive oil. All the wines were delicious! Then we got to take pictures of the beautiful countryside before we got back onto the bus. By the time we arrived at the 'hotel' it felt like it was midnight, only it was only like 8pm. I was sitting at the front of the bus and  I could tell from the little Italian that I can understand, that our tour guides were lost. This gave me a bit of anxiety, although I kept it to myself, especially since my roommates were all asleep. Finally when we arrived, it was so dark I could barely see anything except a sign that said: "Villagio Turistico" or "Village of the Tourists" I then woke up my roommates and we really didn't know what to think. They then gave us our keys and told us that dinner was at 8:30. The hotel owner walked us to our building and to our surprise it was actually so nice! We were in a villa that had 4 beds and a kitchen downstairs and then we went up a spiral staircase to our loft where there were 2 double beds and a bathroom. We were pleasantly surprised. The only problem was that there was no heat. I took a shower that was a small trickle that would stop every 30 seconds and I got so claustrophobic and I spazzed and broke the shower door...haha woops! But they did give us some robes and really good looking slippers so that is literally what I slept in I was so cold. So night 1 was interesting, but it could have been worse....right?

Day 2, Saturday, we woke up early, had breakfast at the hotel and then got on a bus to go to a cheese factory in Maremma. It was a little early for me to be smelling cheese molding, and I did get a bit nauseous for a bit there, but wait till you see the sexy cheese-making outfits we got to wear! We also got to taste a ton of cheeses after which was amazing. The ricotta was delicious as well as the aged Pecorino Toscano.

 After the cheese factory we visited a town called Pitigliano that was literally built into rocks in the countryside. It was so beautiful, but I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't raining and freezing cold. But luckily, Colleen and I kept our cheese garbage bag robes so we stayed dry! We were given the option to either go back to the hotel or take the walking tour at Pitigliano and of course I wanted to go back to the hotel to get warm....but, shockingly I chose to suck it up! (Dad you would have been so proud, I only complained a little bit!) And I really did enjoy the tour it was so cool to learn about the history of the Etruscans first founding this city until it was taken over by the Romans and the Medici family. Then after Pitigiliano we got back into the bus to continue the tour....at this point I was complaining a little more but mostly because I couldn't feel my toes. We then went to another town near here called Sovana which looked similar but was so small, only 100 people. On the way, we also stopped to see and Etruscan tomb or necropolis that was built many centuries ago. Finally after touring Sovana, the day was over and we returned to the hotel which was still freezing but at least they finally got the wifi working.

Day 3, Sunday, we woke up early again and got our stuff packed up and ready to go. We had breakfast and then left for a town called Orevieto. To be honest, at this point I was losing my touristy steam. I wanted to go back to Florence. But yet again, I sucked it up and we did another walking tour. And I'm glad we did. This city was beautiful and had one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen. We also got to tour the underground caves that were built by the Etruscans many centuries ago. And the caves were like 60 degrees down there so I loved it...however there were lots of wild stray cats around the entrance to the caves which sort of creeped me out. We were then given some free time to get lunch on our own in the town which was nice because we got to go inside and get warm. Then at 1:30 we went back to the buses and drove 2 hours back to Florence. Overall, we decided we were glad we did the trip and we learned a lot and had fun but it's not something we would need to do again. It was a busy weekend but we were so happy to be back 'home' in our apartment:) And on Sunday night, we booked our next two weekends: this weekend is Venice and Verona and next weekend is Prague!

Arrividerci!
xoxo