We took it very easy, driving on small county roads and stopping wherever it looked like there would be good pictures. In this way, we found ourselves in Radda for lunch, and wound our way into Castellina around 3pm.
A viewpoint between Greve and Radda
First medieval walled village sighting
Radda en Chianti
View from Radda
Town walls from the 11th century
Castellini has a Centro Storico closed to drivers for most of the day... only opened to permitted cars two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. This is because the streets are impossibly narrow, with no sidewalks. The Medievals didn't have clarvoyant city planners, apparently. Of course I booked a place right smack in the middle of the old part. So we ended up getting to negotiate the car through a cobbled, narrow lane jammed with tourists in order to drop off the luggage. This was an interesting exercise in patience and good humor.
The Palazzo Squarcialupi is magical, I think. It is a huge old Palace, now turned into beautiful rooms and huge, palatial living room spaces. There is a pool in the back, and an amazing spa in the caverns beneath the hotel. Eileen, who checked us in, saw that I had booked a double-bedded room (standard rate)(because there was no twin option when I booked) and upgraded us immediately to a twin room. While we waited for it to be ready, she brought us beer to drink on a patio with the most amazing views towards green rolling hills, old villas, vineyards, etc. When we got to the room, it turned out to be like a royal apartment!! It is huge and beautiful, and we just stood there with our mouths hanging open! Here are some pictures, but they don't really capture the beauty of the place:
Room entrance
Living room portion
Amazing, huh?? My mother would say, "I wonder what the poor people are doing??"
Anyway, not surprisingly we decided to get some simple food from the Deli and eat in last night... which is what we did.
As I write this, it's early morning here, the next day. There are two Wi-Fi spots in the hotel: a huge living room upstairs, and the bar area on the bottom floor. I am in the latter, sitting facing the view of green hills. The "e's" are not plentiful here, rather like in Venice. Last night we had just a few minutes before being kicked off (hence you find me here in the deserted bar area at 6am). It's possible the posts will taper off for a few days. I just didn't want you to think that I had suffered a premature death from gluttony and overeating.
The Angel of Espresso just brought me a small cup of it... how totally wonderful!!!
Today we will be visiting small villages around here and I will report back as I can.
