With a view like this, why leave the hotel?

Ciao to all on Thursday!

For dinner last night, we went to La Mandragola, where Robert and I had eaten several times in the past. As it wasn’t quite open when we got there (6:55 p.m.) we wandered into a lovely art gallery near the 1300 museum. They had some wonderful and very unusual pieces on display; some beautiful ceramics! Restaurant was open a little after 7, and in we went. It is a very large room, painted white, with some very colorful and interesting paintings. To start, we split a bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and basil, and of course, garlic! Absolutely NO vampires around San Gimignano last night! Then, for mains, Linda had lasagna (which was WONDERFUL) and I had something that translated as “chicken cooked under a brick”…it was very good, and I had that along with some fried potatoes. For dessert, we split a piece of ricotta cheese cake – yummy! We also had a split of Tuscan red table wine – truly a memorable meal! Walking back to the hotel, it seemed so odd, as the streets were basically deserted – such a change from during the day, when tourists are everywhere!

After so much exercise yesterday, I for one slept very well – obviously too well, as Linda says I was snoring. Oh well! Sorry about that! We had breakfast, and then decided to do a bit more exploring in San Gimignano. The morning was very interesting, dawning very clear with little pockets of fog in the low spots in the valleys, but with a beautiful sun rise – but by the time we were finishing breakfast, fog began to roll in, until it totally engulfed the entire city! As we headed toward the Duomo, we found that Thursday was market day in San Gimignano! What fun! We walked all through the different stalls – clothing, toys, linen, fish, meat, herbs, flowers – so much fun to see everything that was available!
Went into the Duomo then, as we had decided not to schlep things all over town with us. The church is just beautiful, but for some strange reason AGAIN, no photos!! The Duomo was probably the most frescoed church we have seen yet – they are floor to ceiling, down the entire length and breadth of the church! According to one of our guidebooks, they were scenes from both the new and old testament, and were really used for teaching the people about the bible. Just incredible; and a HUGE St. Sebastian with countless arrows going every which way! (Bob & Stew, you would have loved him!)

Market pictures -

Duomo pictures that I wasn't supposed to take...

Followed the Rick Steves suggested route, going through Sant’ Agostino (again, no pictures…grrr…) and finally the route along the walls. This took us through some beautiful streets, actually outside the walls, and past several very small gates – but absolutely NO tourists anywhere, and incredibly quiet everywhere, just the sounds of nature! At one point we passed a couple who were harvesting olives; it was fun to watch. He was on a ladder actually cutting down the small branches that contained olives. She was then using a large “comb” like rake to rake the branches, putting the olives in a mesh screen set on the ground. Seems like a lot of work, but for anyone who loves olives…

Our route wound us back to the market area, where we bought some lovely table cloths. Then, as it was just about noon time, we decided to put our picnic together, based around the lovely bottle of white wine we picked up yesterday in Monteriggioni. Found a very nice deli, and got a good hunk of Pecorino Grotta (fairly hard and dry Pecorino; just excellent) as well as slices of salami and prosciutto. Add some bread, and voila! Lunch! (Unfortunately, I don’t know how to say that in Italian!) Linda spread everything out on the table on our balcony and we proceeded to have a truly idyllic lunch! Talked and laughed and enjoyed our picnic immensely – also, did not leave a scrap of anything, including the wine! The fog had cleared from the town and valley, and the view was incredible – what a great way to spend a day in Tuscany!

Retreated then for naps, and afterwards, another leisurely stroll in town – this time, I got as far as the main piazza for gelato – I had chocolate fondant (tasted just like home-made chocolate frosting) and vanilla; Linda had tiramisu and marscapone. We sat outside the little gelato shop, looking like very good advertisements for what was inside!

Back to the hotel around 5 p.m. To be honest, neither of us are sure if we will even want dinner, after our wonderful picnic! Fortunately, there is a great little pizza-by-the-slice place right across the street!

Tomorrow we’re moving on to Cortona – not too far away, but we are planning to have a few wine tastings as well as a cooking class on our agenda!
More later! Much love!
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