Photos of our Fabulous Adventure
9.5km, 180m elevation
Up at the usual time of 7am. So nice to finally be on this time zone! Walter and our bus are here promptly at 9am.
A beautiful drive over narrow winding Tuscan roads up to Montalcino at 700m. Montalcino is a Tuscan hill town with a full circuit of walls. It was germanely settled in 1000AD by fugitives from the Saracens and their family groups, the Borghetto, Pianello, Ruga and Travaglio. To this day, you will see rival flags outside the houses and they compete against each other in an archery competition.
After a short hour to explore the beautiful old town, Walter picks us up with the bus and drops us 2.5km from town on a small country road. The scenery is amazing and we veer off the gravel road to a wide path and started our gradual ascent. We are ascending 180m today and most of it is this morning.
The day is warm and the sun out in full force. The occasional cloud comes along and we sigh a breath of relief! Not for long though as the air is heavy. We stop in the shade whenever possible and continue up, up, up. Thankfully with every corner is another stunning view so we take plenty of photo stops!
Spring flowers and flowering trees emit the most delightful fragrances and it is like living in a Tuscan brochure!
We arrive in a gorgeous old hamlet that has been converted to Agritourism accommodation. Some sat in the shade of the old church and Gail & I happened on a table & chairs and plunked ourselves down.
Just as we are leaving the harder walking group arrives, we say our hellos and then we are off again.
The afternoon is a little more forgiving with a few more downhill bits through vineyards (or wine forests as Gail calls them), forests & farmlands. This area is SO picturesque, photos just don’t do it justice. We arrive at the Abbey of San Atimo, which is on the Via Francigenia – a 1900km walk from Canterbury, England to Rome. This pilgrimage is much like the Camino De Santiago and is gaining in popularity as hotels and accommodation are catering to pilgrims or peregrinos as they are called here.
Again we finish up just as the harder group joins us, and march up the final hill of the day to Castelnuovo dell Abate. The pace picks up as the group knows that a cold drink is the prize at the end.
The harder walk group shows up soon after we are settled and we have just enough time before Walter returns with the bus.
A short 30 minute ride and we wind our way back through Montalcino and San Quirico.
This afternoon Valeria, the current owner of our hotel, olive groves and vineyards gives us a presentation & tasting. Her information on how to differentiate superior olive oil (olio) and superior wine was fantastic. OMG, amazing how the marketers swindle us. She left a few bottles of her wine for the group to enjoy, which we did!
Time for dinner!
Pointers on selecting good olive oil.
- Check the back of the bottle, if it says it is an EU or European product, the olives are not from Tuscany
- There should be no more than 2 producer names on the bottle, and they should both be from the same country
- Canada & the US add up to 20% sunflower oil to imported olive oil without having to declare this on the label!
- Extra virgin olive oil, does not exist – that is a marketing ploy
- Olive Oil should be stored in a dark container, preferably glass. If it is a clear bottle, don’t buy it
- It should be kept in an area that is dark and temperature is constant – she suggested under the kitchen sink! Olive oil freezes at 4C
- Good Olive Oil should be golden, not green. A green colour means it has had colouring added
- Olives are either for oil, or for eating. The olives we eat are not the ones that are used to make oil
- Olives become more acidic as they age
- Take a teaspoon of olive oil and swallow. In your mouth there will be no taste, however once it reaches your throat, it will taste very peppery. The further south in Italy the olives are produced, the more peppery the taste