Tuscany for the day

I did the bakery run on my own this morning. One by one, we've had a head cold. It's Dave's turn so I let him stay in bed. Today we had a private tour guide (Graziano) pick us up and take us out of Florence for the day. Our first stop was Siena which was about an hour away. The places we visited today were towns inside walls and only local traffic was allowed in. The wind was a bit chilly today and all these places have narrow streets and tall buildings so the warmth of the sun is a bit scarce. We meandered through the streets for an hour or so. Then we headed to a very small village Monte Riggioni where we climbed up on the walls. It was very picturesque and a quaint village. Graziano had asked us earlier if we would like lunch at a winery so of course we said yes. We went to a small family run winery, which is what most of them are. We were greeted by Jessica who looked after us. We went upstairs to a private room and the view was spectacular.
1: We started off with a light white wine with bruschetta. Toppings: artichoke, olive paste, chicken liver pate, a smoother chicken liver pate, tomato, olive oil. By the way, Brodie was included in the wine tasting as it's legal for him to drink beer and wine. Kellie doesn't like wine but had a taste. Dave usually finished their's off.
2: Then we had a light red wine with a fresh tomato sauce pasta dish.
3: An intense red wine with sliced meat and cheeses.
4: Another red wine, by now I'm confused about all the red wines I have lined up because I'm still on the first. With this wine we had bread and about six different flavoured olive oils to taste.
5: A dessert wine serve with biscotti. You dip the biscuit into the wine. With this one it was served in a shot glass. Brodie drank it like a shot and turned the glass upside down. It was so funny. By the way this wine 15% alcohol. Hence a little bit giggly. Well it was something we wouldn't really do, but it turned out to be a good experience and will be a highlight. We walked out with 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of olive oil.
Then we went into the town of San Giminiano for a quick look. The sun was just setting; a beautiful sight. We arrived back in Florence about 6.30pm.
All in all, a lovely day in the country.

Photo 1: Siena
Photo 2 & 3 Monte Riggioni
Photo 4: Wine tasting
Photo 5: A picture with Jessica, San Giminiano in background
Photo 6: Streets of San GiminianoRead more