Montecatini Alto Sept 13

Slept in a little bit. 16 of our group went to Florence today. Went down for a nice breakfast and then walked into town looking for a spa so we could enjoy a massage or some kind of treatment. The place we went into had nothing available, appointments are necessary. We tried the big one "The Excelsior " they also were unavailable. So we continued to walk through the park area to find the Funicular. A 25 seat train/Wagon on an uphill track that takes you up to Montecatini Alto. Small cobble stoned streets and a darling village with lots of small shops and a lovely little piazza. We sat to have lunch. Cristi had a spritz and a piedina which was pretty pathetic.. a flour tortilla with one slice prosciutto and lots of lettuce. We shared a mixed salad I had a glass of white vino and a lovely plate of caccia & Pepe pasta. White cream sauce over capellini, perfetto! Took the funicular back down the hill , walked through the park to the hotel. Showered, washed the hair, relaxed a bit. And then went out for a pretty long walk along the Main Street with several upscale shops . it's a busy little town with primarily a younger scene. Stopped and had a espresso. Checked out the Columbia House Spa for availability etc. we ended up sitting in some wonderfully comfortable outdoor furniture on the patio at Syrah wine bar, Terri Maninna had recommended. We both had spritz', in fact we shared a third one ! They had a self serve appetizer table. Kind of a weird combination of food. Three puréed dips with sliced baguettes around each. The brown one that looked like baby poo she says was 'meat' ! Not so good. The yellow tan one looked like hummus, wasn't! She says it's potato, real bland. The gray one was ripe olive, yay! Like a tapenade. There were a couple of family style plates of Farro salad, couscous, rice with green olives. Some orange purée was some sort of veggie, maybe carrot, or root of some kind. Marg and Glenn walked by , so we joined them to take a walk to find dinner. We ended up at a place down a little alley way, only two other people there when we arrived. We shared a salad . Cristi had a Margherita pizza, I had gnocchi with pistachio cream sauce, it was very good. Took a leisurely walk back to hotel.Read more