Montalcino

No eating and drinking tour of Italy is complete without a stop in the famed Tuscany Region. We decided on Montalcino, a quiet hill top village in Tuscany, Italy. According to Rick Steves (our travel companion and sole source for information) Montalcino is known, above all for its exquisite wine, Brunello, and a great place to experience Tuscany and the local wines. To get there, we had to take the train from Florence to Siena, and then a bus to Montalcino. Unfortunately, due to a bad connection, we had a two hour wait in Siena before our bus departed. Being resourceful and yet also lazy, Jo and I settled on buying a bottle of wine and crackers, and sat down on the curb in front of the bus to wait it out, while Neff went off exploring the town. Neff’s adventure lasted ten minutes before she came back to join us. And shortly thereafter, we were joined by an Aussie traveller, Callum, who was heading back to Florence, but had missed his train.

The bottle of wine quickly turned into 3, and the group to Montalcino had expanded to 4 (apparently the offer was too good to resist for Callum). The bus ride was quick and entertaining, thanks to the third bottle of wine, and before we knew it, we were told by a passenger (and confirmed by the driver) that we were at our stop. Without a hesitation, we grabbed our bags from under the bus and waved the bus good-bye. Apparently the bus driver was not as nice as we had thought, we had been dropped off in front of a power plant, in the middle of no where and 9km away from Montalcino.

Realizing the next bus was an hour wait, and after confirmation that there were no hotels or taxis nearby, we started hitchhiking…(sorry mom and dad, it was desperate. Desperate enough to break into our “in case of emergency” bottle of prosecco we had packed from Zurich). Thankfully we did not have to wait long before Jo flagged us down a ride, we piled into the car (with luggage on our laps since there was no space in the trunk) and we were back on track to Montalcino with help from our new friend Andrea.

After arriving in Montalcino and thinking the worst was over, we started walking towards our hotel (recommended by both Rick and a local, but for which we had not made reservations at). And again, we hit a snag, as the hotel, and all other hotels in town, appeared closed for the night, and possibly the season. Yet we were again saved by the owner of the local market/butcher, who did not speak English, but DID know someone who had space at their bed and breakfast. I swear the people in that region (excluding the bus driver of course) were some of the nicest people.

Surprisingly our emotions were still positive when we walked into the quaint bed and breakfast, and the attitudes remained high through dinner at the local restaurant (for which the B&B owner gave us a ride to and where we enjoyed a local cooked meal of polenta, wild boar and more wine.)

Despite all of the hiccups and opportunities to make the adventure a nightmare, I found myself completely in love with the town, region and wine. (It did help that the following day was absolutely beautiful and included breakfast purchased by Callum). Unfortunately, after less than 24 hours, we were back in Siena waiting for the train to Rome.

This region, and especially the wine, deserved at least another 2 days of our time, but I guess that is how things go when you travel.