Day 7 – Montecatini Terme in Tuscany

Jet trails from Castelbrando, Italy

5th June 2012Oh well on the road again today but I explored around the castle on my own this morning and took more pics. I love having people to talk to but really appreciate my alone time, it’s natural I guess but I seem to skim the surface of the places I see when I’m with the group but on my own they really seem to soak in more. It amazed me to see all these jet trails this morning I hadn’t heard one single plane!!

Wonderful food for sale at service stations in Italy

We stopped at one of those amazing servo’s again today where I had my coffee and chocolate brioche – not doing wonders for the waistline, but I console myself that I’m walking lots so that keeps the guilt at bay for now. Took some pics of the meats and cheeses at this one too. The tour guide was really good to listen to today, he sure knows his stuff.  I usually have good intentions of remembering what he tells us but most of the time it doesn’t stick – good thing I take photos I guess! It seemed like a long day travelling today but we were at Montecatini Terme by early afternoon so I can’t have been too bad. We’re staying at Ercolini & Savi Hotel, it’s another lovely place right in the middle of town.

We had dinner at Fattoria il Poggio a little way from Montecatini. It’s an olive growing, wine making farm with restaurant and also I think they host cooking classes as well. We were inside the bigger building on the farm for dinner at big long tables, was great atmosphere, all dark wood and stone with wine barrels and other old bits and pieces all over. The food was delicious, platters of everything brought to the table to be passed around – just fantastic. The wines were of course their own and more than drinkable too. All round it was a great night, a few people had the wobbly boot on by the time we left and the tour guide serenaded us on the drive back to the hotel – I think he fancies himself as a bit of a singer he often bursts into song on the bus, I must admit though he does have a rather nice voice.