A place in the country
Sep. 20th, 2009 05:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sacredchaoMet up at Lucca train station today to commence the road section of our trip. A couple of hours meandering through the Tuscan countryside to the sound of a confused GPS mangling the local place names (text to speech algorithms suck at Italian place names) brought us to a small town, the name of which I've forgotten for a short uphill ride in a "funiculare" for lunch in a small 12th-13thC remnant of that town. The set menu we had was clearly for the tourists and a rather bland but I've certainly eaten worse.
We then went on to the villa just outside the town where we're spending the next few days. It's obviously been remodeled a number of times over the past few centuries and sits near the top of a hill with ridiculously gorgeous views of the Tuscan countryside. Late summer is in full swing here in the properly European sense. There are riotously colourful flowers and bunches of grapes the size of a small child hanging from every vine. Happy bees buzz, cats loll on warm brick walls and rolling verdant hills covered with orchards and olive grove vanish gently into a haze towards the horizon. No, I am not making this up. There will be photos posted that I took today. The only downside is that the provided wifi has a limit of 30mb/session and a total of 50mb/day. I kid you not. On the other hand, the spread of food that was left for us beggared belief. Two kinds of lasagne (this is all clearly home made, by the way), a hunk of local cheese which got together with the remains of yesterday's pecorino (and more than stood up to it for pungent goodness) to complement a couple of bottles of wine and a basket of fruit so pretty it seemed fake until I smelt it. A plate of ham, prosciutto and salami, all excellent and all local (there are apparently more aging in the locked cellar) and a raisin tart made using the same local grapes that appeared in the fruit basket. I am most pleasantly stuffed to the gills.
Gaze upon my gorging oh ye peckish and despair.
We then went on to the villa just outside the town where we're spending the next few days. It's obviously been remodeled a number of times over the past few centuries and sits near the top of a hill with ridiculously gorgeous views of the Tuscan countryside. Late summer is in full swing here in the properly European sense. There are riotously colourful flowers and bunches of grapes the size of a small child hanging from every vine. Happy bees buzz, cats loll on warm brick walls and rolling verdant hills covered with orchards and olive grove vanish gently into a haze towards the horizon. No, I am not making this up. There will be photos posted that I took today. The only downside is that the provided wifi has a limit of 30mb/session and a total of 50mb/day. I kid you not. On the other hand, the spread of food that was left for us beggared belief. Two kinds of lasagne (this is all clearly home made, by the way), a hunk of local cheese which got together with the remains of yesterday's pecorino (and more than stood up to it for pungent goodness) to complement a couple of bottles of wine and a basket of fruit so pretty it seemed fake until I smelt it. A plate of ham, prosciutto and salami, all excellent and all local (there are apparently more aging in the locked cellar) and a raisin tart made using the same local grapes that appeared in the fruit basket. I am most pleasantly stuffed to the gills.
Gaze upon my gorging oh ye peckish and despair.
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Date: 2009-09-20 11:49 am (UTC)*jealous grumbling*
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Date: 2009-09-20 06:27 pm (UTC)We do it all for you.