Cortona - Montipulciano

Urrrrgh - more travel

We checked out of the campground and made our way to Stazione Termini. We are heading to Cortona in the Tuscany region.

The train ride was about 2 hours in the air conditioned comfort of 1st class.

We arrived at Terontola-Cortona station and built up the bikes (we now have it down pat).

We headed off towards Cortona which the lonely planet indicated was about 6kms away.... not quite right - try 12 kms with the last 3km climbing steeply upto Cortona - which just happened to be at the top of the hill. It was a hard climb mainly due to the heat but we made it up okay.

Cortona doesnt have a campground so we hunted around for a cheap hotel. Thankgod for mastercard. We dumped our bags in the room and freshed up before hitting the pavement once again. This time on foot to explore this pretty little town.

As fate would have it the best stuff was up - so we went up. I could have sworn we were at the top when we finished riding but I guess not. he he

At the top of the hill we came to the old fortress which is now a museum. The views were amazing - 280 degrees looking out over the Tuscan countryside. We took some photos - well when I say we I mean Cam. On the way back down we passed a huge church. We could not go in as we were not appropriately dressed, so we continued down to town - we stopped in a shady spot and opened a bottle of red wine we had purchased on the way up.

We had an awesome dinner in a little restaurant on the side of one of the many piazzas. I love Italian pasta.

We then headed back to the hotel and to bed.

Sunday

We got up and had breakfast (which was included in the price of the room) which was yummy. We made an early start as we wanted to beat the heat. We found out that the temp yesterday was 35 degrees - guess that explains why we were hot. We rolled out of town and town the hill we rode up yesterday - so much nicer on the way down.

The next 15kms or so were pretty flat and full of excitment as we were overtaken by a local cycle race. It was really cool - most of the guys greated us and eaged us on.

Once the pelaton had passed the road started its climb - we went up and over a smallish hill before starting the real climb into Montipulciano - like Cortona it sits on the top of a hill. Again the going was slow and hot but we rested in the shade when needed.

Once we arrived in town we went to the visitors centre to find some vacant accommodation. Like Cortona there is no campground in Montipulciano. We found a cheapish double and followed the directions - what we weren't told was that the hotel sits pretty much at the top of a very steep climb. I still dont know how I managed to ride up but I did and was very greatful to find our room on the first floor.

After freshening up we wondered around the town, grabbing some lunch (again pasta for jay). We headed to a wone cellar that was recommeneded to us. The cellar is underground and was built in 1337 to specific specifications for the area. We entered the cellar and instantly the temp dropped 10 degrees. At the end we tasted some wines on offer and ended up buying a bottle. It is not hard to figure out why Montipulciano is know for its wines. I am going to make a big call and say it is one of the best wines I have had. The wines from here are not exported - instead you can only buy them in town. Another interesting point is that if the grapes are not good in a particular year then they jsut dont make a wine that year. In the last 10 years they have only produced their white wine 4 times.