Tuscan Gem: Montepulciano

There are some places on earth that one hears so much about and dreams about going and maybe never gets a chance. I didn't want Tuscany to be that place for me. I was determined to fit it in somehow into our drive through Tuscan rolling hills into our quick Italian trip. 

So we left Rome and headed towards Siena, one of the main towns in Tuscany. 

We stayed on the main motorway for a good two hours as we drove to Montepulciano, one of the towns in the hills. 

It's always an adventure to find parking in one of these ancient towns, especially when it's your first time visiting the place. Our guide book told us exactly where to park but we must have taken the wrong turn and found ourselves in a "parking" place for a .... movie crew and all their trailers. We drove to a less noticeable spot and parked there, pretending like we knew what we were doing. As we climbed up the stairs from the "parking lot" to the road leading into the city, we came across truly breathtaking views, that are not possible to be conveyed through the pictures...

Mark and his kissy face.

It was around noon when we arrived to Montepulciano, so we headed straight for the recommended pasta place. As you can tell, we don't bring entertainment for our kids when we wait for food:). They manage. Baskets of bread help too.

After a filling lunch of traditional Tuscan pasta, we walked down (literally "down") the main street through this beautiful town. We quickly got confused at what was real and what was part of the movie set though-hahaha.

The whole main square was being used for filming a TV series about the Medici family starring Dustin Hoffman. No, we did not see him.

People told us that not that many details of the buildings had to be altered to fit the era that was being filmed. 

We stood for a bit and watched the movie rehearsing or filming a number of times. 

And I managed to get a picture at this clock tower that was being featured in one of the Twilight movies, "New Moon". 

 

That's me, by that same tower.

So then we just walked around looking at some curious shops, eating gelato and talking to the local folks who are used to tourists but don't mind them.

Mark wanted to climb the walls. 

Katya was trying to find unique shots between buildings. 

Very creative way to grow plants by the shoe shop.

Montepulciano's streets are famous for being "vertical". 

This town looked exactly the way I pictured a Tuscan town to look.

More serene views from the look out point in town. 

A nice work out for our calves.

Our time in Montepulciano was quite short but we enjoyed it immensely. I asked Alex to help me write this blog in the morning since he wakes up so early to go to the computer and write his many "books". He helped me but wrote this:

Here is an acrostic poem that I made up about Montepulciano

Must go there

Only once in a lifetime opportunity

Never fails to stun you with beauty

Tremendous hikes

Easy to spot food

Plan not where you wants to go-just meander around the crooked streets

Under the ground lies workshops that used to be catacombs...

Locals love tourists

Can be just mind-blowing to most tourists

It is the coolest place on earth(besides maybe DisneyLand)

Afterwards, have 10 scoops of Gelato

Never doubt that one shop goes into several hidden underground catacombs that are really spooky

Over all, the whole thing was our BEST AND FAVORITE TRIP TO ITALY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Alex Watson

We left Montepulciano and headed towards Siena. We stopped a couple of times on the way.

Oh look! A pretty view!! Let's all stand together and take a picture on a timer. So that we cannot see the view at all...:)) This was so funny:) And Robert trying to fit into the picture:)

I had high hopes to see the real Tuscan rolling hills in their beauty. But I was a little bit disappointed. I mean, it's truly special to see this in real life and it IS pretty but it's nothing like it would have been in the peak of summer with more yellow and green colors:(

You see? Wish it were July or August. 

That evening we stayed near Siena in a nice apartment that was part of the villa. For dinner, we went to a traditional Italian "buy your own cooked food" type of place where we loaded up on some yummy mozzarella, pesto, chicken, pasta, tuscan roasted veggies and fresh bread. We had a delicious dinner! 

Overnight, the weather changed drastically...to be continued:).

Lyana.