Adventures

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Gargonza!

On Saturday morning our family time in Umbria was done and it was time for Lisa and Christos to enjoy the wonders of Tuscany on our own!

Our first stop was the lovely resort / hamlet of Gargonza. While located within Tuscany, Gargonza is close to the border with Umbria and is a bit off the beaten path for foreign tourists but very popular with Italians for weddings.

We stayed in the lovely Pietrino suite which consists of a bathroom and bedroom on the top floor with a kitchenette and lounge on the main floor. The "stairs" to the second floor reminded us of the access way on Elifthiria, quite steep and a bit rickety!


After we arrived and checked-in, we took off for a little drive of the area and visited Sinalunga (seeking the Etruscan Larth exhibit which we found but it was closed), the abbey of Farneta and the town of Marciano. Christos bought some Mussolini era coins in Sinalunga which the vendor claimed were silver but Christos knew they were not (still, only 10 euros for coins from the 20s complete with Mussolini's profile!).

When we returned to Gargonza, an Italian wedding was in full swing (it being Saturday) and we had to squeeze a bit to find parking!

In fact, it seemed to be high season for weddings as we noticed a plethora of wedding direction signs spread about the countryside on our drive to Gargonza!

That night we dined at Gargonza where dinner was expensive but good (Christos' pork was excellent).

The next day (Sunday), we noted as we drove about that the signs for previous matrimonial celebrations were still festooned around the area so we began a new activity; wedding sign collection!

Much of our day was spent performing what we now regarded as our civic duty; removing wedding signs for past weddings and by the end of it we had quite a collection!

We also tried to do some hiking on the trails near Gargonza but soon discovered that what Gargonza labelled a trail soon became bush! So we squeezed in a short round trip hike (2km?) before emerging from the bush covered in scratches!

That night we decided to try the local osteria (Osteria Del Cacciatore) which was very good and reasonably priced. We had the mixed grill for two which resulted in left over steak for the next day's lunch!

Our last day at Gargonza included a 2.5km hike in the "Riserva Naturale Di Ponte A Buriano E Penna" as well as a visit to the lovely hill town of Civitella in Val di Chiana, the site of a WWII massacre of Italian civilians by the SS.

We grabbed a bite at a local restaurant and Christos noted that while we dined on bruschetta, the two tables sitting next to us conversed in German and the locals seemed not to care. I guess time heals all wounds! 

Dinner was once again at Osteria Cacciatore (the price point was hard to beat and the food quite decent) and after watching some TV on the front steps of our room (Gargonza has excellent wifi) we retired for a good night's sleep with dreams of out next destination, Chianti!, filling our heads.




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