Wine country!

I wrote this lovely, lengthy entry this morning and of course the internet connection died, so here is try numero due..

Last weekend we took a two-day trip to Orvieto (in Umbria) and Siena (Tuscany). Gorgeous.  It was a little chilly both days but sunny and beautiful.  And quiet!  Outside of tourist season things are very relaxed and there are no lines for the incredible views we got to see.  This was, however, a weekend of stairs.  We literally climbed 1,000 steps in two days, and both towns were pretty hilly.

Orvieto is a small town on top of a mountain, so we had to take a tram to get up there.  Apparently it isn't exactly a tourist destination so in general the place was silent.  It was one of those places where things shut down for a few hours every afternoon and people go home, rest, lunch, do whatever it is that Italians do during their siesta.  So while everyone was in, we were walking around mostly empty streets just taking in views and the Italian town life.  Like a lot of cities here, Orvieto is centered around a huge duomo, a church that looks like it really didn't belong among all the small buildings.  Again, the architecture and even the shops and apartments are something you just can't find in the states.  We then climbed to the top of the bell tower (total: 173 steps) backpacks and all.  It gave us amazing views but we definitely had to stop once....or twice.  Little did we know what was in store for us with all the stairs the next day or so.  Afterwards we went down to the bottom of a huge well...which was great until we had to climb back up. But we came out of it overlooking the land down below and you could see the Italian countryside for miles (kilometers!) every way.  

We took a train to Siena during the evening and our hostel was right off of the main Piazza del Campo.  The centerpoint of the piazza was the city hall building with another bell tower (total: 400 steps) and we also went and saw a panorama of the city where once again there was the contrast between Italian town and countryside.  The clear day definitely made all this worth it.  That night we ate at this restaurant that apparently made an appearance in the NY Times. Basically we paid 20 euro for a 5 course meal....pasta, a meat course, contorno (side dish), coffee, wine, water, dessert.  All the food was homemade, and apparently during tourist season it's impossible to get in to eat there because there are literally 5 tables in the entire place. 

We ate breakfast on the piazza the next morning and wandered around Siena all day, did a wine tasting where we sat out on a terrace built into this fortress for an hour or so in the sun, had Sienese salame, cheese and bread, and just chatted about life. I love the charm and small-town feel of the Italian towns and also how relaxed and quiet the European pace is.