Life in Chianti
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2009
1
3
10
Trip End
Jan 13, 2009
Greve in Chianti,
Italy
Monday, January 5, 2009
We have left Florence, successfully obtained our car rental, negotiated the roads between Florence and Chianti (no small feat), and wound up in Greve, the unofficial capital of Chianti. Actually we first detoured to Panzano, the town our friend Luca once lived, and about 15 miles south of Greve. After walking up and down for about an hour, we had lunch at the famous Oltre Il Giardino Ristorante and had a wonderful meal. Panzano is a very, very lovely town. We priced a small house, but decided not to live there. We then doubled back visiting the area around Lamole, and travling up a very winding road that continued to rise and rise and rise. Laura took some wonderful and spectacular photos. Then back to Greve, where we checked into our hotel. The hotel is lovely, on a very nice and large piazza with many shops and wine bars, and the owner's son, Francesco, very warm and welcoming. Our room is very nice and overlooks the main square with the hills of Chianti behind. We took the tour around the square, and bought 3 bottles of wine at a wine tasting place. We will need the wine for the 3 dinners we are having at Luca's, Lidia's, and Mario's (Lidia's brother). We got quite soused, needless to say. That wine plus the wine we had with lunch put us a bit higher than the 300 meters above sea level which Grveve is. It appears that Radda is the highest town (at around 600 meters). If the weather holds up we will do Castellina and Radda tomorrow.
Weather always seems to be an issue when driving around these towns. Luca's website indicated nice weather for tomorrow (Tuesday). Francesco's indicated bad weather starting as snow tonight and perhaps tomorrow as well. Francesco doesn't seem to believe his site and told us to simply get up tomorrow and look outside to determine what to do. If it is snowing, I refuse to drive to those hill towns, so we will probably hang around Greve. I chose Greve for just that reason.
Love to everyone, and we shall keep you posted,
Laura and Alan
