Day 8 - Tuscan Countryside

Mom and I at a Lookout Point in Radda in Chianti

After a delicious breakfast out the by the pool on the patio of our hotel, we got in our Fiat and set out to explore the countryside. Most of the morning was spent driving through extremely dizzying, twisting roads, but when we got to the town of Radda in Chianti, we stopped to walk around. We ended up having lunch there, which was nothing special, but before we got back in the car, we had gelato at a place just down the street that was one of the better gelatos we have had.

The Pool at Our Hotel

After our gelato we got back in the car, and began the drive back to our hotel. Once we got back, Dad took the customary afternoon nap, while Mom and I sat out by the pool. The pool was quite cold because of some recent rain, but it was very refreshing after a day of driving.

For dinner we decided to venture out from the hotel, and we went to the nearby town of Montegonzi, and ate at Borgoforra. The restaurant was only 1.3 miles from our hotel as the crow flies, and yet it took us about 40 minutes to get there because of the indirect, winding roads in Tuscany.  Once again we tried the pear ravioli which was good, but not as good as in Florence. I had another sliced steak, that had great flavor, but still failed to be quite as tender as the first steak I ate back in Florence, and Dad had pizza, something that we have not had very much of on our trip. The pizza was good, but the Italians seem to be unaware of the existence of the pizza wheel, which would make it much easier to simply eat a slice of pizza.

As the sun set on our last non-travel day of the trip, we made the winding drive back to our hotel, where in the soccer field across the street from the hotel we saw a Chingale, wild boar, which mom claims was the highlight of the trip for her so far.  After a fairly relaxing day we returned to our room and prepared to make the trip back to Venice in the morning, to catch our flight home the next day.