May 7th - Around Montepulciano

Take it easy today, our first full day in Toscana. Walk around, up the road.












Take a drive west through Chiuzi to Porto and the lake outside that town. Then north to Valiano, another, smaller version of Montepulciano. We got seriously lost after Porto - went right off the map, headed into some unknown western region.

This might be a good place to explain about maps and roads. There are blue roads - major autoroutes, almost always toll roads, no speed limit, average 120 kmph easliy. Then there are red roads - good 2 lane, well marked, not very twisty roads, average 60 kmph. Then there are yellow roads - good secondary roads that go through small towns, quite twisty (we thought these were very twisty, but learned better later), average 30 kmph tops. Finally, there are the grey roads - goat paths. We travelled on grey roads today! Penny was not amused. The picture is a yellow road. Note the signs to yield to jumping animals and automobiles sliding into the ditch.

We also found that Italian drivers are not crazy, merely very agressive. Once you understand that, the real problems begin. From Valiano we went back across the valley floor into the hills and Montepulciano. I only have this picture to give you an idea of what you suddenly see. What must it have been like for an ancient traveller? It's awesome even today to suddenly see the hilltop town about 5 kilometers away.