Castles, Cake, and Open Road

On our last full day in Siena, we took a quick trip to Monteriggioni, a tiny little walled city that's remarkably well-preserved--it looks like a movie set brought to life (and is used in the Assassin's Creed video games). And tiny is no exaggeration--you could walk from one side to the other in about five minutes! The castle was built in the 1220s to defend against Florence, and the city walls have 14 towers; unfortunately, the walls are closed on Tuesdays, so we couldn't walk around them for the views. But it was still lovely to walk the ancient and completely still streets, as we were the only tourists there early in the morning. It's primarily the walls, a main plaza overlooked by a church, and a few buildings that used to be residences of the wealthy and now house little shops.  Only two places were open--a gelateria and a little wine shop run by an old, quite shaky Italian man who spoke no English. He gave us a tasting and I bullied Taylor into buying a $10 bottl...

Our road trips for today weren't long in distance--the longest being about 40 kilometers (or 20 miles), but given the two-lane roads and slow drivers, it does take a bit to get to your destination. However, we were confident we could squeeze in the highlights of Montepulciano and Montalcino, with a quick stop at Pienza along the way.  Montepulciano is a small hill town in Tuscany, known for its medieval architecture and its nobile wine, which per Google is a medium-bodied wine with notes of cherry, plum, dark berries, and a subtle spice. It is delicious, though my palate isn't sophisticated enough to note anything other than "I like this." As someone who doesn't enjoy more robust wines, I found it very easy to drink alone or with food.   It's an ancient city, with inhabitants recorded in the 3rd and 4th centuries, even before the Etruscans (and then followed by the Romans). While the two main streets are flat, it's otherwise a pretty steep city, so we stuc...