2geonomads

Friday 30th May 2014

Wake up to some very heavy fog over the valley below the villa but with a promise of 24 degrees later in the day.

We have decided to have a very relaxing day at the villa before the long drive south on Saturday.

However, we meet up with Barry who is cleaning  the pool and he suggests that we visit Montone, a small hilltop town ( is there any other type in Italy?) which he says is a hidden gem.

Before setting off we do give Barry a bit of grief on his comments when we first arrived at La Torretta that the weather patterns are always favourable and the rough weather almost never affects this area. We remind him that we have had rain on virtually every day and have been hit by some severe thunder and hail storms. He falls back on the final refuge of all locals which is to say ” you should have been here last week” or ” this is very unseasonable”. The only thing in Barry’s favour is that in his present work checking the safety of hot air balloons he is able to provide very accurate predictions. Today he smilingly lets us know that the afternoon will be wet so we should get off to Montone this morning.

Montone is indeed a gem, perched high on a hill, far from the madding crowds of tourists and with some beautiful buildings, alleyways and offering glorious views of the surrounding hills.

We find a great little coffee bar on the main square although the coffee is still a bit too strong for Maureen. We have , therefore, decided to buy a single coffee bean which we will hand over to any coffee bar on arrival and after they have dipped it very quickly into the hot water we will retrieve the said single coffee bean for re-use at the next coffee stop. Problem solved!

We return to the villa with the weather good enough for us to eat out on the veranda for once but the threatening skies are looming on the horizon and before long we have the now familiar deluge. Faced with few alternatives we just relax indoors before driving the village of Niccone about 15 kms north of the villa for dinner at Locanda di Nonna Gelsa.

We have some organic waste to drop off in one of the roadside bins and on the way to Niccone Gail provides us with another G moment when she says we must find a ‘refuge’ bin instead of ‘ refuse’ ( rifiuti in Italian ). We were still trying to find out what Gail is taking refuge from when we arrive at the superb little restaurant which Barry has recommended in his notes. Chiara, who is serving us, speaks fluent English and we enjoy a great evening meal in a restaurant which is packed to the rafters by the time we leave at 9.30.

Off to Orvieto and Pitigliano tomorrow.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret