Ta-ta Tuscany…. Scootin’ into Umbria

We enjoyed our complimentary breakfast in Castiglione de’ Orcia and got our things ready for a day of traveling East towards Umbria. Sam decided to pick it up a notch and speed through the countryside, which didn’t bode well for Jennifer’s sunglasses as they went flying off once we hit 90+ mph. Luckily some cyclists happened to be nearby and picked up the sunglasses as we darted by. 

With our shades back in full force, we scooted off to Pienza, Montepulciano (the town where our lovely wine was from last night) and on to the region of Umbria.

Once in Umbria, we visited Castiglione del Lago for lunch. We really enjoyed visiting this town as it felt like a Sunday in Costco with tastings galore of cheese, ham and salami. In addition to the great tastings, the geographical setting was quite phenomenal, perched on a peninsula surrounded by lake views.

After lunch we hopped back on our bike and headed towards Umbertide.  Our journey entailed multiple narrow roads curving up and down the mountainside.  We enjoyed cruising the roads and soaking up the beautiful weather that Mother Nature blessed us with today.

Umbertide ended up being a much larger city than we had anticipated and finding our pre-planned boarding options became a serious dilemma.  Without addresses, phone numbers, or a good map, finding these quaint little villas ended up requiring more than asking the local drunk for directions.  Long story short, we ended up motoring around for the next couple of hours and attempting to converse in “Spanglish” with an Italian accent to find any nice place to rest our soar bums. Thankfully a good Samaritan saw us at a deserted B&B and guided us to a countryside villa. Naturally the villa was full, but they recommended a neighboring location as another option.  We were happy to find a place to finally call home for the night as dusk was setting in and Sam was getting tired of manipulating the steep gravel roads that so commonly ended in dead-ends.

Fortunately, our lodging was next door to a fun little B&B that served a set-time dinner that was known in the region for being both affordable and quite delicious. While waiting for our multi-course dinner to begin we walked the countryside jumping on a huge tree swing, visiting with two Swedish families and saying hello to our soon to be dinner piglets.

Dinner met the full expectations of our palettes.  The meal began with appetizers of cheese, salami, and specialty breads and continued with pasta, pork, salad and potatoes.  By the time we got to dessert, we were stuffed with too much to eat and drink but still managed to lick our plates clean of every last morsel of chocolate cake.