Houghtons on Tour

We have been spoilt rotten by everything from the food and vino to the surrounding countryside. We walked 10km along the back roads amongst poppy fields, olive trees, wheat fields and grapevines. We have not spied out any livestock at all, except chickens. Nothing! We wonder where their meat and milk comes from. Any ideas? We decided to avoid the big villages, it really is a nightmare finding parking then only being outnumbered by Germans and Dutch tourists, we stumbled across a truly authentic rural town. As we drove closer it appeared like a castle set high on the hill, and as we parked and walked up, realised we had come to a place called Casole d'Elsa, very quiet, no tourists, 6 cats sleeping in the alley, windowboxes, and pretty handpainted ceramic tiles along the alleyways and exterior walls of the houses. Just gorgeous. We sat and enjoyed cupaccino followed by a locally made rosa vino, yum! The nicest quietest and friendliest town so far, I guess we can't avoid the touristy thing, but we really do enjoy conversing and simply seeing the Italians at work and play. We have made friends with Carmel and Mike from Cork Eire who seem to enjoy socialising with us around the table with vino til the wee small hours. We will miss them as they head off to Florence tomorrow. We are off south of Sienna to a remote place called Roccalbegna, not sure what to expect, as on the map its even smaller than here!! Yes we visited the library at Sienna and were in awe of the frescoes, we haven't yet bought cheese from the side of the road, but cherries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries are in abundance here! Thanks for all the comments, we can't tell you how great it feels hearing from you lot, wish you were here enjoying chianti and formaggio with us. Salute !