After our long night in Venice, we packed up and caught a train to a small town outside of Florence called Figline (pronounced Fa-lee-nay). This took us to the charming country side of Tuscany, of which we have all seen so many pictures. It is just like those pictures and the movies! I love the rolling hills, lush landscape and pleasant people. Every spot is green and vineyards cover most hillsides.
We had booked a hostel called Norcenni Girasole Club, not really knowing what to expect for only 13 Euros (approximately $19.50 USD) a night. A shuttle bus picked us and to our surprise took us to a family style resort. This place was amazing! There were at least five different restaurants, multiple pools, horseback riding and many more activities. The compound covered miles and miles of ground, all at our disposal. There was even a Disco (dance club) for the younger crowd.
When we got settled in our own private cabin, we set out for the pool. The olympic size pool had two different waterslides, a water polo pool, and a few other odd pools surrounding it. We kept wondering how we got so lucky!
That night we ate at one of the restaurants at the resort and went to the Disco. It was definitely very entertaining. In Italy there is no legal drinking age, you just have to be 16 to buy alcohol. There were younger kids everywhere drinking, but there were just using it to socialize, not to “get drunk” like most kids in the United States. However, not many people our age were here, as it was more of a family resort. At the Disco, the kids were kind of separated, just like a junior high dance. We went and danced out on the floor anyway though! I’m sure we got a lot of stares, haha!
The next day we booked a tour of Chianti country. A charter bus took us to two different vineyards were they gave us a tour of the vineyardes and explained the processes used to create the wine. The first vineyard we went to was a very quaint family owned operation. They cooked and served us a few different Tuscan dishes, all with bread they had freshly baked in their outdoor brick oven. Everything was so good! With the light lunch, they served us three different wines. The first was a Merlot, the second a Chianti, and the third a sweet desert wine. The next vineyard was a much bigger operation, headquartered in a Villa built in 1492. They took us down into their personal wine cellar, where the oldest wine dated back to 1945! This wine is not meant to be served anymore, as it is too old; but a bottle could go for over 10,000 Euros (approximately $15,000 USD)! Under the wine cellar was where the wine was put in huge wooden holding tanks to mature. One was open and I could stand comfortably inside of it! After the tour, we tasted the different wines. All of them were so good!
That is it for now! I will post again when I have internet! Hope all is well!
Love, Kalyn
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