Walking in Cortona

When our landlord introduced us to the cottage, he gave us a fantastic booklet of useful information - contact phone numbers, where to find and operate things in the cottage, his recommendations for cafes, bars and restaurants, things to see in the village, day trips etc and a "nice 1 hour walk" to circumnavigate the main village - which we chose as the main focus of today's activities.

We started by having coffee and croissants for brunch at a fabulous "funky" bar called the "Tuscher Bar" (one of the landlord's recommendations) in the main street and only a couple of hundred metres from our front door - and it was great (I'm looking forward to having an aperitif or two there at some stage).  We strolled back through town, in and out of the shops, and then back home after a walk in a very small part of the the hillside park located right opposite our cottage. 

Then a lovely skype conversation with Sig & Mark - during which we noticed that the time on the skype screen was different from the time on our watches.  A quick investigation via google a bit later revealed that daylight saving was switched off (or on?) in Europe overnight and we had gained an extra hour! No wonder everyone was having breakfast so late in town this morning!  After another skype call to Peg & Al, we set off for our 1 hour walk  around the village.

First, a walk through the park that we had visited earlier - but this time all the way to the end.  The park is unbelievably beautiful and unbelievably huge (long and narrow), with hundreds of deciduous trees, exquisite views of the Tuscan countryside - and probably some Umbrian countryside as well - and hardly any people in it. And at the end is a fancy clay court tennis centre which we walked around, and then started our climb - up and up and up a narrow winding road along the edge of the hill, past Frances Mayes house called Villa Bramasole (currently having the roof repaired) - cliffs going up as high as you can see on the left, and down as far as you can see on the right - and exquisite views everywhere.  

And after an hour, we reached what we thought was the top of our walk, at a lovely bar with tables and chairs out on a terrace.  As we walked in, an elegant young Italian couple were having lunch and had a little dog sitting under their table. We didn't speak to them, and they didn't speak to us, but their little dog went absolutely crazy.  For some reason he was sure that he knew us and was so excited to see us again!  He couldn't control himself and his owners had to release his leash so that he could talk to us.  Anyway, after that we became best friends with the gorgeous couple and their little dog whose name is Bobby.

We had a glass of Italian beer each and a piece of pecorino cheese (as recommended by our landlord), Bobby wanted to sit with us, and when we left, the young couple both stood to shake our hands and wished us a "buona vacanza" and "buon viaggio".

So then back to our walk, which we soon discovered continued up a very, very steep hill to Santa Margherita church, where a service was about to commence and dozens of people were filing in.  And finally, we began to walk downhill - on steep, steep winding cobbled streets and steep, steep sets of stone steps!  My poor boy found it a bit tough going on his crook feet and knees, but we took it very carefully and slowly and finally arrived back at our cottage about 3 hours after we left!  So much for the 1 hour walk.  In fact we reckon that we probably achieved the equivalent of what Kerri & Oliver did in the Tough Mudder course on the weekend.  Anyway it was fabulous and we both loved it.  What a magnificent town Cortona is - so elegant, so well maintained and so exquisitely beautiful.  

And then tonight we went to a restaurant recommended not only by our landlord, but also by the Michelin guide and every web site I could find - Ristorante La Bucaccia - where we were very lucky to get a table.  Because it has such a good reputation, we decided to have an entree and a main course each, with some vegetables to share.  They didn't seem to have a house wine, so Brian, with the help of the owner, chose a bottle of what is known as a Super Tuscan - this one was a cab sav merlot blend.  

If only we'd been warned about the complimentary extras!  First the owner brought us 2 little pieces of their homemade bread - topped with 2 different olive oils from the family farm, and then a little plate of sliced prosciutto from the family farm, and then a little board with pieces of unpasteurised sheep's cheese also from the family farm - and of course a basket of bread and grissini sticks.  And then we had our 2 courses - we both started with homemade tagliattini with porcini mushrooms, Brian had a "trilogy" of wild boar (he called it 3 little pigs) and I had slow braised beef cheeks (cooked for 10 hours), and we shared grilled eggplant, zucchini, red peppers and carrot.  And just as we were about to order coffee and ask for the bill, the waitress brought a huge jar of homemade biscuits full of dried fruit which she said are normally served at Christmas, and gave us one each, and the owner brought us 2 little glasses of some rich Tuscan red dessert wine!  Then finally we had our coffee and went to the desk to pay the bill where we were presented with a Baci chocolate each and the owner wanted to give us a glass of grappa before we left!!  

It was all fabulous and we walked home through the little town that was starting to close down for the night.  And tomorrow?  I think we might have to consider repeating that Tough Mudder course to burn up at least some of the calories we gained this evening.