The Younger Sisters' Five Week Journey Through Europe

Today we drove from Greve, about 70 miles, to Cortona. "Cortona is one of the oldest hill towns in Tuscany and is featured in Francis Mayes book Under the Tuscan Sun, later made into a movie. Its medieval streets are pleasant to wander and you'll be rewarded with fabulous views of the countryside along the medieval town walls" ( http://goitaly.about.com/od/cortonatuscany/p/cortona.htm ) . I have wanted to go to Cortona since I saw the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. And after doing research I found that it might be one of the easier hill towns of Tuscany to explore because of its escalator. Don't get me wrong there are just two escalators and there is no guarantee that they will be working. But better than nothing. Also when we were there both escalators were only running up, not down so you we had to manage the steps and walk down. At least we had some help going up. To park we followed the P parking signs and the signs for the escalator. Only one lot is close to t...

Today we stayed close to "home" and had a relaxing and enjoyable today. We started out by heading into the town of Greve in Chianti, about 5 min from Corte di Valle. It is a cute little town with little shops, restaurants and most things you would need in your travels. Sunday Market Every 4th Sunday (Feb-Nov) in Greve's town square (Piazza Matteotti) there is an organic market. There are local artisans, natural crafts and lots of organic food like cheese, bread, wine, olive oil, jams etc. ( http://www.realtasteoftuscany.com/events/wine/organic-markets-in-tuscany.html ).  Jen and I had a great time looking at all the wonderful crafts and foods, we did a little shopping and had lunch at one of the local restaurants around the Piazza. After we did a little shopping we stopped by the local supper market and got some things for a picnic dinner that night. We bought our standard bread, cheese and salami, we also got some local grapes and tomatoes. When we got bac...