Part 2 - Sansepolcro and the hill towns

That clever GPS got us right to the door of the apartment we had booked - Casa Mila run by two NZers Val and Colin Stevens! What an amazing invention! We travelled past huge fields of sunflowers and bronzing grapevines as well as winging over high motorways on long bridges and through tunnels. The apartment in Sansepolcro (pop. 16 000)was on the third floor of a house part of which was built in the 1400's very solidly in brick and plaster. We have a bedroom and bathroom each as well as a living room and a kitchen/dining room.The house has turquoise shutters on windows that open, as all windows seem to on this continent,inwards. Our room looked over the walled garden and this was also available to us - with a barbecue. We made use of this on two nights we were there, much to J&J's enjoyment - meat being something they deem too expensive in London.The first night we cooked steaks and Tuscan sausages (for Jared)and braised the hugest red pepper for the green salad we also ate. Another firm fave was the insalata caprese - the buffalo mozzarella was a real hit.The first night involved a bit of staying up and five bottles of wine - we had to be sure we getting the good stuff after all!
The next day we set off for Anghiari an neighbouring hill town, which was pictured on a poster in our apartment. We were also able to leave our washing drying in the sun! Anghiari was a fort back in the times of the middle ages when all good Christian men fought all the others for the glory of God ...or something. We found a market packing up and Jo found a leather bag she had to have - a good buy too!Anghiari dates from the 1300's and it is really quite amazing to see people just continuing to live there - with TV aerials sprouting from the roofs.We had a cold drink looking over the olive groves and gardens - buxus, bay trees and lots of petunias.
After a conversnation we agreed that we had enjoyed this experience so much we would give Florence a miss - I think we had overdosed in Venice a bit - and just go on to Cortona - another hilltop town but with some lovely leather bag shops and the odd museum and frescoes. At the Mueso Diocesana John and I saw and really interseting architectural exhibitions aboout how and why this fort had been constructed and then replicated (in Malta)and now adapted for future use. There is obviously not a great deal of call for hilltop forts in these parts so they are adapting for the culture market - opera and rock concerts I should think.We also found that Cortina had the best gelato we had found yet in our travels and frequent tastings. The country around was spectaular - olive groves, grape vines and cypresses. Jared capably drove us back a different way according to the strictures of Gus our friendly GPS. I think he was a great driver and he seemed to emjoy being behind the wheel even if it was a Ford Focus. When we finally got out of Tuscany and into Rome however, it was a different story....!