Chianti

Take lots of grape vines, olive trees, seriously picturesque villages, amazing local food, lovely light, friendly passionate people, lots of green bush and add even more grape vines and you have the beautiful area of Chianti in Tuscany. It is just like living in a postcard. And it's not just one postcard - we have driven around quite a lot and there's new visual treats at every turn. These are just some.

Some of the above photos are in the small village of Volpaia which has about 150 inhabitants. We had lunch on this balcony below looking out over the countryside. Bob had pork and I had wild boar stew. It was so beautiful I had to keep pinching myself.

This is the square in Greve where the famous butchers is. It is lined with shops - some selling local embroidery, china and basket ware as well as the usual tourist wares.
We ate at one of these restaurants under the umbrella. I had pigeon and Bob pasta with seafood.
I took the photo of the man below to say anywheres good enough for a coffee in Italy. He then insisted I take the one of him lighting a cigarette so here it is!

We made friends with this lovely waitress Andreea who is originally from Romania but has lived in Italy for about 8 years. She speaks good English - as well as Italian and Romanian and I don't know what else. She was very helpful telling us about the local area. We hope to see her in Australia one day.