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As we leave Castel Pietraio, we’re sad yet excited for the next adventures. We had seen a very modern looking winery building from the highway on the way down from the airport and thought we would check it out today.

The Antinori nel Chianti Classico winery building is a unique modern architectural building built into the Tuscan hills. Long and sleek, highlighted with a spiral staircase. It offers winery tours of the facility, a restaurant and wine shop with tastings. We walked around outside, taking in the amazing views, and had a few wine tastings. The building was spectacular, the wine, not as much. The wines were very pricey.

We had a targeted arrival time of 2PM in Florence to give us time to return the rental cars and make a scheduled golf cart introductory tour around Florence. So we figured we had time for one more winery, as we were only 30 minutes out. I found another nearby winery in Google Maps that had recent reviews about them accommodating people without reservations.

Luiano Winery turned out to be a wonderful choice. Tucked into the Tuscany hills, it’s a small family-run winery and olive oil producer. While they could not support a formal wine tasting, Martina did set us up on a table outside to buy glasses or bottles of wine to drink. She then checked with the kitchen and said they could offer us a charcuterie board as well. Four of us shared a bottle of Chianti Classico, an other chose a rosé wine, and another tried a special orange spritzer made with a shot of vermouth. The charcuterie board was wonderful, and the wine was delicious as well. And then they brought out a bottle of Super Tuscany complementary for not being able to give us the “full” treatment! The views while sipping wine were unforgettable. This was the highlight our our trip so far. We brought a bottle of their Rose’, very light in color and fruity, but not sweet.

But we had to go to meet our next scheduled activity, and we were running late. Driving to Florence was pretty easy until we got into the old part of the city. Conflicting navigation instructions between Google Maps and Waze, and apparently dynamic, sometimes incorrect directions as we approached the ZTL restricted traffic zones, and the GPS was intermittent. The traffic got worse with the narrow one lane streets. Our hotel said they would put us on the ZTL white list to avoid getting fined without a permit once we arrived and they recorded our license plates. Hopefully that worked!We’ll know if we get a bill from Hertz next month.

In any case, Tim and I drove back to the airport, quickly dropped off our cars and hailed a cab to the EcoTours meeting point directly. The others checked into the hotel, made a dinner reservation based on a recommendation from the concierge then headed out on foot to meet Tim and I at the EcoTours office. We all met at Eco Tours. Sebastian and Alex were our guides for the two golf carts. The two carts headed out for an hour and half tour. It was interesting, as they pointed out sites and their history. We did stop at one church, Chiesa di San Salvatore in Ognissanti, where Amerigo Vespucci is buried. It also has a portrait of Saint Augostino, a cross by Giotto, and Botticelli’s tomb. Next door was Bottega Giotti leather fashion shop, the most expensive in town. Apparently Sebastian’s sister works there.

We drove past the Uffizi art museum, Ponte Vecchio bridge, Palazzo Palace, and the Piazzale Michelangelo, where we stopped for great pictures of the Florence skyline near sunset. As we went past the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, we saw it was so crowded, so packed with people, we later decided not to try go onto the bridge at all during our stay.

We had issues with the golf carts. Tim and Bonnie had to stop riding the golf cart tour due to the excessive bouncing that re-irritated Tim’s neck. So over-all, it was a fairly good tour, but on the down-side it was very bouncy and you sped past all the sights, but it was worthwhile as an introduction the Florence.

Diner was at Trattoria Lo Stracotto. As typical, great pasta. We enjoyed the al fresco outdoor dining.

It was a wonderful, yet stressful day. Now we think we’ll relax more in Florence in the next few days.