Colle di Val d’Esla..Day 1

 di Val d’Elsa is a little town in Tuscany that most tourist know nothing about.  They prefer to go to the overly crowded Siena or San Gimignano.  I had the pleasure of visiting this place last fall when I came to visit my friend Cecilia’s villa, Podere Scopicciollo It is an hour and a half bus trip from Florence and after Cecilia showing me around I knew we would be going back. The long holiday weekend was a perfect excuse for a get away and what a nice way to celebrate our birthdays. Supposedly Zoe was born in August and I decided she would share mine.

I found a nice B&B in the center of town and booked us with arrival on Saturday departing on Tuesday. Ten minutes into our bus ride the it broke down and we were delayed for an hour but we are not in a hurry these days and we just rolled with it.

The town is on a hill which makes for some fabulous views.

The Arnolfo B&B was perfect and a room with a view.

Unpacking didn’t take long and I couldn’t wait to have lunch and wander around. I had a very good seafood salad which I wasn’t expecting since we’re not that close to the sea.

First place we stopped was a store/workroom of some beautiful handwoven items. She  does everything right there.  She uses many different yarns, linen, silk and cotton to create different textures. Stunning use of color. I forgot to get her card and the he store has no name on it.

Mario Barone Pasticceria is a Beautiful contemporary pastry shop that really stands out in this medieval town.

Enoteca Il Salotto would ha è bene Johns favorite place. A reale nice wine store With a vere knowledgeble ownerand great story teller.

He also has a real cute dog who could not keep his eyes off Zoe.

The best part of the day was being able to have dinner with my friends Cecilia and Marco.

I was so excited to see them I forgot to take a picture. I love this picture that I lifted from her fb page.