Montemassi

Can I just say that I'm really enjoying blogging about this vacation after the fact? It's allowing me relive the whole thing and keep one foot in the past in Tuscany. Nice.

One of the several medieval villages we visited was Montemassi. Here's what it looked like from the road in the valley below:



Most of the villages looked like this. You could see them sitting atop hills. When you were up on the hill, you could see other such villages dotting the landscape as far as the eye could see - well, up until the sparkling coast, of course. Rough life.

So anyway, we drove up into Montemassi to look at the castle there. It's in ruins, but work has been done to stabilize it, and there's a nice path up to it.



From one side of the castle to the other.



And vice versa.



The surrounding countryside. I mean, come on Tuscany. Could you get any more... Tuscan?



And again:



Here's a look down on the town.



This kind of ceiling seemed to be pretty common.



It's hard to say what part of this vacation was my favorite part, because they all seem to be my favorite, but kicking around these villages and castles and churches was really great. In general, I loved being out in the countryside instead of in the cities. In the countryside the restaurants and stores (what few you can find) are different, and it's a much different lifestyle than the same 'ol in the US. It feels foreign :)