Tuscan countryside and dinner

 First off.... I mean, really:

A couple of days ago we took an excursion into the Tuscan countryside.  I have to admit I have no idea where we went but I can tell you about a couple of destinations that were quite interesting.  One of them was this Camaldomite monastery in the middle of nowhere.  Dating back to the year 1000 AD, when some monks were called to establish a community in chestnut forest maybe 20 miles or so from Montepulciano.  The Camaldoli are hermit monks who follow the order of Saint Benedict in that they live off the land.  So in being called to this particular place, where they found chestnuts and an abundance of water, they thought it was pretty cool.

Here is their wee church:

And here are some wee huts:

So this is in the middle of a chestnut forest and the monks would harvest the chestnuts, dry them, pulverize them and make bread out of the flour.  And they would pray and ponder the mysteries and all that, stuff that monks generally do.  This area sits on top of a huge aquifer and so we visited that as well:

Nearby is a Terme, a natural hot spring that has been used for 'the cure' for centuries.  It is, of course, molto bello:

Back in Montepulciano, Mark (a fellow student) and I went to the AMAZING L'Altro Cantuccio for dinner at 8pm.  The next three hours were quite fab. Pasta with crispy bacon, duck breast from the gods, a bottle of Vino Nobile:

And then dessert.  Two tiny tiramisu balls, gratis.  Then Mark ordered a deconstructed cheesecake (so fab) and ordered ordered "the undergrowth"... which was an array of micro-gastronomy mushrooms.  I cannot tell you how divine and amazing it all was:

Here is the restaurant.  I do not know why it doesn't have Michelin stars:

And after, a lovely walk through a dark medieval city: