Finding it hard to tear ourselves away!

The cats were so good last night that they didn't wake us until gone 8am. 

I got up to go and feed them, then make a start on the washing up from last night's dinner. I was soon joined by Stuart, and a little while later by Louise. It was a beautiful morning - a little cloudy, but perfectly warm, with the sun starting to break through. The three of us sat and had a leisurely coffee and toast on the patio, taking in the view.

Dan joined us a little later, and after we'd all freshened up and got ourselves ready, we headed out to show Louise and Dan a bit of the local area.

First, we drove up to Vellano, just to show them the amazing views down the valley, we all hopped out of the car to take in the views, then hopped back into the car again to head down the road into Pescia. We parked up in the square, then took a slow wander all around the town - taking in all four rioni, and popping our heads into both the duomo and the tiny (minuscule compared with the duomo) 14th century church of San Antonio Abate, before decamping to Bar Poulter for some light refreshment and people watching.

After a drink in Pescia, we decided to head to Montecarlo - one of our most favourite nearby mediaeval hilltop towns - and visit the enoteca there, where we were sure to get not only a tasty glass of wine, but plenty of free nibbles to go with it (we had missed lunch by this stage).

The wine in Montecarlo was delicious, the nibbles satisfying, and the company excellent, and we spent a very pleasant hour or two sipping wine and watching the world go by. But you can't drink wine all afternoon, so after the second glass we decided we ought to show Louise and Dan a bit more of the town than just the wine bar.

We wandered around the pretty little town, stopped to take in the views, and even ran into some sort of classic car rally, complete with a police escort and lots of enthusiastic horn beeping:

After completing a circuit of the town, we realised that the town's mediaeval walls/ramparts were open for visitors - they are only open between 4pm and 7pm on Saturday and Sunday, and we've never quite managed to coincide our visits with their opening time, so going in for a look around was a no-brainer! We paid €3 each for the privilege, but it was well worth it - the views were stunning and the historic buildings fascinating:

After we'd toured the ramparts, we finally rolled out of Montecarlo and headed for home - and by the time we got back it was gone 6pm. We sat on the patio until darkness fell, then retreated indoors to cook some mushroom risotto, finish our packing preparations and sit the rest of the evening out. Stuart and I have a long night ahead of us - we have to leave for Bologna at 2am, so think we might be better off not even trying to go to bed. Howeve, the fact that I already feel tired doesn't bode terribly well!

It will be a huge wrench tearing ourselves away from our beautiful corner of Italy and our gorgeous cats, but I keep telling myself that we will be back again a week tomorrow, and that Louise and Dan will take great care of the place and the cats for us while we are away.

So it's arrivederci for now!