On the left is the front door to our lovely little apartment, complete with a kitchen and an awesome shower with plenty of water pressure! We've extensively photographed the residences of Bodo's olive farm, so why not take the time to check out our flickr photos, complete with over 150 pictures of the beautiful Tuscan countryside, including scenic Siena, sunsets, and seaside Castiglione della Pescaia.
These are some of Bodo's olive trees, he keeps them at this height for simple harvesting. They have the pleasant side effect of making the property smell great! Bodo actively harvests his olives, meaning they are picked from the trees as opposed to waiting for them to fall. The result is an amazingly delicious olive oil that is much more visibly green than what I'm used to (as opposed to yellow).
I still haven't explained Agriturismo! Bodo doesn't only use us workawayers for his labor, he employs a trendy new travel system called Agriturismo, which is basically the same thing as workaway. During a harvest, Bodo offers up his residences to groups of people in exchange for labor instead the money that he traditionally charges (Also, everyone gets delicious olive oil). I've got something special in the pipeline to show everyone how the olive picking, pressing, and bottling are done, but not today! It's a lot of work, and a lot of fun.
We had our first weekend off on account of the rain and the wait for new arrivals. It takes more than a couple people to harvest one zillion olives. Another workaway, Simon, never showed-up. Now, if anyone sees or hears anything mysterious, we say, "Oh, it must be Simon." Anywho, a German couple, Dieter and Susanne, arrived shortly after we did and they invited us to join them on a trip to Siena! We've taken hundreds of photos, but in this post I'll stick to the main attractions.
This is the Palazzo Publico, or town hall, in the middle of Siena's seashell-shaped Piazza del Campo. This place is usually packed, but smart tourists go in November. The perimeter of the piazza occasionally puts on a horse race.
Siena Duomo, Cathedral of Siena. Meticulously detailed, this ornate masterpiece is the jewel of Siena's wealth and culture. It is most notable for its unique and iconic implementation of striped black & white marble.
The symbol of Siena, a she-wolf with suckling Romulus and Remus, adorns the entranceway to the cathedral. It is surrounded by other animal symbols of Italy's prominent cities. The lion of Florence is recognizable all over the country.
This was taken beneath Siena Duomo's ornate dome. Literally, no stone has been left untouched here to the detailing of old Siena's artists.
I opportunistically snapped a few shots of the stunning Tuscan countryside out the window of Dieter's car on the way back from Siena.
After our day in Siena, the real work began. The first day it was still too rainy for olive picking, so Mary and Susanne worked at bottling oil, while Dieter and I fixed a wooden table. Every evening, it becomes one group's turn to prepare a meal for everyone. Mary and I made our staple enchiladas and guacamole, but we've had the chance to enjoy traditional German, Austrian, and Italian meals, as well. As with everywhere we go, these meals are accompanied with freely flowing wine. The liquor of choice in Italy is Grappa- made from grapes like wine but much stronger. There is also always espresso served before dessert. We went on with work for the rest of the week until we were whisked away on another adventure, this time with our Austrian friends, Denes and Micha.
The place we ended up, after a long series of twisting mountain roads, was Saturnia. The town is historically known for its natural hot springs. Infused with sulfur, they provide a... stimulating rotten-egg aroma. I took a dip and enjoyed the steamy spring, supposedly renown for its treatment of arthritis. Afterwards, we went home and enjoyed our last dinner with the Austrian guests.
This was the crew for our first week of olive harvesting: Mary and I are on the left; Dieter & Susanne, the German couple, in the middle; and the Austrians- Sonja, Denes & Micha, Manuela, Barbara, and Roswitha. The Austrians left right after we took this photo, but Dieter and Susanne are staying for another week...
...and they were kind enough to give us a ride to the splendid Mediterranean seaside town of Castiglione della Pescaia.
We split up and went to the market. The first market was mostly junk and fresh food. We continued exploring the town and found a nicer market where Mary bought homemade soap and a scarf, though it was dealing mostly in antiques. There were numerous old Italian Nazi relics and other WWII-era stuff. I asked about a watch, but walked away from its asking price of 2600 euro.
Everyone knows about the rubber-meltingly fast Italian supercars.
This is authentic gelato, which is Italian for the best ice cream I've ever had in my life.
We spent the end of the day at the beach, which we had all to ourselves. The beach stood out to me for its dark, velvety soft sand. We took many more pictures of Castiglione della Pescaia which couldn't fit in this post.
I paid extra to buy this tuna because it had Poseidon on the packaging. What's wrong with me?
Sign in to Google and leave some comments on our blog! Or everyone can continue posting on Mary's facebook, but the blog would look more popular if people would comment... (Thanks, Mom)
Arrivederci,
-Jake
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