Today we said goodbye to Tuscany. Checking out of La Grancia went smoothly and off we went. First stop Trequanda to get gas. Self serve is NOT self explanatory however. Lucky for us there was a really nice guy hanging out there who helped us through the process.
We had decided to spend most of the day in Arezzo (in Tuscany) before moving on to Le Marche. We arrived into a really busy city, the traffic was awful! This was partly because it was the first Saturday of the month–the Antiques Market which draws about 25,00 people. It took us a while but we finally found a parking space in the Eden lot. We walked up to the Piazza Grande from there.
I kept thinking of Kris. She wanted to come to this so much but we never made it.
It was nice walking around. Lots of junk mixed in with real antiques (well, really–how would I know???) I liked these old restaurant machines:

We walked around the old/alta part of the city and found this statue right in front of the duomo:

I thought he looked like Jackie Gleason.
Here’s a wall in the Piazza Grande:

And here’s me in a hat I bought for 5 euros on the street–Kenny’s been nagging me like crazy to get hat to keep my face out of the sun:

Here’s where we went to lunch:

The food was fantastic and the experience was, too. You had to take a number and wait, place your order at the glass counter filled with all kinds of prepared foods. Then you pay and they bring it all to your table in another room downstairs. I struck up a conversation with the woman waiting beside me–I love really using my Italian in social situations. And the food was really great!
Walking back to the car we passed a ruin of a Roman amphitheater and a little park where we stopped.
Arriving at Locanda delle Valle Nuovo was a longer drive than I had realized. We drove through the Appenines climbing over the peaks heading east. We are south of Urbino, near Fermignano. The views were amazing–beautiful trees and strange rock formations.
This agriturismo is full of roses. The interior is all in light oak. The overall effect is–calm. Giulia showed us around, all the while an amazing smell of baking cake is surrounding us.
The big treat of the day was seeing our old Slow Travel friends, Palma and Brad.
We hung out with them and their friends for a while and went to dinner with them all to a funky pizza place nearby.