Cortona ( Under the Tuscan Sun)

 The town of Cortona was some 30km from our hotel along a series of narrow winding roads. Thus giving me the opportunity to practice the ancient art of shifting gears. The workout got more intense approaching the town as it seemed to be glued to the verticals  faces of various cliffs. There is nothing like a stop sign at the top of a 40% slope as you wait as cross traffic clears. Luckily I was able to proceed (without rolling back) as I felt the remaining blood in my brake foot slowly draining towards my hip. 
Climbing up several S bends for what seemed an eternity the ground levelled out into a flat parking lot, located about 200 feet below the main old town. Taking advantage of a series of escalators we found ourselves in a main square with walkways spreading out in all directions. The view from the square extended for several miles in all directions , even revealing the Lago Trasimeno, some 15 km away in Umbria.
The tourist population seemed to comprise of a few younger and older couples but there were several small groups of women only, which I assumed were tours groups focused on the locations featured in “The Book” 
Several locations had signs as illustrated below:




I’m assuming these are the literary equivalent of  “Chad or Kilroy”  signs from WWII but such comments, uttered out loud in the presence of middle aged women could result in a beating Death by a Thousand Purses.
We spent a few hours walking the town, looking at souvenirs and the interiors of a number of Churches, some requiring a great deal of exercise and effort due to the slopes involved.




Antique gelato cart 

The town did have a few more churches, museums and other spots to visit but we were “ Under The Tuscan Sun, so we figured you could read the book to get a description of anything we missed. A last stop brought us to a cafe with decent panini- and plates of cold cuts. They also had the most dusty collection of wine I’ve ever seen!!!!







 



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