On the verge of giving up, I looked up and saw some medieval looking clump of buildings high atop a hill overlooking Greve. So I dragged an unwilling Somchai uphill for about an hour, listening to his nonstop complaining that a) we should have known the bike shop would be closed and b) we were walking to nowhere. He was right on a) but we were both pleasantly surprised on b).

After wandering around the town for a bit, we found the bike rental shop, which was closed for the weekend. So we were pretty much stuck. We tried to entertain ourselves in the town, but its only real attraction was a huge nude male statue. We then went shopping in the arcaded plaza, but still had most of the day stretching before us.

77. Greve

The following day was the worst of the trip. The idea was fine, but flawed execution. We took a bus to Greve in Chianti, the center of the chianti wine area. Most of the vineyards are spread out around here, so we thought we'd rent a bike in the town of Greve, then ride around and do a bit of winetasting. We stopped for a nice lunch at an outdoor pizzeria in town, then explored the town. It's a handsome town, but not particularly old. It's mostly a market town selling the wines of the region, and had a nice weekend market in the main square.