🇮🇹 Tuscany

Under the Tuscan Sun

After Florence, we picked up a car – what an experience.  You sit on the wrong side of the car-  the accelerator, brake and clutch are in the opposite order,  you change gears on the other side – and you drive on the other side of the road!  Everyone drives 100km above the speed limit. Caffeine induced driving!!!

MONTEPULCIANO

Very stressful but finally arrived at our second stop – Montepulciano – amazing!   We are in a hill town overlooking a valley covered in fog.  The place is like heaven above the clouds!

Quaint village like atmosphere.   About to have dinner and tomorrow we are off to explore Tuscany!

Today we woke before the sun rose but as dawn came to light we could see a patch work of Autumn colours which went for miles over hills and farm land. No gates or fences were to be seen just fields separated by colours of greens, orange, yellow and brown. Here is a photo taken from our lounge room window.

Breathtaking is the only word for it. Below our window is a veggie patch so we know we have chosen the right Airbnb. We are staying in a hill top village town called Montepulciano. It has a stone wall like a castle gate which you have to drive through to get into the town. Just saying the name makes you smile. You can feel the history surrounding us in every step that you take. Here the houses are made of stone and the streets are cobbled. Your doors and windows open straight out onto the street. There are no footpaths. Restaurant tables are tucked in close to the road. You have to be a resident to drive in the town. It is a magical place where time goes slow.

We hit the road. I should say narrow roads.  I enjoyed the scenery whilst Rob was very brave driving winding roads. There is nothing automatic about driving a manual on the right hand side of the road. We stopped in many scenic towns along the way.

PIENZA

Our first stop was Pienza which was a quaint village where we strolled through the town streets. The shops were lined with age old cheeses,  pasta, olives, mushrooms and wine. What more could you ask for?

BAGNO VIGNONI

On to Bagno Vignoni in search of thermal pools. It had a unique and spectacular square consisting of a large thermal pool. It had a medieval feel to the town. The town is empty during the winter season so we were the lucky ones.

BAGNI SAN FILIPPO

We hit the road again heading for Bagni San Filippo in search of Fosso Bianco Wilderness pools. This was the highlight of my day. After a nice stroll in the woods we came across these beautiful thermal pool ready for us to soak our tired bodies of a year of hard work. The best thing about these thermal pools are they are total fee.  The warm water soothed our souls.