I pick up my convertible white Fiat, Giuseppe, this morning and prepare myself to drive the streets. I manage to get myself out of Florence without driving in the ZTL zone. There are cameras at all the entrances of the zones that take snapshots of your licence plate and if it doesn’t recognize your plate as local, you receive a €100 fine.
I want to avoid the highway and tolls so have chosen a route on the back roads. When I mention this to Francesco, who rented me Giuseppe, his eyes open wide and says,
Oh, that is a very long way to Siena. Very far if you don’t take the highway.
Really? Google maps says it’s just 80km.
Yes! Very far!
Um, you clearly haven’t driven in Canada. I don’t consider that far.
My plan to not drive on a highway or pay a toll? Backfired. I somehow end up on the highway and at a toll booth but I easily figure out what I have to do and away I go. I get back on track and find myself on smaller roads in the countryside. It’s beautiful. The sun is shining. I have Giuseppe in convertible mode, and I’m listening to a local radio station playing a mix of North American and Italian music.
After a couple of wrong turns (the roundabouts always screw me up) I find the trail head for the Diborrato Waterfall just outside of Colle di Val d’Elsa. I park Guiseppe on a side street and start the trail at Ponte Spugna. Birds are chirping, geckos skirt across the path, orange and black butterflies alight on the red poppies and green toads croak loudly. I cross several stone bridges over the aqua-coloured water and after about an hour come to the waterfall. Nature at its finest and much needed after the last week in busy a busy city and towns.
Along the way I meet a family from Spain. Their middle son has a Nikon DSLR and he’s the photographer of the family. His mom tells me that her son’s grandfather purchased the camera for him and he’s been obsessed ever since. We compare cameras and I tell him I won’t hold it against him for not having a Canon😉
Next stop is Siena. I’m a little concerned with the directions of getting to my hotel as once again, I’m not allowed to drive within the city walls except to quickly drop my bags off. My hotel has emailed me very specific instructions but I still get a bit lost. Luckily the streets aren’t busy with people or local cars so I can change directions without pissing anyone off. Giuseppe is so small that I can turn around on a dime.
I finally make it to my hotel and when the concierge offers to drive Giuseppe to the parking lot, I let out a big sigh of relief and a “Si, grazie!”.
I’m absolutely starving as I haven’t eaten since breakfast but since it’s after 3pm most of the restaurants are shut for the afternoon siesta and won’t reopen until 7pm. If I don’t eat until then, I’m going to be very hangry.
The streets are much quieter than Florence and are surrounded on both sides by tall buildings. It’s literally a maze. I find the main piazza and it’s massive for such a small town centre. The architecture is a mix of brick and colourful adobe.
After a couple hours I locate a restaurant down a small alley that’s open. Perfect timing as it’s starting to sprinkle rain. I gratefully sit down and proceed to order A LOT of food. I start with crostini topped with shrimp and zucchini and then a boar meat pasta to finish off.
In learning that I’m from Canada, my waitress gasps and says,
I want to move to Canada and open a small Tuscan restaurant so Canadians who can’t travel can experience a little bit of Tuscany. It’s just a dream, but it could come true!
I tell her that this is a fabulous idea and she should definitely do it. My feast arrives and it’s delicious. Every meal I’ve eaten in this country has blown my mind. It’s all so fresh as they only use ingredients that are in season.
On my way back to the hotel I make a stop at the pharmacy. My feet are in bad way and I need to buy more gauze and tape. I’ve literally worn holes in the soles of my feet from walking so much. It started with small blisters from sandals I had worn in Rome (which I had worn all through Greece without issue) and have progressively gotten worse. It’s extremely uncomfortable to walk but luckily my Converse sneakers have a thick, cushy sole which eases the pain when walking on the uneven stone streets and sidewalks. It’s an annoying first world problem to have and I’m hoping after dumping half a tube of Polysporin on my sores that they’ll heal up fairly quick. When I showed a friend back home a photo of my injured feet she said,
Oh bunny, that looks terrible. You went out of the gate too hard!
Early night to do some first aid on my feet and edit some photos. I want to get out early in the morning to shoot some photos before heading to my next stop, Saturnia.
