Well today is the last real day of exploring Tuscany before we start our journey back to the UK tomorrow via Milan and what a gem of a day I’ve had!  Probably one of the nicest days of the trip.

Firstly we got another lie in as we weren’t leaving the hotel until 9.30am!!!   Even the older people are now starting to appreciate this as it is a full on tour and we’re now on day 8.    Marco our driver has suggested we stop via a small town called Bagno Vignoni as it has some wonderful views whilst also being one of the oldest spas in Italy.

It seems that the Romans loved a good thermal bath & were massively popular during the Medieval times.  Pilgrims would stop off at Bagno Vignoni on route to Rome, have a bath to wash but also the waters were considered to have medicinal benefits while also using the church & eat in the many taverns.  But what a beauty of the place.  What I love about independent travel is sometimes you fall upon just little gems of places, off the beaten track which you’ve never heard of and yet are so wonderful.

The views from the town are incredible & everything you see on the picture postcard views of Tuscany….just better & real!   The rolling hills go on for miles & miles, with the patchwork coloured fields, lined with the pencil thin trees and a scattering of red poppies to add to the colour.   Just gorgeous.   The town is absolutely tiny but has spa water running through the town which I’ll be honest I wasn’t about to try drinking from the river but did look incredibly clean.   Plus I saw another group sitting with their feet cooling in the water so definitely wasn’t trying the water after dirty, sweaty feet had been in there!     We only had 20 minutes here but was well worth the visit & everyone was very grateful to Marco for this detour!

Back on track to our next official stop which was Pienza a town dating back to 828 nestled in the Tuscan hills & the first example of the ideal Renaissance town.   It is also declared a World Heritage site but not sure what for!  I know in previous posts I’ve not always rated tour guides but they do have their uses, even if you do only remember the odd fact otherwise you end up, like me, just aimlessly wandering around a place not really understanding what you’re seeing!    All I will say is the town just smells of cheese!    I think it’s Pecorino cheese – and a strong smelling cheese at that!   I’m guessing it’s local to the area with shops scattered around the hill top town so everywhere you go you have this aroma, which initially was over powering but by the end makes you hungry!   Maybe it’s a tactic for getting you to buy as I have to say it’s quite a pricey place.

Once again it’s the views which are incredible, visited by many tourists & cyclists which can only mean one thing.    No….not lots of male cyclists in too much tight lycra…….no, the return of the selfie stick!   It did remind me of a smaller version of Rome with all the Chinese tourists who at any viewpoint would all stop, get the stick extensions going, start posing & clicking away.   As it’s not quite as busy as Rome therefore many just around walk around with them full extended in the air!

We had a good hour to wander around this beautiful town, again in the Italian sunshine and I have to stay it’s pretty typical of many towns…there’s a Cathedral, the Church of Santa Maria, main piazza, lots of old streets all surrounded with the city walls.  There is probably a lot more history I could tell you about but as I say without a guide you can miss a lot!   So instead I meander to a café and have my first hot chocolate!  I don’t really drink tea or coffee so where as everyone else in the tour is literally gasping for caffeine by 11am and stampeding towards the nearest café I just head out exploring.   I did pass our group who had managed to fill a total café, eat them clean of Danish pastries on our arrival to Pienza but by the time I fancied a drink it was completely empty!  What a yummy hot chocolate too!

Before long it was back on the bus and heading off to our next stop, making our way through the windy Italian hills to Montepulciano…the town of vineyards and a wine tasting lunch!   One of the reasons I’d stopped for a hot chocolate & biscuit was to line my stomach for an afternoon of drinking!    One glass of wine & I can be drunk so planned to take it easy!

Montepulciano is another town on top of a hill which can only mean a steep walk to anywhere but as a bonus you get great views while your hamstrings ache!  The photos just don’t do it justice.  For some of the older members of the group, you can hear the huffing & puffing up the hill and being at least 15 years younger I can’t be seen to be out of breath but my god I was knackered!   The town is just wine, wine and more wine so the chances of leaving this place sober will be a challenge.

We were under the impression this was a wine tasting tour but actually was a wonderful Tuscan lunch with lots of different wines to accompany.   A huge anti-pasta board arrived with different meats & cheeses alongside some crusty bread & oil.   What a feast while we tried different local wines – thankfully only a small glass but the type of wine tasting where you don’t have to spit it out!    It reminded me how much I love Montepulciano wine which I first discovered in Lake Garda some years ago.   The biggest downside of a rail holiday is that anything you buy you have to carry on & off trains through Italy, France, London & then up to home in Harrogate in Yorkshire!    My bag is heavy enough as it is without bottles of wine.

I decided against buying any wine as looking at the price tag it was 38 euros a bottle!!!!    Now I’m not a big drinker of wine but even still that’s quite an expensive bottle and didn’t think it was that nice to justify that price!   I went round telling the group how expensive it was too many gasps.   It was only hours later when meeting the wider group where I told  people my shock at the wine price that I was corrected and that it was only 8 euros a bottle & I’d mistaken the euro sign as a 3!  What an idiot & felt rather stupid……well it’s been a few days since a blonde moment!    That changed my perception of the wine completely & 8 euros was actually a bargain!  Anyway, it was too late to run back to buy any and will only appreciate it when trying to carry my bag over the next 48 hours.

So apart from the wine…there’s not a lot I can tell you about the town….guess what …it has a church, a piazza and some great views but definitely worth a visit.  Yet again, it’s back on the bus for once an early journey back to the hotel as tonight we are having dinner in a Tuscan castle.  (Apologies but I have to share this with you……I’m writing this post sat on my hotel balcony & I think I’m having to listen to the couple next door have sex which is quite off putting!  Well I think they are – there are some odd noises coming from that direction & they’ve left their balcony door open.   They are EX-husband & wife who are still friends and travel together but obviously still get on very well!  The thought makes me feel quite sick!!)

Anyway, enough of that….back to evening dinner!   It’s out of the hotel and off to a Tuscan castle for a 4 course evening dinner.    What I probably haven’t shared with you is the amount of food or courses you get in Italy.   Every night we must get 4 or 5 courses which is much more that we get at home and I’m certainly going back some weight heavier!  I’m actually dreading putting my jeans back on in 24 hours time!    My favourite meal is lasagne which I’d have as a main course…here it’s pretty much considered a starter!

 

The castle!    OMG – I think I’ve just found the place I’ll one day get married!    We arrived around 7.30pm so in the summer evening sun was lovely.     I did have visions of a rack & ruin cold building but actually is more of a large stately house…well a very large house but has all the designs of a castle.  It’s called ‘Relais Castelluccio Palusse” …say that after a few vinos……which has a small number of bedrooms and a lovely dining room where we tuck into the most wonderful cooked food.   It was a beautiful evening & a lovely way to end our last night in Tuscany.   I didn’t enquire about the prices to stay but the castle is currently being rented to a family for 3 days to celebrate their daughters 16^th birthday but were out this evening for dinner!   Now I know when I was 16 ……well I’m trying to remember but can’t …but it certainly didn’t involve renting a castle for the weekend!   It was probably more a meal out with a couple of friends to a local burger bar…….going to sound old now….but haven’t things changed!

Anyway…..hopefully I haven’t bored you too much with this long post!  It’s been a wonderful day….a lot more relaxing and a slower pace and seen some wonderful places.

Tomorrow it’s heading up to Milan & slowly making our way back to the UK.

So goodbye from Tuscany!

Lou Lou xx

PS – the couple next door must have now finished…..they are the heavy smokers & obviously the guy is out of breath from the ‘exercise’ post breakfast as all I can now hear is him coughing his nicotine filled lungs up!   Time to head inside I think & finish packing!