Last Goodbye...

Taking our seats in the upstairs section of the very modern 12 o clock train, we left Grosseto and had a great elevated view of the coastline as we made the 2 hour ride back up through Cecina and Livorno back to Pisa.

We had wanted to do the whole trip by public transport this time and it had not let us down, a great relaxing and comfortable way to see this area of Italy.

Now, with a handy place to stay within 5 minutes walk to the airport for the morning, we had the last chance to have a look around the town before we said 'Arrivederci' to Pisa and flew over the leaning tower and then over the snowy Alps back to Blighty.

Last track of the trip from Jeff Buckley.

Slide Away...

Up and packed to catch the 8'o'clock bus outside the B&B.

We headed back down the now familiar twisting SS74 through Marsiliana, Albinia and returned to Grosetto. The return journey turned out to be a lot cheaper as we hadn't got a ticket, the driver didn't seem to want to sell us one and on arriving at Grosseto, no-one asked for one!

...'Gratuito'....

Now familiar with place, we checked back into the same Hotel San Lorenzo that we had enjoyed a few days earlier and then immediately left to grab a Panini and return back to the train station for a 20 minute ride up the coast to Follonica.

The reason...Follonica Aqua Park!

In soaring temperatures we spent a wet and wild afternoon climbing hundreds of steps to go shooting down twisting pipes and 50 metre death slides with names like Kamikaze and Anaconda providing frequent but compulsory bouts of colonic irrigation!

Plunging into pools on rubber dinghies and battling through icy waterfalls, the water park had it all.

The kids loved it....!

A fancy white Mercedes taxi opened its automatic side doors to take us wearily back to the 'Stazione' and then on the next train, with our tickets validated, we were back in Grosetto.

The only thing left to do was to revisit the delicatessen 'Gustangolo' on Via Solferino and sit outside until the sun went down with a glass or 3 of, this time another fantastic find, and an absolute scorcher, 'Ansonica' from Celestina Fe.

Once again, Ristorante 'L'Uva e il Malto provided a fine end to the day with more stunningly tasty plates of food.

'Slide Away' is still a favourite from 'Oasis' off their debut album, and arguably best 'Definitely Maybe'.

Strange and Beautiful...

Sunday

Parking the Lancia at the top of Via Cava Della Madonna Delle Grazie we descended by foot down and along the strange old twisting Etruscan passageways that had been hand carved out of the Tofu rock centuries earlier. A network of these mysterious roads are abundant in this area and a few can be linked up which is what we planned to do. 

Like medieval trolls entering a strange magical kingdom in a land that time forgot we followed the tunnel like lanes that were wick with darting lizards and linked up with the road that led to Via Cava Di San Giuseppe and followed this up to La Fontana Dell' Olmo, a natural spring before returning back to the town Pitigliamo....a strange but pleasantly satisfying stroll.

Back in the Lancia it was 42C so we needed a breezy drive around the twisting hairpin bends to cool off and on to visit two smaller nearby towns of Sovana and Sorano. Both pretty but just too hot to walk around them much....back to the pool HQ with a couple more samples from the Enoteca....

Today's song by Aqualung, and the title track off their first self titled album in 2002. 

Hazy Daze...

Saturday

The first half of the day was spent wandering around the hilltop Etruscan settlement and impressive ancient citadel of Pitigliano, with its tiny narrow streets and curious old shops with hanging hams selling cured wild boar they are commonly abundant within the nearby forests.

It all looks and feels prehistoric.

Narrow streets and old winding stone steps.

The town sits on top of vulcanic rock with dark chambers and hobbit holes carved out underneath for storing sausages, barrels of vino and probably dead bodies...

For some reason the ancient Jewish synagogue was being protected by two armed guards. 

This place is so OLD!

History documents it from year 1000 but some of it dates back to B.C.(B4 J.C.)

It's still so old that there is no Wifi to be found for miles around...

 

With fresh sea bass and calamari purchased for barbecuing 

later we left the Bronze Age and headed out next to the local 

vineyard of Villa Corano for an afternoon of wine tasting. 

Despite the initial 'finished' arm wavering that actually translated as 'Welcome, do come in, the massive dog won't bite you', we were invited to see how grapes are magically transformed into liquids with delicately smoky after tones .....Vino, to you and me!

.... 2 hours later, having tasted everything that they made with their 17 hectares, we sloshed back to retire to the pool HQ with a couple of samples to authenticate. A full bodied single grape 'Alicante' and an old perfumed Rose made with an original grape variety dating back to God knows when, to remind us of how interestingly tasty it all was!

Turned out that it was the brothers place of where we were staying so we had to try his wine too later that evening....

Salve....

Hazy Daze from the Stone Temple Pilots about sums up what a trip to Tuscany is about....!

Doing it to Death...

Friday

 We left Grosseto by bus the following morning, a journey of about 2 hrs heading down to the coast and then in to the hills. We were the only passengers left by the halfway point so it would seem that the aspiring F1 driver wanted to give us a hair-raising taste of how to pilot a modern turbo-charged bus at breakneck speed around mountain chicanes while one-handedly having a chat with his mate about the footie on the mobile. Like a white knuckle ride of death we eventually screeched to a halt on reaching our destination. The doors flew open and across the road was the B&B, Maremma Nel Tufo, a huge converted farmhouse 2km from Pitigliano.

This deserted Tuscan style 'Casa' had hardly any guests either, so on arrival we were immediately upgraded and given a first floor apartment with a kitchen and a terrace facing the pool. On realising we had 'come on the bus', he also arranged for us to use Dad's Lancia for a few days so we could bob about the area...didn't even need to contact the DVLA for a reference number- a much easier system when your in the EU, it would seem!

A newish track by the 'Kills' off their latest album 'Ash & Ice', last year I think?

We are the Pigs....

Thursday

We are the pigs...

Grosseto was a gastronomic delight from start to finish. 

The entire time was spent giving support to the local farmers who must toil endlessly, tending to vines and curing wild pigs flesh to provide the town with a delicious array of food and wine...the least we could do was to spend hours stuffing our faces in appreciation and swilling vast quantities of their robust grape juices.

Bubbles was the first order of the day, a lovely Prosecco washed down dishes of green olives and nuts by an old Piazza just inside the Etruscan walled town.

A hazy afternoon ensued around the corner and up the narrow street. Sitting at a table outside what only can be described as 'probably the best delicatessen in the world' we enjoyed more recommended local wine, accompanied with platters of strong cheeses, cured hams and various Italian breads....it was difficult to leave...but eventually, like old rigged ewes, we reared up and said 'Arrivederci' to our hospitable host.   

As the evening light faded, all that was left to do was to wander a couple more streets to seek out a nice looking restaurant, spotted earlier, named L' Uva E il Malto where the kindly chef and patron forced upon us plates of Langoustine, mixed smoked fish, fresh pasta alla Calamari and deliciously rare veal, oh and some more exquisite local wine and a blindingly strong Grappa as a finale!

....this is not sustainable!

...but it has to be done!

'We are the pigs' is a track by 'Suede', a band that I have always liked and are having a bit of a revival recently.

Nothing in the way...

Heading for the Piazza del Duomo you can't help standing in amazement at the hugely impressive Cattedrale Di Santa Maria del Fiore, the largest in Florence and next to it the smaller Battistero di San Giovanni on the way to the train station for the morning train south out towards Sienna for today's destination, Grosseto.

Already the area is crowded and folk wait in orderly queues at the entrances, frazzling gently in the hot sun to gain access to climb ancient stone steps to no doubt discover the elixir of eternal life within the sacred sanctuaries. 

This is the only problem with Florence, far too many people...the winter months may be a better time to visit to be able to appreciate it all, it's been a snap-shot tour and now that my Cartier watch has been repaired, half a Charolais has been devoured and a couple of matching snakeskin Gucci handbags purveyed, it's time to head off to pastures new....

A change at Sienna gave just enough time for an express espresso alla panini and then we boarded what must have been one of the tiniest trains in the world and trundled off up the rural hillsides, past vineyards and fields of crops of yellow sunflowers and ripe barley. Travelling by train is an effortless and comfortable way to see the medieval villages standing high up on the hilltops, a feature typical of Tuscany.

Arriving at lunchtime it was soon apparent that Grosseto was a nice sleepy town, a far cry from Dante's Inferno we had left behind. The lady at the hotel was helpful in directing us into the walled epicentre of the old town. Here a network of narrow little streets sufficed for a lazy wander before retiring into the comfy seats of a nearby bar to reflect and appreciate the hard work that must have gone into making such a fine bubbly local Prosecco....

Today's track from 'Ghost Poet'.