I started at 9 today...that is I left the hotel and got on the road at 9. I was up at 6. In Sorano, the church bells start at 6.. And it's light out...and the crows live on the roof top not far from the room. There was also a green beetle like flying bug that was determined to get me up.
I had to find a hotel for tonight and regroup as I blew it off the night before.
I left and drove back west to go to an Etruscan tomb or two. There was just a little sun coming in and out. In this area of the Maremma, there is tufa, tufa is easily sculpted into tombs, into passageways.
You pull off the road and hike in. Problem is, is that all of the tombs were closed. They are only open on the weekends. However, I was able to walk around in the parks where the tombs are. I found many mushrooms, wild cyclamen, olive trees, grape vines...many things to photograph.
I drove toward the beautiful town of P. Where I could not find a place to park. I drove into the village, but the Carbiniere were parked watching everyone that came in or out, so I kept going.
It was getting around the hungry hour and I could not find a place to stop as it was Monday. I eventually found a place in an off the beaten track town. The service was extra great. The girls gave me biscotti with my cappuccino ...and a shaker with cinnamon . The pasta was good.
I kept driving on the road toward Siena. It was narrow and winding and there were many trucks that slow everything down. The landscape was beautiful. There were so many sheep I. Meadows. I came upon a meadow with mother sheep and their little babies. This area is Lazio, below and to the west of Siena. It is beautiful rolling farm land with cypress. There was really no where to pull over and even when I found a place, the light was terrible...so I pushed on.
I finally got on the crappy highway between Siena and Florence. It used to be a speed demon paradise, but now that they have put in the radar machines, it is a lot of going fast and then slowing down when the next radar box comes up...and, it is announced by signage. So, everyone knows it's there...They area about every 10 miles or so. They seem to be working.
I stopped at a highway gas and food stop where I saw a man that was playing 2 slot machines at a time.
It started to rain when I got to Florence. I needed to get on the autostrada to get to Fiesole....I really screwed it up. I had to stop at a garage and ask directions...and it got dark ...and it started to rain harder. I drove throughout the outskirts of Florence thinking it would be say to find the road to Fiesole as I have been the many times before.
Nothing looked familiar in the pouring rain. I doubled back and asked at a gas station..
"Near the stadium " the man told me, imitating a soccer player, so a doubled back again....then I had to stop a taxi and ask him....
And, finally, I found the road. I had to do a little aggressive lane changing, but I managed to get on the right road...it was teeming, and foggy, the higher I climbed.
The hotel has 3 names. I mistook it and kept driving past, way up the road to a private hotel...I had to turn around in a small high walled spot and proceeded to slam into the back wall.
Then, I doubled back and found the hotel. It was still pouring.
It takes about 5 hours to drive from Sorano to Fiesole. I'm exhausted.
But...there is a bath tub here, so I am happy.
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