Tuscan Troubles
We spent the last week of September in Tuscany. Although we had some ups & downs during our time there, experiencing some inconveniences, overall it was a lovely week spent exploring hilltop Tuscan towns.
Our homebase for the week was an agriturismo near San Gimignano, which we actually booked through Airbnb. It seemed charming, but was more rustic than it appeared and left a lot to be desired (unreliable wifi, noisy rooms). They had also advertised Vespa rentals, which we were really excited about, but it turned out to be a huge letdown - the property was really remote and accessible only by a hilly, gravel road, and they actually discouraged us from renting the Vespas because it was so dangerous. The views and the pool were 5 stars, though, and the location was great as we loved nights wandering the nearby medieval city of San Gimignano.
Car Troubles & Colds
On our travel day to Tuscany, we took a cab from Florence to the airport to pick up a rental car for the week. Although we had specifically booked a small rental car, they basically gave us a mini van. Unfortunately, we had a similar situation happen to us in France a couple years ago, and it yielded a stressful experience trying to navigate small, old streets with an American-sized car, so we knew we'd be facing similar challenges again.
On the same day, I was battling the peak of an achy, coughing, cold that Jeff was already a few days into. I know we'd get sick during the year, but was pretty bummed that it happened within the first couple weeks!
We were spending the first night further south in Tuscany near Asciano, with plans to visit Montepulciano and Pienza the next day before moving further north to the agriturismo we'd be staying at for the rest of the week. We drove straight to our Airbnb for the night and I hopped into bed, trying to catch up on rest and feel better after a sleepless night spent coughing.
It turned out to be a rough start to our week in Tuscany. It was another sleepless night for me, though at least Jeff got some rest. As we left the B&B, the Italian-only speaking host misdirected us out of her narrow, stone wall-bordered driveway, causing a very stressful scenario of her yelling at us in Italian and even worse - multiple (serious) scratches and a dent on our rental car.
Inspecting the damage
Although the potential cost for this situation was now heavy on our minds, we tried to enjoy our original plans for the day. We visited Montepulciano and Pienza before driving to our new Airbnb.
Making the most of a rough start.
During the rest of our week, we enjoyed visiting other Tuscan towns including Montalcino, Siena, and San Gimignano. We also spent a day in Chianti visiting a couple wineries and more hilltop towns.
Stay tuned for more photos and a guide for the Tuscan towns we visited!
