Villa Il Maggio Sarteano

... villes de la region, orvieto est construite sur une coline et Emilie la gentillement rebatise orvieto "la vile sur une bosse". C'est une petite ville encore fortifier, construite sur une tres ancienne ville creuse a meme la coline. il y a une grosse cathedrale (duomo) comme toutes les villes que nous avons vue, puis il y a plusieur point de vue sur la region.

en fin de journee, nous avons visiter quelques unes ...

We ended up in Orvieto sa we saw a friends photos of the catherdral and thought it was a must see. The cathedral was like a mini Florence Duomo, but 100% cleaner as the one in Florence is nearly black on the outside with pollution. The front facade on the cathedral is covered in beautiful gold leaf frescos that were glittering in the afternoon sunshine. Had a wander through the old town which was full of life as ...

... was not to be. A wander around the old town and its tiny Jewish ghetto - there was a population of around 400 Jews living here in the 16th century after all were banned from Rome by Pope Pius IV. Some of the best Etruscans ruins from 6BC were in the area so we hiked out of town to check them out. Mostly they consisted of carved out roads through the forested hills. There was also an ancient fountain. Not too exciting to look at but the walk itslelf was very nice :)

All vitamin D'ed up we arrived at our destination for the evening - Bagni di Petriolo - hot springs. Soon we were lounging in the hot sulphur pools watching the sun set. A fresh water stream ran alongside the springs and a dip in the water was very refreshing, although a little breathtaking at the same time! The pools were popular with the locals young and old as well as travellers as there were about a dozen campers parked nearby. As lovely as ...

Down the road from Montalcino we popped into St Antimo Abbey where the local monks say their (7!!) daily prayers in Georgian chants. We caught part of the 12.45pm prayers and enjoyed some down time while listening the chanting. The afternoon was glorious and once again we were in tshirts, so we made the most of it and had a picnic in the sun beside the Abbey.

... just! We found a cute little coffee shop that had the best views over the valley from the toilet of all places!!! Oh yeah and the coffee was good too! Stocked up on some well needed groceries as Scooby's cupboards were bare, then it was time to sample the local Brunello di Montalcino. Brunello must stay in the barrel for 5 years ...

From Chianti went south to the Le Crete region. The drive provided us with more quintessential Tuscan scenery. We stayed overnight in Asciano as we could not make it to Montalcino before dark. We had vowed not to drive in the dark as the small windy roads and excessively erratic Italian drivers are not good for our nerves!

... is in walking distance of the thermal SPA, succulent tuscan restaurants and landmarks such as Fosso Bianco and Cascata della Balena.
Bagni san Filippo is placed between Monte Amiata and Val D'Orcia offering nearby destination for daily adventures!

... Things went further downhill once we hit the railway station as it seems there was some sort of train crash (no details available) which caused a whole lot of train cancellations and just a tad of confusion amongst the many travellers trying to use the rail system. we hoped there were no serious injuries but decided that with the uncertainty of rail schedules that the best thing was to grab the first train back to Rio to avoid being stuck in large ...

... looked a bit too old to be doing the hike we were doing. If anything, this served as my motivation. 'If grandpa can do it, I can do it.' We passed people with walking poles. I always find this hilarious. I want to ask them where their skis are but that's just mean. We also passed some people wearing polyester suits and jeans. These people must've been sweating their asses off because I was - my back was drenched in sweat! In fact, I was so wet, I was cold in the shaded cover of the ...