Tuesday morning we went to pick up our hire car only to find they didn't have one and we had
to go elsewhere...we got the last car available - a Fiat Panda - and no sat nav! But we had a map to get to Florence, so off we set. The roads and signage were not easy to follow but after a few false turns and the help of Mase's i-phone we got onto the Autostrada to Florence. As we left Rome the sky became overcast and not soon after began to rain, then pour... By the time we neared Sienna (in Tuscany) it had stopped raining and began to clear and so we left the autostrada and made our way into the backblocks of Tuscany. It was about 1.30pm by this time and we'd had an apple for
breakfast and were pretty hungry. We drove for km's without seeing anything offering food - finally in the middle of somewhere (we still don't know where) we found Nonna Luisa! Without the sign on the side of the road you would never know it was there, tucked away among some other houses and so we had the place to ourselves. By this time it was sunny and we sat outside and enjoyed a delicious meal - made all the moreso as we were ravenous. Here's a photo of the view from our table - the garden and vineyard of the house nextdoor.
We headed towards Chianti on the backroads and it was just gorgeous - we didn't get the open rolling hills/vineyards view but a tree lined avenue with a stream to one side of the road - see photo. We wound down the windows and drank in the moment! Mase enjoyed the winding roads despite the fiat's lack of power and road hold. Then we reached the typical Tuscany scene - beautiful vineyards, fields - so green - and rolling hills (which to my surprise were often tree covered).
It was just bellisimo... I tried to find a print/painting to remind us of the beauty of the area but none of the galleries we saw had what we wanted. It was about 4.30pm by then and we thought we'd better get to Florence before it was too late - we had no map to find our hotel and the i-phone wouldn't work due to the stone buildings lining either side of the streets we were in and therefore preventing reception. The roads were narrow, often one-way, and busy and we were going round and round in a residential labyrinth. Eventually we decided to follow a car in front who had sat nav and we finally made it onto the main road, only to see him stop and ask someone else for directions - so I'd say it was very much the blind leading the blind! Nevertheless we reached our hotel just as the heavens released bucketloads of rain! We parked the car as close as possible to the hotel street but it was still some distance away and we got soaked on the way as the street was double numbered and we didn't know which set to follow. Having asked at a hotel we followed the black numbering and scurried like drowned rats into the hotel and up four flights of stairs to our little room! to be continued
to go elsewhere...we got the last car available - a Fiat Panda - and no sat nav! But we had a map to get to Florence, so off we set. The roads and signage were not easy to follow but after a few false turns and the help of Mase's i-phone we got onto the Autostrada to Florence. As we left Rome the sky became overcast and not soon after began to rain, then pour... By the time we neared Sienna (in Tuscany) it had stopped raining and began to clear and so we left the autostrada and made our way into the backblocks of Tuscany. It was about 1.30pm by this time and we'd had an apple for 
breakfast and were pretty hungry. We drove for km's without seeing anything offering food - finally in the middle of somewhere (we still don't know where) we found Nonna Luisa! Without the sign on the side of the road you would never know it was there, tucked away among some other houses and so we had the place to ourselves. By this time it was sunny and we sat outside and enjoyed a delicious meal - made all the moreso as we were ravenous. Here's a photo of the view from our table - the garden and vineyard of the house nextdoor. 
We headed towards Chianti on the backroads and it was just gorgeous - we didn't get the open rolling hills/vineyards view but a tree lined avenue with a stream to one side of the road - see photo. We wound down the windows and drank in the moment! Mase enjoyed the winding roads despite the fiat's lack of power and road hold. Then we reached the typical Tuscany scene - beautiful vineyards, fields - so green - and rolling hills (which to my surprise were often tree covered). 
It was just bellisimo... I tried to find a print/painting to remind us of the beauty of the area but none of the galleries we saw had what we wanted. It was about 4.30pm by then and we thought we'd better get to Florence before it was too late - we had no map to find our hotel and the i-phone wouldn't work due to the stone buildings lining either side of the streets we were in and therefore preventing reception. The roads were narrow, often one-way, and busy and we were going round and round in a residential labyrinth. Eventually we decided to follow a car in front who had sat nav and we finally made it onto the main road, only to see him stop and ask someone else for directions - so I'd say it was very much the blind leading the blind! Nevertheless we reached our hotel just as the heavens released bucketloads of rain! We parked the car as close as possible to the hotel street but it was still some distance away and we got soaked on the way as the street was double numbered and we didn't know which set to follow. Having asked at a hotel we followed the black numbering and scurried like drowned rats into the hotel and up four flights of stairs to our little room! to be continued
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