When the plans fail, there is always dinner

Even the best laid out travel plans can sometimes have unexpected 'road bumps' that get in the way. Today for us, that was the weather. While we expected we might get a little rain, we got a whole lot more. The plan was to visit Mt Amiata - highest point in Tuscany, for beautiful views. Somewhere along the journey Shannon thought it would be better to visit a small town first and get to the mountain a little later to avoid cloud coverage.

Timeless Toscana

Today was less about ticking off the attractions and must see items and more about spending time in Tuscany with each other, enjoying the locations and reminding ourselves how lucky we are to be here.

San Gimignano and Siena

Our plan for today was to revisit two places we had been to and loved. San Gimignano was one of my favourite hill top towns from our first visit to Tuscany and Shannon was keen to see Siena again, especially because we didn't have enough time to see the cathedral in 2012.

Tuscan travels

Just outside Cortona in the hills is Convent de Le Celle, and this is another place that has been on the list since we have been coming to Tuscany.

Tuscan touring

It was such a wonderful feeling this morning waking up in Tuscany. I was awake quite early so slipped out on to the terrace with my book and let Shannon sleep. It was balmy but a beautiful breeze sweeping up from the valley.

On the road again

We have had only a couple of long days on the road and today was one of them, from Arcola to Castiglion Fiorentino.  It was with slight sadness that we were to leave our host Giacomo this morning, he was a pleasure to stay with and could not come with a more higher recommendation from us.  His knowledge of the area and hospitality was second to none, thanks Giacomo. If we are ever in the LaSpezia area again we will stay at Villa Ducci.