My mom and I rented a car and my mom was quite the trooper. She drove stick shift in a foreign country where the drivers are absolutely insane. No, seriously, drivers in Italy have nothing on any other country, they do not believe in speed limits or blinkers, among other things. We rented the car so we could tour through the Tuscan countryside unabridged. However, I cannot read maps, and that didn’t always work. On our way from Florence to Volterra, the town in Tuscany we were staying in, we went at least two hours out of our way. Despite that, we loved seeing the countryside and made it to Volterra safely.
Volterra is actually the real town that Stephanie Meyer based parts of her book Twilight on. When I learned we were going there, I started preparing myself to meet the Volturri or Edward Cullen, and was very disappointed to not find either. However, Volterra is the prime medieval town, and I could easily see it being the home of violent vampire. It is one of the walled towns that speckles Tuscany, completely surrounded by solid stone walls and housing cobble stone roads and small shops and apartments, all quite un-navigable.
From Volterra we were able to drive to other Tuscan towns and really get to see the countryside, including San Giminano, Monteriggione, Siena. All the towns were adorable, but we were hindered by two big problems. One, pouring down rain. It was just awful weather the entire time we were in Tuscany, with only small respites in the torrential downpours to take a few photos. However, I was able to break in my new umbrella that I love and my mom got to wear her new rain boots. The second thing was that it was Easter. While it sounds nice to be in Italy for such a holiday, it was actually pretty close to a nightmare. We have to remember that Easter to the Italian Catholics owns every other American holidays put together. The crowds were impossible to navigate and the parking was.. yikes. But! We got lucky, were able to squeeze into some restaurants that were not completely booked and see entire Italian families celebrating a great holiday.
Overall, I loved Tuscany but I just wish the weather had been better. The views are just breathtaking, and really reminded me of Ireland and the Ring of Beara. If we had had more sun, I would have frolicked in the fields for hours.
We left Tuscany and headed south to Rome, where we had booked a hotel for the night in a beach town outside the city before catching our different flights the next day. It was hard to get in a car again and the drive was a little long, but we made it and saw a beautiful Italian beach at sunset and checked into our hotel. At this point we were exhausted and very, very sick of pasta and pizza. So we indulged and went to a Wild West themed restaurant and ate nachos. It was heavenly.
Another funny aspect of this trip was getting directions to the airport. Our receptionist had it all summarized, “NOTHING is easy in Italy! Before we had Michelangelo, now we have no idea.” Against all odds, we made it to the airport safely and on time and said a tearful goodbye, from the movies. It was so great to see my mom, only a month and half til the Mulligan girls are reunited again!
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