There’s no doubt about it, Tuscany is spectacularly photogenic. The minute you cross into Tuscany, you begin to see hillsides covered with grapevines and orchards of olive trees. You spot magnificent villas with Italian cypress-lined driveways.
Greg was driving, so I felt bad for him because my head was on a swivel as I tried to see everything. It seemed like every time we turned a corner there was another stunning vista. Even the view from our little hotel room was practically unbelievable.
We had expected to see some beautiful sights, so we booked a Vespa tour through our hotel to get a slower, open, and more fun chance to take in the scenery. What a blast!
We turned up at the appointed time and presented our US drivers licenses to check in. From there we were sized for a helmet and introduced to the Vespa we’d be riding on the local Italian roads.
If you’ve ridden a motorcycle or even a mini-bike in your youth, the Vespa is fairly easy to ride. But for anyone who’s ever driven in Italy, the idea of guiding a scooter in traffic is daunting. We were assured it wasn’t as bad as we might expect, so we learned a few steering and braking tricks and guided our rides onto the roadway.
As we climbed to the top of a 20% grade (yeah … that’s crazy steep), our guide had us all pull over onto the shoulder to point out some sights … and to take pictures of us on our ride.
We thought it was very Italian to have all the couples kiss for a camera shot.
From there we went back down into the valley and up another hill to San Gimignano for a break that included a visit to one of Italy’s most famous gelaterias. As a professed lover of all things ice-cream related, it was a particularly perfect stop for me.
When we arrived back at the starting point we were laughing as we decided our fears were probably a safe bet, but in the end, unwarranted. It was a fun way to see a little of the Tuscan countryside.
There’s a whole world out there just waiting to be explored. Have a little fun and try a different way of checking it out.
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