We left Siena and took the bus to Poggibonsi. Walking through the place we noticed we were quite stinky. We asked some people on a balcony if we could use their shower but they did not understand English. Luckily their daughter spoke English pretty well and told her parents what we were asking for. They allowed us to shower at their place and even made us some nice dinner. Then they described the way to a park to us where we stayed for the night.
Continuing our hitchhiking the next day we had the chance to enjoy the beauty of the Tuscany landscapes with the hills and the herbal perfume all over the place. The area is also famous for their nice wines and if you have the chance to try a regional wine there I recommend you to: they are rich in taste even if you buy the cheapest one you can get.
This day included a lot of walking for we simply could not get a ride. There were only a view cars on our roads but it was fine. We enjoyed the walking until we got picked up by two German travellers who went to Volterra. They told us about a natural reserve that was close to the town and said that it was just perfect for camping there. The river had clean fresh water and it was perfect for swimming. So we decided not to join them on their way to town but to head for the river close to Volterra.
The way was long and we were lucky that a local picked us up and drove us almost all the way eventhough he did not want to go there. We even had to cross a small river with the car.
Then we were there. At this beautiful river. It had the perfect temperature and the water was streaming very nice. If you dived a bit deeper the temperature of the water was also colder and since it was very deep it was perfect to cool down after all the hiking. Of course we decided to camp there.
The sunset was very beautiful with enchanted soft pink and purple colours that gave the plants around an emerald tone. We made little camp fire to stay warm for the night and to keep the mosquitos away.
Swimming in the night was even more beautiful for the whole place was so calm and magical. Diving in a cool river in a warm summer night and warming yourself up at a nice camping fire is the best. We were very careful with the fire in the natural reserve of course and we also always take care not to leave trash wherever we go on our journey.
In the middle of the night some students from Pisa arrived and had a camp at the other side of the river. We connected in the morning smoked a joint with them and they took us back to the village next to Volterra. It was a far longer ride back, at least it felt like it, for we were 9 people in a very small car with backpacks and all that and we needed to drive more than half an hour.
We had a cool drink and a cappuccino at the village and hitchhiked up to Volterra with a nice women who worked in the tourism industry there. This was one of the first local graffiti I saw. Of course I had to take a shot with that statement.
The town is very beautiful with lots of churches and other old buildings like castles. It was already known in the 4th century.
As you know me by now I am a lover of old Italian passways. Actually the town of Volterra offers a lot of artworks to discover but I usually do not like to go in shops and take photos of the artworks so I did not do it there as well.
But I can tell you there is a lot of amazing art there. Especially in the field of carving white alabaster some local handcrafters are genius. This handcraft is traditional in the area since ancient times.
Another form of art that is flowering in Volterra is the creation of jewellery. I can tell you my heart was bleeding because of all those beautiful necklaces and rings, armbands and earrings. In the end everything was so beautiful so I could not decide what to buy and saved my money. We still had to get back all the way to Berlin, remember?
So, we decided to walk through the streets and check out a place where we could build our tent in the night. Some people told us that there would be a Rock 'N' Roll concert in the centre of Volterra in the night so we decided to go there and just built our tent at the closest place of lawn we could find. The concert was very nice and I enjoyed it a lot for I have a fable for the music area of the 50s until 70s.
Such a lovely castle. I love the style. Looks like in a middle-age fairy tale.
These are the remains of buildings that were built at the time of the Roman empire.
A bit of experimental black & white photography here...
... and another one. I was very unlucky to have backlight when I wanted to shoot this statue. I hope you like the shot anyways. I was very impressed by the vivid expression of movement in the stone figure.
This pigeon also was an art lover and decided to contemplate on the head of mother Mary.
Thank you for reading my post. If you would like to read about the previous parts of the journey check out the links below. In my next post I will tell you about our visit in Livorno and about a famous person we saw there...
The way to Ostia - 1
Ostia Antica -1.1
Bracciano -2
Viterbo -3
Tuscania -4
Lago di Bolsena -5
Pitigliano Part 1 -6
Pitigliano Part 2 -7
Sovana -8
Saturnia -9
Talamone & Siena #10
