Wed 10 June: Siena-Montepulciano
To my great surprise, I was relatively calm this morning, no more apprehensive than I would normally be when getting ready to move on to the next place. Because today was going to be different. Today I would be driving, on my own. Simon is usually the designated driver when it comes to driving on the other side of the road. That’s primarily because I tend to be stronger with navigation than he is.
After the experience Simon and I had driving from Nice to Aix-en-Provence back in 2014, I knew to go for the smallest car possible. So I it was a bit annoying that the offered car (electric) was bigger than expected. Hmmm. However, there was a smaller car, petrol, but it was manual. I took it.
And it hasn’t been too bad. Fortunately, the agent pointed out a back entrance to the garage, so I wouldn’t be hurled straight onto a main thoroughfare and multi-lane roundabout. So I had the slightest warm up. Keeping right hasn’t been the problem. In fact, I have to take car that I don’t veer to much to the right – I narrowly avoided swiping things on that side more than once. Driving manual takes some getting used to when the gear stick is on the other side. I’ve stalled just the once, forgetting to put the clutch in when coming to a halt. I’ve crunched the gears only once, but there’s been a bit of moderate bunny hopping or tyre squeels when I take off. I haven't been riding the clutch though, and only once did I try to start in third gear. I keep reaching for the wrong side for my seatbelt, and keep wanting to rest my arm on the wrong side. I’ve had one driver cut right in front of me – I’m 100% sure I wasn’t supposed to give way, and there are lots of other little moments that set the heart racing, but honestly, it’s not been too bad at all.
The navigation app on my phone is fine on the whole, except where it says ‘keep left’ instead of ‘turn left’ and vice versa. I rely heavily on the visual display.
Some last photos of Siena on the walk to the railway station:
The world’s smallest radiator? The bathroom in my apartment in Siena
The train station in Florence was absolutely packed. It’s times like this I appreciate being tall! I knew exactly where to go to catch the tram having been there last October – that always makes a difference. I decided not to walk the 2.6km to Europcar with all my luggage; tap on/tap off makes things like catching a tram so much easier.
It took about half an hour, at least, to get out of Florence. Traffic was slow. As much as possible, I try to keep up with the car in front, which acts as a lead. There were lots of roadworks along the way as Florence continues to expand it tram network.
My rental car
My initial route south purposely took me along the SR 222 (known as the Chiantigiana), which is meant to be one of Tuscany's most scenic drives. The total distance was just under 140km, but it took me well over three hours. I already knew to avoid long distances, especially if taking the scenic route. I stopped off in a non-descript town called Chiocchio at a simple local bar (I due galli) for lunch. I had Spaghetti Amatriciana, delicious and half the price from in the tourist towns.
It was a bit tricky finding the parking place of my accommodation, but the instructions were good and I managed it with only one missed turn.
Montepulciano is a lovely hilltop town, at over 600m in altitude. One certainly notices the cooler temperatures at this height.
It's fascinating seeing the construction of historic buildings - the façade and what lies underneath.
My accommodation is here on the right.
I had dinner on a terrace, watching the sun go down. It took forever to set. It turned very chilly too, so I was very glad to have my Untouched World possum merino blend jersey with me.
This featured blog entry was written by kiwionthemove from the blog Europe 2026 - Italy (Puglia & Tuscany).
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