Chianti

The drive from Venice was longer than anticipated, but very scenic even though we were on the autostrade. Had a few tricky moments with toll booths along the way. The first shock was realising the road of viaducts and tunnels we had travelled on had just cost 17.25 euros. The machine reluctantly swallowed a 10 euro note, then we proceeded to add 7.25 in coins. This all takes quite awhile, and at the end, it said we still owed 10 euros. I was not going to feed more money in, and so pushed the button calling for assistance. Meanwhile a line of cars had built up behind me so I put my hazard lights on. A helpful Italian man from a car behind me came up and offered assistance, and at least he could convey the problem to the toll both assistant who eventually arrived. In the end they printed a long docket and told me to do something at some other point, but not sure what. (Never did work out what to do with that ticket - but some time later it dawned on me that I had put the 10 euros in the truck slot and the rest in the car slots!)

Next we decided to take a break and to pull into one of those pretty towns we were passing. Sadly our chosen destination was not an ancient town but a new area entirely devoted to outlet shopping malls with roads and parking weaving on for miles. A popular place because there was nowhere to park to allow us to refigure our plans. So eventually we pulled into a no parking space and reviewed our destination. 

When we moved back onto the autostrde we came to another yet another toll stop. But we hadn't been through anything that had first given us a toll ticket. So once again I'm pushing the button for assistance. And this time I put my hazard lights on straight away and no cars backed up behind me. 

The toll man was perplexed when I tried to explain we had no toll roared entry ticket to insert but I tried to explain where we had just been - and eventually he released the barrier and waved us through. 

We took an outer ring road and skirted around Florence, arriving an hour south in the most gorgeous Tuscan countryside of Chianti. Rolling hills with vineyards, olive groves and cyprus trees. The campground, Semifonte was a real gem. Located  next to the old town of Barberino Val d'Elsa. Parked on terraced steps with lovely trees for shade, and stunning vistas of the hills and valleys surrounding. And reasonably priced AND a pool. Score! All the hassles of the day floated away as we sat under the cool shade, marvelled at the glorious surrounds and sipped chilled limoncello. Bliss.