Well, we’re off again. First stop: Rome.

We flew Qatar again and the flight from Melbourne to Doha was a little turbulent, but otherwise fine. Doha to Rome was flawless. One minor issue in the airport lounge in Doha: We were sitting in the lounge, sleep deprived of course after our 13.5 hour flight from Melbourne, when I noticed a small, plastic black cap next to my head. I thought that maybe it was an international power point and I could charge my laptop. I have no idea why I thought they would place a power point at head-height, and in hindsight that didn’t make a lot of sense, but call it sleep deprivation. I flipped the black cap up inches from my face, and an intense, bright light burned directly into my eyeball, searing my cornea off. Don’t ask me why a reading light needs to be so bright that you could perform surgery under it. Overkill, I say. Nevertheless, I couldn’t see for about 20 minutes without this bright afterimage swimming in front of my eyes. I don’t know why it’s up to me to impart this knowledge on all of you in order to prevent you from doing the same thing, but I guess it’s my cross to bear. Now you know what those round, plastic covers are for in the airport lounge in Doha. You’re welcome.

We landed in Rome at 7:30am and were met by our driver, who took us directly to our hotel in Trastevere. We had only booked an overnighter in Rome, since we’d decided to skip the sights this time and take off to Tuscany the next day. We booked a hotel in Trastevere so that we could avoid the hustle and bustle of touristy Rome and experience something a little different. We normally stay in Testaccio, which has a more local vibe, with no hotels but plenty of cafes and restaurants catering to the locals, and as such much better quality food than Rome central. This time we elected to stay in Trastevere, which is directly across the Tiber river from Testaccio and has more of a mix of tourists and locals.

We stayed in a hotel called Donna Camilla Savelli, which is a converted monastery, originally built in the 1600’s. It has been beautifully restored, with al fresco dining in the cloisters, which are dotted with garden beds originally made by the nuns. After we arrived, we sat in this courtyard and had breakfast in the sun amongst the olive trees and flowers.

Despite our intention to avoid central Rome on this trip, we had to walk there after breakfast. Lidia realised she’d left all of her makeup at home and, given there were no cosmetic stores in Trastevere, we strolled into the historical centre to the Sephora near the Spanish steps. Luckily, it’s a short walk from Trastevere, only 30 minutes, and it was nice to pass the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain on the way.

We returned to Trastevere and did some exploring after this. It has a cool vibe, with lots of al fresco cafes, bars and restaurants lining the narrow, cobble-stoned streets, amongst houses sporting fragrant, abundant jasmine bushes exploding around their doors. We stopped at a bar and sat outside watching the world go by as we munched on bruschetta and sipped on margheritas and Campari spritzes in the afternoon sun.

It wasn’t long before we hit a wall and had to return to our hotel to take a nap. We were meeting Rob and Caitlynne for dinner, so we set the alarm and hit the hay. Half an hour before the alarm went off, we were still in noddy land when my phone rang. Rob and Caitlynne had walked to us from their AirBNB in central Rome and were standing outside our hotel. I quickly got dressed and headed down to meet them while Lidia got herself ready for dinner. Rob, Caitlynne and I explored Trastevere a little together and sat in the ancient cathedral for a while, admiring the ornate gilded ceiling and impressive mosaics.

We ate at the restaurant at our hotel that night and the meal was fantastic. We were all completely exhausted and after a bottle of Cesanese del Piglio, a red wine variety I’d never heard of but was completely delicious, we were all delirious and finding everything funny. Once the conversation started getting inappropriate (thanks Rob), we decided to call it a night. We said our goodbyes, because from here we were to go our separate ways for a week.

The next morning we checked out and took a taxi to Termini railway station to our hire car company. It was peak hour traffic and took an hour to get there, the driver passing by Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum on the way. Unfortunately, once we got there, I approached the car hire counter only to find that I was supposed to pick the car up at St Peter’s Square, not Termini railway station. We considered taking another taxi for the half hour drive to St Peter’s, but Massimo on the car hire counter suggested he could hook us up with an equivalent car, so the crisis was averted.

We loaded our luggage into the car and drove 2.5 hours from Rome to Tuscany. It wasn’t long before the grungy, graffiti-covered buildings of Rome gave way to pencil pines, olive trees and vineyards scattered lazily across green hills.

Our first stop was Termini di Saturnia, where natural sulphur springs bubble up from the ground, forming calcified terraces that are very popular with the Italians. Apparently, the waters are therapeutic. We stayed in a resort with an abundance of 37 deg thermal pools spread throughout. It was a beautiful place, but smelled like a flatulent camel with dysentery.

On site was a spa and we had booked ourselves in for massages on the day we arrived. Lidia went off for a mud massage while I floated in a massive thermal pool with bubbles breaking the surface and clumps of algae floating around. The Italians rub the algae over their skin, believing it to be good for it. I wasn’t about to rub these brown, lumpy things anywhere on my person.

After my dip, it was my turn for a spa treatment. I was met by the lovely Francesca, who looked like a 1970’s sanatorium worker, with her white uniform, the tunic buttoned down the side. Those of you who have read my blogs in the past may remember that previously I’d had a massage in Italy where they gave me disposable g-strings and I put them on the wrong way around, not realising the masseuse would ask me to roll over on my back halfway through the massage. She’s probably still in therapy. Well, this time the same disposable g-string was foisted on me, but I was wise, and despite the fact that they still don’t provide instructions with them, I knew which way to put them on. Still, I did take them off and put them on 3 times before I settled on the big baggy part being in front. They are very confusing! Which ever way they go on, you’re revealing far too much!

Anyway, Francesca was fantastic, although she did massage my stomach quite vigorously. I’ve never had a stomach massage before. I’m not sold on it. I was grateful that I’d skipped lunch and not eaten beans or curry in the past 24 hours, because all that rubbing on your abdominals would surely work any excess gas down to the point where Francesca would have to stand clear or suffer the consequences. That would have been embarrassing for the both of us! Fortunately, that didn’t eventuate and the only hiccup we did have was when she was giving me a beautiful face massage. Lack of sleep had made me very relaxed and sleepy and with Francesca’s face hovering over mine as she worked her magic, I briefly fell asleep. I snorted myself awake, making poor Francesca jump. I did manage to keep myself awake for the rest of the massage, though.

The next morning we took the car to a place that has been on my bucket list for years, but have never had the chance to visit: Pitigliano. It was a short 30 minute drive from the thermal springs and as you drive around the final bend towards the town, you are met with the most magnificent view. Pitigliano sits on the top of a volcanic cliff face, the terracotta-coloured houses seemingly blending in with the cliff walls. An ancient aqueduct runs along the edge. The town was inhabited by the Etruscans, precursors to the Romans, in 800BC. They carved roads into the volcanic rock between the villages in the area, called “vie cave”. We hiked down one of these roads for a couple of hours, which was like walking through a volcanic tunnel. The rut in the centre of the road carved out by ancient carts over centuries.

We spent a fair bit of time wandering around the town as well, stopping for a magnificent 20 euro lunch at a small trattoria. We ate gnocchi, cacio e pepe and polpette. Simple and totally delicious.

After lunch we said goodbye to Pitigliano and headed back to Terme di Saturnia.