To Santa Stephano, South to the sea

And so, after another cold breakfast, where we were presented with.... and worse, expected to eat, yesterdays egg effort, we packed up again and left Siena.

We both loved the town, but another night in that appartment would probably have finished us off. Exhausted as we were, neither of us slept very well and so we were looking forward to our next appartment which on paper looked fab.

But first we had to negotiate our way along the motorway and stay alive long enough to get there.

Now it’s no secret that Italian drivers are lunatics......I believe I have referred to this in my last post.....the reality of their lunacy however far surpasses their reputation for dangerous driving. We spent a considerable part of the journey trying to work out why they drive so closely to the car in front at breakneck speed......Nearly always on their phone taking selfies!!!

Our spirits were high as we travelled south, as our next port of call was just that ……a seaside town, and as we both love to be beside the seaside we were hoping for a bit of beach time.

We made good time ( despite the best efforts of our fellow road users who tried valiantly to rear end us all the way) and arrived at our accommodation (God bless our sat nav) which from the outside looked amazing........but ( yes there is always a but !!! ) we were too early , so off we had to trot and amuse ourselves for a couple of hours. We made our way into Santo Stephano which turned out to be a pretty town with bars and restaurants along the front....parked our little car and went for lunch.

Now, you will all have been in this situation……… when you have time to kill and it goes by so flipping slowly.....those two hours felt like a week!!! Luckily it was really hot, so looking back It wasn’t a major hardship but, we were eager to get settled in and so at the appointed hour we returned to find that all was well and we could now explore our home for the next three days.

And thank holy f**k it did not disappoint.

The apartment was spacious, we had three terraces, two of which had views of the sea, a dining area, a kitchen with saucepans and utensils a go go, two bedrooms ( so Dear Richard could escape my snoring!’ ) and a lounge .

HEAVEN……………

Or so we thought……………

Full of unbridled joy at the beauty of our surroundings………well, we had demolished a few glasses of wine by this stage …… we suddenly realised that we were being eaten alive by mosquitos……out came the insect repellant..... now that’s a very appropriate name for a product if ever there was one!!! It is truly repellant, the smell and greasiness are both disgusting... not to mention the effect it has on the lungs..... well it dissolves nail varnish so go figure!!

Despite our best efforts the biting little bastards had left us with more bites than a guest at a vampire wedding!! And as anyone who has been bitten knows, at first nothing happens and so you are lulled into a false sense of security..... but more of that later. We cooked ... oh the joy of having a proper kitchen ..........a delicious dinner, which we ate on the balcony ... now we were sprayed up we had no fear of the biters from hell ...and then watched the most amazing sunset.

And so ... tired .... and (don’t judge , a little tipsy ....again ..... )

we drifted off to sleep to the sound of ..... we can’t escape it .... traffic on the road below.