A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Hostel

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August 6th 2009

Published: August 6th 2009

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Matticus

Vineyard

Taken during the hike

So when I was looking up hostels in Firenze I found one that had a super high rating. On closer inspection, though, it wasn't actually in Firenze, but rather in a small town called Tavarnelle about 40 minutes outside of the city. At first I was disappointed, but then I remembered that I had wanted to see some of the Tuscan countryside and I realized that Tavarnelle would be a much better base of operations for doing that than would Firenze, so I booked a couple of nights.

I figured out that there was a regional bus that started in Firenze and ran through the town, so I got a ticket and hopped on it in the late afternoon. The only problem was that I didn't know the route and I didn't speak any Italian. My plan was to go up to the driver and ask "Tavarnelle?" when the signs showed we were getting close. Well the signs started showing us approaching the town but a few minutes before I was planning to talk to the driver a woman got up and said something to him. A short while later we pulled over in front of a sign that said

The Road to Tavarnelle

Midway up

Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. I had a strong feeling that we hadn't yet arrived at the town but I was sort of panicking and I turned around to see a pair of Canadians with large backpacks getting off. Since they looked like the hosteling type I figured that they must be going to the same place and know something I don't. So I got off the bus after them.

Turns out it wasn't the right stop. The Canucks headed off to a building by the side of the road, seemingly confident that it was the place they were looking for and I got a confirmation from the woman that the town was indeed several kilometers away...uphill. Not wanting to hitchhike, I started up the hill with my full backpack and carrying my suitcase. The road quickly narrowed so that there was only the two paved lanes and a small bit of grass on the side, if I was lucky. Every time a car went by I would step as far off the road as I could. I took breaks increasingly often and during some of them I admired the great view over the valley that walking up the hill

View from the road

had afforded me. I'm pretty sure all of the Italian drivers thought I was crazy, and actually I kind of hope they did. They probably also thought I was stupid, but I would argue otherwise. I accidentaly got off at the wrong stop and I was refusing to give up and hitchhike, but neither of those things qualifies as stupid, though the latter certainly qualifies as stubborn. After about 3km of hiking a friendly Italian couple pulled over and offered me a lift. I admit I kind of wanted to finish the walk up by myself (although I was hoping I was almost done, which I wasn't), but I wasn't about to turn down such a nice offer. That would be stupid.

The next day, as I was returning from a long walk through the countryside, I passed by the Canadians. I later discovered that they were staying at the same hostel as me and had also, thus, gotten off at the wrong stop. They had hiked all the way up the hill sometime after I did. I'll never follow another Canadian ever again.

The major benefit of having made that hike was that it left me hungry