October 1 was a transition and travel day. Having travelled with Dan & Suzanne for a week post trek, we now were to meet up with Derek & Marketa for the remainder of our trip (photos of them below are not from this day).
After saying farewell to Mowgli and our hosts in Pompeii (and tipping them for their outstanding hospitality), we ventured into Napoli to return the car. We had cased out the route to the car rental location at the train station the previous day, so we had a fairly easy journey with Driver Dan. We said our good-byes to D&S and Mike & I headed straight to the train station. We had time for a nice coffee, and 45 minutes later we encountered Dan & Suz walking through the station having just returned from dropping off the car; Italian bureaucracy is epic!
We had managed to book the highspeed train from Naples to Florence which was great, reaching speeds of 280km/hr at times. Once again Michael & I traveled through Rome but failed to visit. Another trip to Italy will have to be dedicated to that! From Florence we easily caught the train to Montecatini Terme in Tuscany where we were to be staying.
We had arrived about 40 minutes before Derek & Marketa were to arrive so we had a beer which justified a free bathroom visit (public toilets are pay)! D&M found us no problem, but finding our place proved a bit trickier. There was no exact detail on how to get there or who to contact as the website booking was through a 3rd (or 4th?) party. Dereks messages had been unanswered despite several attempts, so we were a tad concerned. But after a bit of hit and miss, we managed to find it. It was a lovely spot with extensive grounds in a farm stay setup. The communication was lacking however, and as it turned out we only discovered all the real amenities by the end of the week – we could have enjoyed it more.
Once again travel had wiped out our energy – D&M having driven for hours, and us on the train. So after a venture to town for local pizza and beer we headed back for an early bed ready to check out what Tuscany had to offer.
