Saturnia

Leave it to us to find the path least traveled.

Our most brilliant example ever of this was in Yosemite National Park. We had just arrived at the park with Erica and saw a beautiful waterfall. So we stopped the car and started walking towards the falls. It was mostly knee deep in snow but we were so excited that we forged onwards. At one point, Erica stepped into a hole and went all the way down to her hips. We pulled her out and saw that below there was a running river of water.

We kept going, now with a little more fear and caution in our steps. As we got closer we hot more excited with the spirit of adventure and exploration as we made this treacherous trip to the waterfall. It was then that we looked up and saw a lady pushing a baby stroller towards the falls. It was at that point that we realized what idiots we were. But at least we got a story out of it.

So we heard from our host in Rome that there are hot springs in Italy. The search was on.

Avinash really loves hot tubs and can’t ever get enough of them. So naturally we figured he would love hot springs. So we googled all the available hot springs and ended up in Grosseto. We found a wonderful B&B just outside of town and intended use it as a hub for our explorations. We also heard that there was a festival called Vivamus that the region of Maremma was organizing to showcase the culture and food of the area.

Grosseto is an interesting little town/city. It has a high wall around it that use to have a moat around it. Now the town is the main center the farming communities in Maremma. The outer walls and a few buildings were old, but everything else seemed to be from the 1940’s. There’s not much to do or see there unless you need to take care of some business matters of buy stuff.

At the B&B, we found that Avinash is at least a little allergic to cats. I am pretty allergic to cats being able to be in the same room with catsuit of the time, but generally avoid touching them or I will have a sneezing fit.

Avinash found a very friendly cat and was giving it much love and attention. At some point he must have rubbed his left eye and it puffed up like Will Smith in Hitch. OK, it wasn’t that bad but when I first saw it I had to hold back a gasp so that Avinash wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. Luckily it went away the next day.

We decide we would leave Grosseto and head to Saturnia where the first hot spring awaited us. We were not disappointed. The hot springs is at an old mill and there are several levels of pools of various sizes. The water was warm and comfortable. Meeta and Avinash like their baths HOT, much hotter than I can handle. So for them it was probably lukewarm.

There were very few non-Italians there and it seemed like a getaway for Italians around the area. We went back everyday for the three days we were in Saturnia. Avinash loved it. We had to pry him away from it each time.

The quest was on for more hot springs….