We are thoroughly enjoying being at Marina di Scarlino in the area of Tuscany known as Maremma. Although none of the towns around here are in any of our tourist books, and people keep telling us we are the first Australians to have visited their establishment, Italians certainly know what a beautiful area it is for their vacations and the Germans have found the beaches.
The shoreline to the north of us is a string of beaches, many with the European style of banana lounges, each with an umbrella, lined up in rows along the shore. The only thing that changes along the shore is the color of the lounges and umbrellas, indicating another bagne, or beach club.
Yesterday we drove south about 20km to Punta Ala, where there is another complex of a marina, very upmarket boutiques and hotels, restaurants and bars plus many private or rental villas and flash camping grounds. (A "bar" in this part of the world is where you go for an alcoholic drink, a coffee and cake or a gelato - great combination.) More importantly the surrounding countryside is part of the Maremma Coastal National Park, with heavily wooded areas butting onto a beautiful coastline and the clear blue sea.
We were amazed to discover that just up the hill from our marina, perched on the shore, is a fabulous classy restaurant plus pizzeria plus bagne on a wooden deck. So we enjoyed dinner at the reataurant last night, watching the sunset with our first course of prosciutto, salami, salad and a cheese (served with local honey). Then we had Zuppe de Pesce (fish soup, made with local fish and various crustaceans and pomodoro - tomatoes) plus a 1998 Tuscan red.
Today we firstly headed a little further south to Castiglione della Pescaia, a fabulous coastal town that was once only a fishing port, but because it's one of those quaint old Tuscan towns with the castle and church and also has wide SANDY beaches surrounding it, the town has become a popular tourist resort for Italians. The streets of the "old town" are only for pedestrians and we found a great place for a pasta lunch with a glass of rose and a cooling breeze coming up the street from the sea.
I had read a magazine article about the Alain Ducasse (from Provence) having a hotel and restaurant on a 1250 acres vineyard property near that town so we investigated the area and have booked for dinner on Saturday evening. The hotel looks just like the sort of place we would like to stay for a while!
The rest of the afternoon was spent driving around this special area of Tuscany, visiting the old walled town of Grosetto (it's great that everything closes for siesta so that we could easily drive around the little streets that were deserted at that time of the day) and then about 20 km inland to an extremely high hill town called Roccastrada, built in the 14C as the castle for the family who ruled the southern part of Maremma. The views for miles in every direction were extraordinary. It's not a tourist place at all but I had read about a butcher from the area who was famous for his sausages and salamis so I wanted to find him. Maremma is also where the cowboys (original cowboys) breed the special Chianina long-horned cattle from which t-bones are used to grill the Fiorentina bistecco (steak), so I wanted to buy some to barbecue. We also found a Museo de Vino where we could taste and learn about the reds from that part of Tuscany, which must be at least 80% sangiovese grapes, and obtained a vineyard map of the area (for another day's exploration). As Australians we were a novelty in the town so the lady in the Enoteca (where we could buy all kinds of local food and wine) asked us to write a note in her visitors' book. There are abut 800 people living in the town and all of the older ones were already out for their early evening stroll and meeting at the local cafes and bars. It was a real treat to go there and then wind our way back to the coastline to Dream Catcher III.
I'm enjoying a stout, sitting in the cockpit as I write this and Greg is enjoying a beer as he prepares some prosciutto and melon. Cheers to our mates far away!