I’M ON A BOAT (Maremma & Day-Cruise of the Tuscan Archipelago)
The program that got us here, Study Abroad Italy, has made numerous trips available to us, and best of all they are free! (Some of them anyway!) Most of them are on Fridays, and just for the day. However, to kick off the semester, we went on a 3 day trip to the area of Maremma, which is in south-western Tuscany.
swinging at a rest stop on the way to Orbetello
We started our journey on a long bus ride to Orbetello, which is a city in the province of Grosseto. There we stayed at a hotel which was quite nice compared to what I was expecting. Kim and I shared a room, and were delighted by the paintings of birds on the walls and the bouquet of fake flowers on the table. Ha but the best part was the giant button on the wall that operated the toilet-flushing system…we likened it to a game show or perhaps Legends of the Hidden Temple. It wasn’t long before we were on the bus again to a restaurant called La Taverna. We chatted with friends and enjoyed an excellent 3 course meal (as is custom here in Italy). We had gnocchi (little potato things in cheesy tomato sauce), pork steak in gravy, and tiramisu (which I normally don’t like because it tastes like coffee, but this one is ok).
eating some gnocchi!
Afterwards, we 4 roommates and our two new southern friends walked around Orbetello, watching the sun go down and taking pictures and all that. The day ended back at the hotel, which had surprisingly comfortable beds to sleep in.
Orbetello sunset
The next day, we woke up bright and early and the bus took us to the docks, where we boarded our boat! It was the largest boat I have ever been on, and despite my fear of transportation systems I wasn’t too freaked out. There were a lot of people on this mini-cruise, but we had a nice place to sit on the way to Porto Santo Stefano, where we got to swim!
singing on the boat with Amy =]
When we got on shore, we traversed the rocky island to get over to the swimming area. It was a beautiful and warm day, so it was lovely to swim…though the water was a bit cold! One thing we had to watch out for were sea urchins, which kind of freaked us all out. Luckily, no one (in our posse anyway) got poked by one, so it was a fun time. The water is so clear there, and it felt awesome to swim in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time ever.
just keep swimming!
We had lunch on the boat, which was interesting to say the least! The first course was a rice dish with shrimp and some kind of crayfish in it…still had eyes and everything. Kim and I had noodles instead, but to my credit I did try a bit of the rice and if you can believe it, I even tried fried octopus! Not really a fan of either. Second course was a sliced meat, but not very good in my opinion. The bread was awesome tho- since usually the table bread in Italy has a little bit of saltiness that makes it delicious. Also with our meal we had some white wine, which usually accompanies all meals here. It was quite strong, but we all had fun while keeping our wits about (unlike many other people on the boat!) as we sailed to the island of Giglio. We walked around the rocky island, which had beautiful views and plants I had never seen before, which was pretty cool. The gelato there was delicious (of course) and by the time we boarded the boat again, we were all pretty worn out and ready to get back to the hotel.
the island of Giglio
Due to the fun day’s duration, Kim and I decided to stay at the hotel for dinner instead of going out again, and we had a lovely meal with our friends Nelson and Ethan. I was daring yet again and ordered ravioli with a ragu sauce (it even had spinach in it and I still ate it) for my first course, and a ‘mixed meat plate’ (which consisted of small amounts of delicious bloody steak, sausage, bacon, pork steak, and ribs) for my second course. My favorite was the steak, for it was cooked just the way I like it- rare. Nelson had wild boar and I even tried some of that, though I didn’t like it that much. Then it was off to bed, for we had to get up early the next morning to continue our trip.
We arrived at the town of Pitigliano (which is also in Grosseto) in the morning, and Kim and I both agree that it is our favorite place that we have visited in Italy so far. This amazing city is built on volcanic rock, giving all the structures a cool texture, and the whole place was constructed on the side of a hugs cliff. Narrow streets with lots of stairs, combined with vines on stone walls and numerous wine cellars, the whole place was a quaint and beautiful setting that was quite a change from the hustle and bustle of Firenze.
Pitigliano- loved it here!
We had a tour of the town, which was very interesting due to its history, and even got to see part of Palazzo Orsini, a famous palace in Pitigliano. The whole experience was great, and I am so glad that we got to go there. It was a great thing to wrap up our weekend with.
Overall, this trip was awesome and although I know that the rest of the free trips won’t be this long, I know that they will all be fun!






