The Healing Waters of Casciana Terme

Chris and I decided that on Thursday we would head out to a market in the morning and then go to the Spa in Casciana Terme. We were told that for many years people believed that the hot springs at Casciana Terme will heal you. People use to come from far and wide to experience these healing effects. So, since I've never experienced a hot spring, I wanted to go. So we got into our little white Fiat and typed Casciana Terme into the Hertz Never Lost. When we typed it in, it came up as Casciana Terme with Lari in parentheses. Since we couldn't find a Casciana Terme in the device that did not have this, We assumed it was correct.

We followed the directions and arrived at our destination and found a place to park. We started to wander through a very quiet little village and we came upon a castle. So Chris decided that even though we were pretty sure we were in the wrong place, that going up to the top of the castle was a good idea. At the time I was crabby, maybe from jet lag or maybe from sleeping too much the night before, but even though I complained, it actually was a good idea to go up to the top of the castle. It gave us perspective and there were some great views up there. We found a girl who was up at the top cleaning, and Chris asked her if she spoke any English and she said a little, he asked her if we were in Casciana Terme and she said "No, no Casciana Terme, (she pointed down to the ground) This, LARI" We looked at each other and said "Oooh, I guess we are in the wrong place" We thanked her and walked back down to our car where we hopped back in and tried typing in Casciana Terme again. This time the Never Lost pulled up the correct one without issue.

It was not far from where we were. After parking we walked up a cobblestone road and came upon a little square. There was a little restaurant, a church, and what looked like a spa. We spent a bit of time searching for the market that was supposed to be going on that morning in that area, but we decided we didn't want to wander too far from the square, so we gave up on it and wandered into the spa. We used Chris's handy google translate app to figure out what the signs right inside said. We decided it would be nice to do a couples massage and so we walked inside and got in line. There was one Italian woman in front of us that was asking lots of questions. We waited patiently and when it was our turn, we greeted the front desk woman in Italian. "Bonjorno" we both said to her. She politely smiled and then Chris asked her if she spoke English, "Parle  Inglese?" She said "A little" and then proceeded to speak English very well, Explained that if we wanted access to the magical, healing hot springs, or a massage that we needed to continue along the path and find a white gate where we would see another person who could set up the massages and get us tickets for the pool. We thanked her and headed back to the car to grab our swim suits. Once we found the white gate, we traveled down some stone steps with pretty trees growing around them and wandered into a lovely park with a water fountain. We found a booth where a woman was helping another customer. When we got to the front, we greeted her and started to point to the couples massage that we wanted in the brochure. She seemed confused and so we tried to communicate with her in Italian. We were able to find out that we were unable to get a couples massage and that we would have to go separately. I decided I didn't want to do that, since Chris knows all the Italian, I didn't feel comfortable going for a massage in a foreign country without knowing the language enough. We just purchased 2 tickets and 2 caps for what they call, the pool.

We had to change in these small wooden changing booths that were broken in some places making it difficult to move and balance. Once changed we put our things into lockers, put on the silly swimming caps and rinsed off in the shower before entering the water. It was warm in the water, but not hot, and there were different areas of the pool where you could push a button have have water shoot out at you, or sit on  really strong jets. We tried a few of those and swam around for a while, I'm not sure how long we were in there, but we tried to stay in as long as we could. Chris thought it was strange that this pool that was said to be a fountain of youth, was filled with all older people. I suggested that it made them feel younger on the inside. All in all, it was a nice dip in the pool, but I didn't really feel any healing effects after the experience.

We ate lunch at the little restaurant in the square and our waiter was mesmerized by Chris's Google Translate app that magically changes the words from Italian to English when he waves his camera over it. We ordered a meat and cheese plate, coffee, and Risoto. It was all very good! We then headed back to the hotel for a nap before our wine tour at the Winery Fibbiani which is about 5 minutes from our hotel. Chris slept for a while and I played on my phone and messaged a few people. When the time came to run off to the Winery tour, I wished I had taken a nap. Italy makes you tired! We rushed out the door and jumped in the Fiat, it was a very quick drive and we walked into a lovely little area outdoors where chairs were set up and there was already a group of people from our hotel gathered and waiting for the tour to start.



The winemaker greeted us and asked us to take a seat and said that he would wait for a few more minutes in case the few missing people were still showing up. We sat down next to a couple that we had talked to in passing the day before, and we started chatting with them a bit without knowing either of their names. Chris started talking to a couple on the other side of him as well. When the tour started it was hard to continue chatting as the winemaker was talking about the process of making wine. This vineyard had some beautiful views that I kept snapping pictures of. After the tour, he brought us back to the little seating area and we started to taste wine. We started with the whites and I was not a fan and found out later that Italians don't make sweet white wines. I loved all of the reds. As we all started drinking, we started making friends with those next to us. I found out that the woman next to me was named Liz and that her soon to be husband's name was Mr. Waldorf and Chris found out that the couple next to him just got married on September 5th, 2015, a week before us and their names were Heidi and Randy. The winemaker was talking about the wine throughout and I think alot of us stopped paying attention because he started clapping and saying "See, now that your drinking wine, you are all friends. The more glasses of wine you drink the more friendly you are with your neighbors." We all laughed and continued chatting. We got pictures with the winemaker and our new friends and then decided to go to dinner with them after we got back to the hotel. We were on our way to meet up with them when we ran into another group that had just gotten in. It was a group of 3, a girl named Christy, a guy named Charlie, and a woman named Gay. We invited them to come along. We all had a very nice dinner together at a family owned restaurant. The owner understood the gluten allergy thing and they even had gluten free bread. We enjoyed a nice dinner with our new found friends and then we all headed back  to the hotel and hung out with them one of the patios. It had been a wonderful day and it was finally time for bed.