We find ourselves with an amazing opportunity for free Italy accommodation that we want to share with you.

We find ourselves now traveling with just the 2 of us, and Explorafriend leaves us as she wanted to go to her family in Italy, so we dropped her onto a train in Rome.

So our plans have now changed

We expected this in October, not in August, and we expected to be going south and north in Italy with her, so now we will just head north and stop.

But life brings unexpected changes for all sorts of reasons, and so we have dropped her and said our good-byes.  We have then headed toward the Tuscan region after a trip to Pisa.

We only find out on the last day as to confirmation about a small country house-sit albeit ‘Free Italy Accommodation’.

So we head out there with our car and are greeted by ‘Missy’ the cat. She originally came from Greece, and she is a very proud and lovely lady.

Free Italy Accommodation

Armed with specific instructions on how to conquer the roads on the edge of the Tuscan region, we then meander up a 2 km of rough dirt road. Here we find a 14th Century Tower one bedroom home perched on the hilltops – our ‘Free Italy Accommodation’.

We enter to find a home of yesteryear.  It is old and very Tuscan in style and I like the feel it has.

What we find

It is small and cozy, and we set about unpacking the car and arranging our things.

We have had possessions in and out of the car for weeks, and it is time to give it a good clean-out, and a good clean-up.

The kitchen is tiny and has been decorated in the style of an old Tuscan Italy farm kitchen.

Beautiful View

The skies are blue, and the view from the upstairs bedroom window is just incredible over the hills. I can see tobacco, corn, and grape vines in fields below along with rows of conifers and wild fig trees closer by.

Local Life

Once unpacked and oriented, we head to the local restaurant that soon becomes one of our favorite places. Their dog “Basil” is a great boy. Explorason renames him “Smiley”.

It is an organic restaurant and the owner is a lovely lady too.

Talking of organic, I get to have the joy of fresh herbs like oregano, basil and rosemary, and fresh vegetables like cherry tomatoes and zucchini all out of the garden.

So I tuck into some gardening time here. Before I know it a day has passed and I have cleaned up flower beds and replanted wild patches for the owner.  It feels good, and I realize how much I miss having my own garden.

I pick and dry herbs for cooking.  I also get to pick the wild figs and have on my muesli each morning.  It is just wonderful, and the combination of silence, fresh air, and good food are just what I need for this tired traveler.

Part of the reason I took this last minute to house-sit was that plans had drastically changed for us. So, I needed for me to think.  Time to read, to plan, but as yet, I had no ideas to plan ‘what’ exactly!  So this time was going to be my retreat. And in 2 days I already felt so much better.

‘Missy’ the cat was not a cat to be picked up.  She had to decide to like us, and then our laps were her laps.  But we knew her rules, and she was the real ruler of the home.

Morning mist rolled in. The odd day of rain.  The odd trips to town.  Meeting new friends.  These all became an entwined part of this house-sit.

This is a layback place in the middle of the country-side, and only a trip to town for food or internet is needed.  Otherwise, it is no TV.  And I get time to cook.  We also get time to read our books. We catch up on world schooling education, and we relax in the peace. Perfect!

We also make a 3D model. This is all the kind of stuff you can’t do when you are on the road. And life needs a balance. Part of that is the importance of time for a child to be a child. Without the go-go-go of ‘seeing’ things. It is time to ‘be’.

This is part of the little town we are near. It is in Umbria as we are right on the border. We do a history tour one day with some others ex-pats and tourists.

So now we are about to finish up this section of our trip.

We have rested up for over 2 weeks and are ready to ‘hit the road’ again.

I have had some good time to think about the future and for what we need.

I have had time to think about our budget and to get back on track. (Well nearly – we had car repairs to attend to)

It has been a really lovely break.

I am so pleased life has turned out this way for us.

It is a completely different road and time than I expected, but that is just fine.

Life is full of surprises.  Please continue to follow our world journey. This is our 3rd year of continuous travel.

So as we soon leave our 33rd country, follow us and see what is next.

We love having you on the journey with us!

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We love to house-sit and care for plants and animals and enjoy the feel of having a home.

In this case, we really wish we had longer.  It has just been lovely, and we are so thankful.

Here is our House-sitting Resumé

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