We visited a natural spa at Saturnia!

And we didn’t have to pay thousands of euro for this experience!

After we finished visiting the medieval town of San Gimignano we headed to another town in Tuscany called Saturnia.

Saturnia is probably most famous for her hot springs. And as you know, thermal baths are good for you in curing external and internal maladies or just a relaxing place to just chill out. I was there last year, but I really didn’t want to do it alone so I was glad to have Hema with me this time!

You could tell that you are getting closer to the place when you see loads of people marching in one direction with their bathrobes on, next to the road. And if you have your car windows down, you could smell sulphur in the air. One of the unique things about the area.

At the point of time we were there, you could park freely right next at the head of the spring itself, although I’m not too sure how it would be like in the future, as when we reached there, it appeared to have the skeleton of a fence already.

Anyway, being there feels like a big family picnic, what with the crowds of families there, sometimes you might even encounter someone bringing a full BBQ set with them, which was interesting as it was something that my own family would do, whenever we do beach outings.

The Cascatelle del Mulino is sort of divided into two, the small pool right next to the parking, but if you are brave enough, you could climb down the path to the bigger pool area as what you see above. It’s just that the path is very steep and precariously narrow.

(Sidenote : Cascatelle means waterfalls and Mulino means windmill in Italian. So if you ever encounter the Brand – Mulino Bianco – That means White Windmill)

Since Hema was still recovering, we decided to just stay in the smaller pool instead but it was still quite steep to get in there anyway. Moreover we had to step into rubble to get in the water. And the water current was deceptively strong! If there weren’t any ropes attached at some points, I think that we would all been swept away! Also, there are deep points in the pool where I couldn’t even touch my feet, so do be careful!

I think I should also add that there are no changing rooms available here. So I advice you to have your swimsuit already on, or bring along a trusty sarong and convert it into a makeshift changing room.

Also, don’t bring valuables with you, as it is an open space, so I wouldn’t leave my camera, wallet and whatnots just lying around.

Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience! The water was nice and warm and felt quite relaxing just to soak yourself in. At the corner of the pool, we saw a group of people with mud on their bodies. We managed to scoop some, put it on ourselves and wait for it to dry and let the magic begin.

This is the life. To just relax. Let the negativity dissolve away and soak in the goodness and happily chat with random strangers there.

It was about to be nightfall, and it was almost time to leave, but of course, we couldn’t go without a memento so this is the last picture of us in beautiful Tuscany together.

We are so glamorous!

One last tip, I think is to bring along a large bottle of water with you to rinse away the water of the hot spring, we still had to reach Rome and had to drive for about another one and a half hours. I had a headache from sitting in the car that long, most probably from the lingering smell of sulphur.

And thus that’s the end of my blog post about about our short vacation in beautiful Tuscany. I do hope that you’ve enjoyed reading about them! So do comment and let me know!

Sidenote : Check out this blogpost by Natalie!