Hay Bales near Montalcino, Italy

Today, we drove through one of Tuscany's great landscapes -- the Sienese Crete (meaning "craters"). An almost surreal place to the south of Siena, composed of rounded hills largely devoid of trees. The scene is made bizarrely uneven by steep erosion furrows and outcrops of greyish clay, and the road takes you to such high elevations, you almost feel like you are flying.

I wish I knew how to make my camera take dramatic landscape shots which don't turn out looking disappointingly flat when I get around to reviewing them! This scene of hay bales at least gives you the sense of space, big sky, and undulating landscape.

What a heavenly place Tuscany is!