An hour and a half of precious Italy time gone, we finally got our car and headed to Volterra, a small town on the top of a mountain in Tuscany. Of course when we arrived we were starving and started our trip perfectly, huge pizza’s and calzones for $5 ! After polishing off our meal we headed out to explore the town. There are amazing views over the region from this village.
Things were going great until we decided to walk along the wall that surrounds the city and someone decided he needed to see more and tried to jump up on the wall. Big mistake, he caught his hand on something (we aren’t sure what) and ended up with a huge gash. So our next adventure was to the pharmacy to get it patched up and buy some Band-Aids. The pharmacist was very nice and cleaned it up for Jay (she did say he needed to get stitches, but we ignored that warning) and then bandaged it up. So with Jay all bandaged up, we headed for our hotel in San Gimignano. Of course, at this point it is pouring down rain. We rented an apartment for a few days in the town and picked up our keys at the bakery. Needless to say, we were both soaked at this point. The apartment was huge and had some great views of Tuscany.
We wandered around the town, and explored the area in the rain, had dinner and finished off the day with Gelato.
We woke up and decided to really see San Gimignano. We headed to the Torre Gemelle and climbed to the top of the tower for some more great views of the city.
A few other shots in San Gimignano:
Communist posters (not the only one we saw on our travels):
After that we explored a few museums in town and more of the city. San Gimignano is a smaller city, so after lunch we headed to Sienna. Quite the difference from the small towns we had been to thus far.
They have a huge Duomo there that to me looks like a prison with the black and white strips. Of course, this color combination is very common in Italy. We weren’t that impressed with Sienna, so we didn’t stay long – just grabbed a gelato as we looked over the town center and headed to another small town, Monteriggioni.
Caught with another gelato…
It took all of five minutes to see this town, not much going on here, so we headed back to our favorite town, San Gimignano and stopped for a glass of wine at this great Enoteca:
After setting the tone for a relaxing evening at the wine bar, we had the most delicious bruschetta and dug into some traditional meals at a restaurant tucked away in a back alley, with stone archways and ceilings, lit up by candles. Ahh yes, and the wine – Chianti by the liter for $5.50.. You just can’t turn the corner without finding good, cheap wine. We polished the night off with some gelato and went to bed.
The next day we packed up and headed to tour more of Tuscany. Friday was May Day, so we were warned that most everything would be closed. We drove around and spotted a small family winery down some small back road that was open. We stopped in for a tasting and were joined by another American group from Iowa. The Chianti was excellent as was the olive oil. The girl giving the tour explained that each of the wine-label designs were based on the owner’s children. Some of the coolest designs we’ve seen.
After setting the tone for a relaxing evening at the wine bar, we had the most delicious bruschetta and dug into some traditional meals at a restaurant tucked away in a back alley, with stone archways and ceilings, lit up by candles. Ahh yes, and the wine – Chianti by the liter for $5.50.. You just can’t turn the corner without finding good, cheap wine. We polished the night off with some gelato and went to bed.
The next day we packed up and headed to tour more of Tuscany. Friday was May Day, so we were warned that most everything would be closed. We drove around and spotted a small family winery down some small back road that was open. We stopped in for a tasting and were joined by another American group from Iowa. The Chianti was excellent as was the olive oil. The girl giving the tour explained that each of the wine-label designs were based on the owner’s children. Some of the coolest designs we’ve seen.
After our tasting we headed to Greve, the village I stayed in during my stay a few years ago. Yet again another great meal, look at the size of this pizza.
The weather was perfect for sitting outside and enjoying the warmth after being in cold England.
After lunch we headed out again and stumbled upon another winery. We discovered that you can actually get this wine in the states, Gabianno which is owed by Beringer.
Next stop, yet another small winery, where we had to wait for someone to come from the house to help us with the tasting.
At this point we had enough wine tasting for one day and headed to our next hotel in San Miniato. Now we paid a few bucks more for a room with a view, and a room with a view is what we got!
Outside of hotel:
San Miniato isn’t a very happening town as we discovered.
So the next day we headed into Florence. Trying to park a car in Florence is near impossible. While hunting for a parking garage we got stuck on streets that were covered in people, I don’t really know how we drove through there, but I guess staying close to the cab in front of us helped – we literally drove right between the Ponte Vecchio and Ufizi museum. Florence was packed, we could barely walk across the Ponte Vecchio because there were so many people.
This was a big change from all the small towns we had been exploring. Needless to say, every museum had insane lines, so we decided not to spend 3 hours of our day waiting in them. We did catch a glimpse of a replica of David.
All this walking deserves some Gelatto.
After spending a few hours in Florence, and tracking down some gelato, we had enough of the crowds and headed to Lucca, a smaller town north of Florence.
Well this wasn’t much better; it was jam packed with people.
The mistake we made was starting our trip with the slower paced cities – they spoiled us by providing a picture perfect experience of what you imagine Tuscany to be. So after a little while we had enough of this town and headed back to the heavenly town of Volterra for dinner, this time without any injuries.
The weather was perfect for sitting outside and enjoying the warmth after being in cold England.
After lunch we headed out again and stumbled upon another winery. We discovered that you can actually get this wine in the states, Gabianno which is owed by Beringer.
Next stop, yet another small winery, where we had to wait for someone to come from the house to help us with the tasting.
At this point we had enough wine tasting for one day and headed to our next hotel in San Miniato. Now we paid a few bucks more for a room with a view, and a room with a view is what we got!
Outside of hotel:
San Miniato isn’t a very happening town as we discovered.
So the next day we headed into Florence. Trying to park a car in Florence is near impossible. While hunting for a parking garage we got stuck on streets that were covered in people, I don’t really know how we drove through there, but I guess staying close to the cab in front of us helped – we literally drove right between the Ponte Vecchio and Ufizi museum. Florence was packed, we could barely walk across the Ponte Vecchio because there were so many people.
This was a big change from all the small towns we had been exploring. Needless to say, every museum had insane lines, so we decided not to spend 3 hours of our day waiting in them. We did catch a glimpse of a replica of David.
All this walking deserves some Gelatto.
After spending a few hours in Florence, and tracking down some gelato, we had enough of the crowds and headed to Lucca, a smaller town north of Florence.
Well this wasn’t much better; it was jam packed with people.
The mistake we made was starting our trip with the slower paced cities – they spoiled us by providing a picture perfect experience of what you imagine Tuscany to be. So after a little while we had enough of this town and headed back to the heavenly town of Volterra for dinner, this time without any injuries.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, our hotel room had a fresco, which we were very amused with one night.
Our last day we headed to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We parked the car and were immediately greeted with people selling watches, sunglasses, basically the same stuff you see in NYC. We walked towards the Leaning Tower and pretty much the whole way these guys were trying to sell you crap. Finally we made it to the Leaning Tower, which I must say, is not that impressive. I thought it would be much bigger than it was.
Of course, everyone is lined up taking pictures of themselves holding it up, we tried to capture a big line of them posing.
We only had a couple of hours in Pisa, but it was a little tacky, so we grabbed lunch from one of the pushy restaurants and began our journey back to England, leaving the warm weather, great food and cheap wine behind.
Needless to say, Tuscany is one of my favorite places to visit, I can’t get enough of the beautiful views and I love the cypress trees.
Of course, everyone is lined up taking pictures of themselves holding it up, we tried to capture a big line of them posing.
We only had a couple of hours in Pisa, but it was a little tacky, so we grabbed lunch from one of the pushy restaurants and began our journey back to England, leaving the warm weather, great food and cheap wine behind.
Needless to say, Tuscany is one of my favorite places to visit, I can’t get enough of the beautiful views and I love the cypress trees.
Awesome photos guys! The shot of the cobblestone alley with the Ducati is very cool. You should write a travel guide when you get back to the states.
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