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| Breakfast under the vines |
The sun came out today, which was such a nice change after the last few grey days and it dappled the ground under the vines as we sat in the courtyard to eat our breakfast. It was nice to have a slower, lazier start to our day today and we didn’t leave the hotel till well after ten.
We’d seen San Gimignano briefly last night but we returned this morning to visit the Collegiata, its stunning church. The walls are covered with the most colorful frescoes and it was a popular spot which made it harder for the guard to keep the visitors quiet inside. She was constantly Shhhhing and asking for “Silencio!!” . Up behind the church is a tiny little walled garden inside a 14th century fortress. At the end of the walls there’s a little tower with a fine view back over the towers of the town and the hills in the distance.
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| San Gimignano street |
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| Yumm!!! |
The town is liberally supplied with cafes, restaurants and shops but our only food stop was the busy little Gelateria that boasts the claim of being the world champion of gelato! Our tour guide in the Cinque Terre had told us about the place and just as he’d said there was a line to get in. We both tried the Cinnamon and the Grapefuit/Spumante flavours, I’m no judge but it was pretty world beating to me!
We had decided that tonight we would have a picnic dinner on our verandah with the marvelous view so we made a pitstop to buy cheeses, bread, meats, pesto and salad for our dinner and took it back to the hotel.
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| Another picture postcard view of San Gimignano |
The roads around here are just made for driving so we decided to give the car a spin on a loop that would take us to Volterra. We had planned to stop there but every single parking lot was full so we retreated to a tiny little restaurant outside the town where we ate a simple lunch of Pizza. The people here spoke no English whatsoever, but its amazing how much you can communicate by pointing and smiling.
Back at the hotel for a lazy afternoon on the veranda and catching up with blogs and washing. It was blissfully quiet yesterday but the hills are full of motorcyclists today, who just love the challenge of the windy roads. We’ve also just watched a bus load of Japanese tourists pull up outside the hotel, but other than making breakfast a little busier tomorrow I don’t expect they will impact on us much.
Tuscany has been wonderful, I hope we get back here someday.