2. Travel

Tuscany

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Soon the tour groups arrived and we headed back along the path to Manarola to catch the train.
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Soon the tour groups arrived and we headed back along the path to Manarola to catch the train.

Italyscenictravel

  • We sat in a small bar (which is a coffee shop in Italy), had breakfast and watched . . .
  • the activity in the street.
  • Soon the tour groups arrived and we headed back along the path to Manarola to catch the train.
  • After a last walk through the small piazza at the bottom of the steps near our apartment, where the neighbors played cards at night, we said good by to Manarola and were off on the next adventure -- driving in Italy!
  • We took a 15 minute train ride from Manarola to La Spezia, an industrial seaport, where we picked up our tiny Fiat and found our way to the Autostrade for the 2 hour drive south to San Gimignano. The countryside was lush rolling hills with vineyards and olive groves everywhere.
  • We arrived at Il Vecchio, a working organic farm a mile or two from San Gimignano.
  • which is across the valley from the city.
  • The farm is owned and operated by an extended family . . .
  • which grows grapes, olives, saffron, and . . .
  • . . .also produces honey and jams.
  • We settled into our very nice room and then went down to dinner -- a five course meal with six other guests that seemed to go on forever -- antipasti, pesto lasagna, salad, beef stew, cheese and honey, custard filled cake for dessert, espresso, vin santo, and grappa. Senora Tiziana, our hostess, would not take no for an answer to any course -- even seconds. Our stomachs ached as we waddled to bed.
  • From our room we could see the medieval town of San Gimignano. Enchanting, though it reminded us a little bit of the Magic Kingdom at Disneyworld!
  • San Gimignano is a walled city sometimes known as the medieval Manhattan because of 70 towers which once stood inside the city walls. Today 14 of the towers remain. The Piazza della Cisterna is one of two main piazzas at the center of the city, which is closed to traffic.
  • Untitled photo
  • Lou couldn't resist photographing the streetscapes . . .
  • . . . that seemed to be planned by a landscape architect but are just the way Tuscans decorate their public and private spaces.
  • A Medieval festival was going on in the city, complete with this parade of . . .
  • musicians and . . .
  • ladies of the court.
  • We had a light dinner at Ristorante La Stella -- a warm, friendly place we liked so much we end up eating there the next night too.
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