small Tuscan town, old world feel...

In preparation for our day trip today, we woke up when the Little Misters did, which is always far too early. While they ate their breakfast, I packed a lunch. We were showered, dressed, out the front door and at the bus stop by 8:03am (we're getting better). We waited only a few minutes for the number 11 bus to come and take us to the bus station. Quickly we bought our bus tickets and climbed aboard the 8:40am bus towards Siena. There was one transfer we had to make in the city of Poggibonsi. We arrived around 9:20am but had to wait an hour for our next bus. While we had the time, we walked a few blocks to see what was around. There was a grocery store not too far away where we grabbed some bread and drinks for a morning snack (otherwise known as Marmee and Daddy's breakfast).

The bus arrived on time and we peacefully rode the 15 minutes into San Gimignano. The town itself is walled with only a few entrances, but the bus dropped us off at the main gate/ door into the city. Walking through the archway, I instantly knew this would would be a great day of adventuring. Small enough we could see as much as we wanted and big enough to get "lost" down long narrow streets.

We marched down the main street eagerly searching for side streets to venture down. We noticed a sign for an overlook and walked a short way to see the view. The lush countryside and rolling hills of Tuscany are amazing- even in the dead of winter. From there we wandered into the town square Piazza della Cisterna, where the well I was looking forward to seeing was surrounded by a street market. Thankfully later in the day it was packed up and I was able to get the photos I wanted.

 

There was a small archway and alley that took us around the side away from the main street. It was interesting to see the less traveled parts of the city. Eventually we found ourselves outside the city walls, without thinking twice we followed the path around the outer wall taking in even more of the country side. The city is built on top of a hill/ ridge, so everywhere away from the city is downhill. We found a bench along the path to sit and feed the boys lunch. Afterward we walked back into the city through a even smaller back alleyway. We zig-zaged through the alley and were dumped out into a piazza near one of the few churches in the town. It wasn't open, and since we were at the end of town, we turned to go back through the city by a different road.

We followed a back "residential" path which split in two directions. I chose to take the uphill climb, hoping to see more of the towers from a higher vantage point. My family followed me, a little less excited about the climb, but we were all pleasantly surprised to find this way took us to a little doorway into the old fortress. Just inside the door we found more stairs that climbed to the top of the fortress wall! Very excited to find this beautiful panoramic view. We took a family photo with a majority of the towers in the background.

We explored the fortress and then found ourselves wandering back to the Piazza della Cisterna again. Marmee and Daddy stopped for a hamburger lunch in a restaurant beside the piazza. Just around the corner, was the Duomo of San Gimignano. Instead of entering the church, we went into the Palazzo del Popolo. There we bought tickets to climb the Torre Grossa, the tallest tower in the city.

It was quite the climb, the first part were VERY steep stone stairs. We entered the tower through a small door and then found the steel stairs (thankfully they felt more stable than the catwalk in Lucca's tower). Unfortunately the last flight of stairs were a extra steep ships ladder with a low ceiling and once at the top you have to crawl out from under the bells. The boys were used to these stairs from playing on play grounds, so there was only a moment of hesitation as we looked on.


Once on top of the tower we were greeted with AMAZING views of the town and rolling hills. While Daddy patiently watched the boys, I took as many photos as I could of all the towers I could find. What a truly fantastic place. We all managed to climb back down the tower and noticed the shops were all closing their doors. The street sweepers were all out cleaning up after a busy morning, and it felt as if we were walking in a ghost town. Actually a pretty interesting and fun feeling to hear your feet echo down the streets of an ancient city. While it would be fun to stay in San Gimignano forever, we had to get back to Florence eventually. After a small struggle to find where to buy our bus tickets back, we were again on a bus to Poggibonsi to transfer, and then onto Florence. We were home around 5 or 6pm, perfect timing to eat dinner and jump into bed.