Our next stop in Tuscany was the “walled” village of San Gimignano, located within the province of Siena.
Famous for its towers, many were built by the rich who would try and “out-do” the other by building them a little higher than the last one.
Over the years, as other towns tore their towers down for various reasons, San Gimignano fought to keep as many of theirs intact. Today, 14 of the original 60 still remain.
The drive from Lucca took us through some really picturesque vistas of the rolling hills of Tuscany – exactly the kind of scenery you would see in a wine commercial or an Italian travel bureau ad. So, armed with a tripod, we decided to take a few family portraits…
I have to admit that I was not looking forward to driving into San G. It is an extremely hilly-town with no parking and tight streets. But as it turns out, it couldn’t have been any easier for us to get in and out. Park in Lot 1 and jump onto the waiting shuttle bus that drops you off right smack in the middle of town. “Easy-peezy”, as our UK friends would say!!!
Chiribiri Trattoria (I know, funny name!) was a highly recommended eatery that we just had to try. And it was probably one of the best meals we had in Italy. Stuffed rabbit w/meat and vegetables for Jo, beef cooked in chianti for me and spaghetti for the girls, with a side of spinach w/garlic and olive oil! A perfect lunch to top off our tanks before exploring this beautiful city!
In the city center, Pluripremiata Gelateria proudly proclaims themselves as the "Gelato World Champion" for 2006-07 and 2008-09. We stopped to see if they were truly worthy or not. Jo ordered a cappuccino w/rum, that she proclaimed as “awesome!” The girls loved their selections (vanilla/strawberry and vanilla/mint) and mine (“rocky road”-like) was pretty good as well, so I guess it was unanimous – 4 thumbs up!
We took a look inside the duomo here as well, but found it rather plain. We were planning to go up the tower, but instead went to the Rocca, where we found a wonderful panoramic view of the area.
It was here where we met new friend Fabio S., a Brazilian of Japanese descent. Fabio was winding down his 33 day (!!!) holiday traveling solo throughout Europe. He was kind enough to stop to chat and to patiently take some pictures of us. It was very nice to meet him and the girls enjoyed seeing him as well – most likely because his hair was longer than theirs! Anyways, I had a feeling we had not seen the last of Fabio…
As the day winded down, we took the bus back to our car and headed “home” to Lucca, stopping off at Regine’s again for a couple of their thin crust margherita pizzas.
By now, we have completely lost track of how many pizzas we have eaten in Italy…
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