Blogs from San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy, Europe
October 7th 2011
Friday, October-07-11 Exploring the area around San Gimignano Today the weather turned. It was much cooler and the wind was blowing like a hurricane. I needed to wash clothes and had to bring most of them inside to dry in the apartment as I was afraid they would blow to the neighbours. We got a bit of rain on and off today but never enough to affect us. We did confirm a place to stay for Saturday. We will be at another agroturismo west of Perugia,right on the border with Tuscany. That was a relief. We have been trying to mail postcards home for several days, but everytime we find a post office it is closed for the day. They all seem to close between noon and 1pm. Today we made sure to go into town ... read more
October 5th 2011
Wednesday, October 5 San Gimignano We had a leisurely morning at the farm. We walked through the vineyards and olive groves. We also walked around the other older home on the property. It was built in the 1300s. It is in pretty bad shape but his 92 year grandma lives there. He said it will stay as is until she is no longer there and after that he will restore it. Probably for his home and a few apartments. It is still in the traditional style with the living area on the second floor and farm storage (and originally animals) on the lower level. We headed into town mid afternoon as we had a very special afternoon ahead of us. Stefano had arranged for us to join 2 other couples for an afternoon and evening of ... read more
October 2nd 2011
Sunday Oct 2 San Gimignano Today we decided to walk from the apartment (farm) into San Gimignano. It was about a ½ hr walk in. You start on the hill of the farm, down into the valley and then back up the hill on the other side to get to the base of the town, then up into the town. My legs will be in better shape by the time we leave here with all the climbing! It was another 30 degree day so by the time we walked into town in the sun I was pouring sweat even if it was only 10:30 am. San Gimignano is a really neat city. It is popular with tourists so fairly busy, but even within the wall of the city, you could wander down side streets with no ... read more
October 1st 2011
Today was our day to check out of our hotel and head to the country. However check out time wasn’t until noon so we planned to get up early, have breakfast and then be at the Duomo well ahead of the 10 am opening time so we could tour the dome before it got to busy. Then we would visit the 2 market areas again before heading out. Well, that was a good plan. However it appears the time change was still affecting us as we slept in - until 11:30!!!! Claude has never slept that long in his life! So, by that point we only had time to pack and check out. No breakfast, no Duomo. We had quite a chuckle about it. I had woken up a few times but since Claude was still ... read more
September 27th 2011
OMG, I have never been so excited to see a supermarket open, as I was yesterday afternoon. We arrived in San Gimignano to a lovely self contained rural house, and no groceries. Ready to give up at about 4pm on Sunday(yesterday), and even going so far as saying a prayer to find the supermarket and have it be open, we found a PAM (like woolies, but only Italian style foods). Might I add this is only the 3rd supermarket we have seen since arriving in Italy over 3 weeks ago. We have been wondering where the locals shop and decided it must be at the local market on market day, and too bad if you work that day. There are no shopping malls, the biggest we have seen is a supermarket with about 5 shops/cafes along ... read more
September 25th 2011
Well after half a day we are ready to give up and give the car back to the rental hire people! After nearly not getting it, as our credit card, although it had enough credit, was refused, and they don't take debit card or cash, I remembered I had brought a second one as a desperate backstop and stored it in a different location in case luggage was stolen or went missing. Many an argument was had at the Hertz counter today. We had booked a GPS and resigned ourselves first to the cost of 78 Euro, then had an email saying it was an extra 50E for the GPS being returned to a different area, and after our mad unsuccessful dash to purchase a Europe card for our own one, we booked the GPS at ... read more
June 19th 2011
It is cooler in the mornings and evenings here in the hills. It doesn't stay cool for long though! We opened the heavy wooden shutters and doors this morning to brilliant sunshine. I like the design of the shutters - no light at all makes its way through them and we are free to sleep until we are ready to wake up. The plan to drive to San Gimignano for the day got us all moving again, and we set off for the hilltop village, which is about 30 minutes from Asciano if you drive like an Italian. We didn't, and arrived alive 45 minutes after setting off. Whatever the i-pad lacks in photo uploading ability, it is great when it comes to maps. Astrid and Steve met us in Asciano about an hour after we ... read more
7. Tag: Erst gut, dann wieder Pannen und ein gutes Ende: San Gimignano
Published: April 25th 2011Europe » Italy » Tuscany » San Gimignano
April 25th 2011
Nach einer kurzen Nacht, packten wir heute unsere Koffer, um nach San Gimignano aufzubrechen. Wir hatten aber noch viel Zeit und schlenderten nochmal zur Piazza della Signorina, weil Jasmin gerne die Kutschen und Pferde sehen wollte. Da heute Fiesta della Liberazione war, war gefühlt ganz Italien unterwegs, um mal Florenz zu besichtigen. Wir kauften noch einige Mitbringsel und machten uns dann auf zum Flughafen, den Mietwagen abholen... Sixt hatte mir netterweise einen Kalendereintrag für mein Handy geschickt aber mit der falschen Zeit und ich hatte die Zeit auf meiner Reservierung nicht kontrolliert....wir kommen also völlig nichtsahnend zwei Stunden später als reserviert aber pünktlich laut Kalender total relaxt dort an und alle zehn Autovermietungen haben offen, nur Sixt nicht!!!! und per Telefon ist auch keiner zu erreichen. Ein Zettel informierte und, dass um vier jeman... read more
January 22nd 2011
San Gimignano was one of the coolest places ever! It is a very small down up on a hill, and from just outside the walls there are the most beautiful views of the Tuscan Countryside! The majority of the original Medieval Walls are still intact as are most of the buildings. It is a very small village and you can easily imagine knights and maidens and peasants walking in the streets. My favorite part was seeing the tiny little craftsmen shops along the streets, and many of them still maintain their original functions! for example, I went into a little shop filled with woodwork! everythin from spoons to furniture, all hand-sawn and carved! it was absolutely wonderful! We only spent a few hours there on our way home from Siena, but it was so worth it! ... read more
December 3rd 2010
Hi everybody! Greetings to all the travellers around the world! Are you planning your next travel and dreaming of a couple of destinations you can't miss in the future? That's it! It happens... Looking at the future, without forgetting the past. Your travelling experience is with you, guiding your choices, reminding you of your past vacation, trying to avoid mistakes, sharing contacts, pictures, impressions... Let's start with my last year's holiday "Under the Tuscan Sun".... Great! I should go back to Tuscany (but not this year, maybe next year.... ) My wife and I, we spent a week in the area of San Gimignano, a medieval hilltop town (in the picture). We rent a villa with breathtaking views of gorgeous coutryside with vineyards and olivegroves. A private villa is a perfect base to explore the area ... read more
