Arrival (Pisa)

Pisa is a short train ride from Florence; it's ideal as a 1/2-day trip from there. Pisa's train station is a distance from the Leaning Tower, however; we didn't have any problem with the 20-minute walk, but there are plenty of buses and taxis that shuttle people between the places. Most of the walk is pedestrian-only, so it's really not too bad to hike it. You do get to cross the Arno River, getting some good views of that part of the city.


Field of Miracles

Everyone knows what the star attraction is here: the Leaning Tower. It really is amazing to see in person how much it really does lean.

As you can see, there was some scaffolding halfway up the tower. That hurt the view a little bit, but it's still impressive. The tower sits in the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square, or Field, of Miracles) along with the Duomo, the Baptistry and the Camposanto Monumentale.

Heather wanted to be the classic tourist and take pictures of us "holding" the tower up - she got a few decent ones of me, but I wasn't very good at getting her. You can see my attempts in the album.

We didn't climb the tower (too expensive) or go into any of the sights; nothing really sounded very interesting, especially for the price. So we got our fill of the piazza and headed back.

Arrival (San Gimignano)

We left Pisa with San Gimignano as our destination. This ended up being our biggest frustration with train transportation our entire trip. We went from Pisa to a town called Empoli, and from there we changed for Poggibonsi. But due to some sort of problem, we ended up sitting at the Empoli station for well over an hour (with a whole group of teenagers heading home from school) waiting for a train. And once we got on a train, it didn't leave for a long time. Very frustrating.

From Poggibonsi, we took a TRAIN bus (confusing, huh?) to San Gimignano. The buses leave every hour, and we got to the train station just minutes after one had left. So we grabbed a bite to eat at the station, then waited for the next bus. So not a good travel day, but luckily our experience in San Gimignano made up for it.

La Casa di Giovanna

La Casa di Giovanna is a small and inexpensive bed & breakfast right off of the main street in San Gimignano. The owner, an older Italian woman, doesn't speak much English but is very nice and very accommodating. Our room was right off the dining area overlooking the main street; it was really a good view and fun to watch the people from your vantage above. Breakfast was simple but good; you really got the feel you were staying at someone's house and not a hotel.

As you'll see below, we absolutely loved San Gimignano and would highly recommend that you stay the night to get a unique feel for the town. And La Casa di Giovanna is the perfect place to do it.

The City of Towers

After our travel experiences during the day, we were just happy to get to San Gimignano. It turned out, though, to be our favorite place in Italy. The small city is intimate and beautiful; much quieter and personal than Rome or Florence.

The city is known mainly for its medieval architecture and the numerous towers that were built during that period (15 remain today, only a few intact). It's a walled city built on top of a hill overlooking the Tuscany region. The views from just outside the city were gorgeous, but we climbed one of the city's towers and got some even more stunning pictures.

We arrived in the city around 4pm. That gave us enough time to see a good portion of the city (which is really the main attraction here). We found our B&B (after walking by it a few times), checked in, then just started walking. We found Piazza Duomo shortly and decided to climb the tower first while it was still light. A combination ticket gets you into the city museum (kinda interesting, very brief) and entrance to the tower. It's a long climb to the top, but definitely worth it.




After that, we just walked around the town. Everything was so much more relaxed than anywhere else we've been; it was fantastic to stroll along the streets (which, by the way, are generally car-free; vehicles are allowed, but have to have a good reason for being there). We found a little park area with a half-ruined tower that offered another good view; we sat at the top for a while admiring the city.


We didn't go into the Duomo (entrance fee) but did walk into Sant'Agostino, a simple church with a pretty garden; Austin Friars now live there.

We ended our night by eating at a restaurant near the church; that was where I had wild boar. San Gimignano is also known for its Vernaccia wine - a white wine in the primarily red Tuscan region - so we tried some of that. It was very good; we ended up buying some later and brought a bottle home.


To see all of our San Gimignano pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.