San Gimignano is a Busy Town

 We finished in San Gimognano and it was a beautiful old city with narrow streets and tons of tourists.  This was actually our busiest town yet. Specifically the gelato and pizza places were doing landmark business.

Last night we went to a local pizza place that they very busy with a ton of Camino walkers.  They had just two people working and they got quickly buried with eat in and. Carry out business.  We both got single pizzas and both were huge.  Mine was sausage and mushroom and Dianne’s was a salad with thin sliced ham.  Both were great.  The Chianti wine was cheap and very good. We walked back home and went to bed.  

Breakfast went smoothly and we headed out at 50 degrees.  Our walk was in many different kinds of roads and trails but overall very nice.  We had a couple tough climbs and the views over the landscape was spectacular.  We visited many churches and saw a grape field being harvested with a machine.  It ran down the row and the grapes just disappeared.  

We didn’t have a lot of villages that were open.  It was Sunday so some places are closed today.  

Our final climb was up to our hotel thru some very ancient pathways.  We saw a lot of the same people as yesterday so that was fun.  Weather was nice with some clouds to keep the heat down. 

We eat at our hotel tonight and the menu looks great.

Only 3 days of walking left













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kidney Stone and We Got Our Camino Certificates

Image
The day started at 12:30 AM when Jack began to have pain in his right hip area.  It took awhile but he finally decided it had to be  kidney stone which happened in August in Yosemite. It was the right kidney and it hurt pretty bad - but at least he knew what to do.  He downed two strong painkillers and a ton of water and after a few hours the pain was a lot less.  He tried to sleep but that wasn’t happening.  Another pain med and more after around 5 and things kept improving.   We decided to head out to St Peters around 10 and he felt a little dizzy but the pain was pretty much gone. The walk went slowly but it still a lot of fun to walk thru Rome.   When we got to St Peters we were able to jump the long line by showing our Via Franchigena passports and we went right to the front.  Once inside there was about 20 other hikers getting their certificates.  It was so fun to get it filled out inside the church entryway.   We toured St Peters ...
Read more

On To Hiking In Cinque Terre

Image
  We were sad to leave Siena and the end of our Camino adventure. It had been a wonderful experience and we were glad to see so much of the wonderful Tuscan countryside.  Our next step was Cinque Terre which is on the Mediterranean coast north of Pisa.  We had an interesting train experience with one train badly delayed and another not leaving the station on time.  In the end we reached Monterosso del Mare about 3 and that was our plan.   Cruising in trains is something we’ve always enjoyed as the countryside rolls by without the stress of driving.   Monterosson is the largest and most northern of the 5 villages.  We are staying in the same hotel Dianne stayed several decades and actually go the same room which we wanted.  It has a lovely balcony over the Main Street below with a spectacular view of the Mediterranean.   Our friends Jim and Sandy arrived at exactly the same time.  We sat on the patio drinking and talking till it was suppe...
Read more

Checking the Ferry and Had An Adventure Today

Image
  Yesterday was Thursday and we decided to take it easy.  We had a slow start and had lunch very close to our apartment.  We have decided to avoid two big meals each day.  We hiked down 200 vertical feet to the harbor to figure out how the ferries worked.  Then hiked back up!    We went for a 5 o’clock wine nearby and enjoyed watching the people go by.  They buildings are very close together with 10 feet between them.  This is the old town and only scooters and bikes can go down the narrow streets.   We love watching the people - all kinds of people - all shapes and sizes and countries.  Then back home for a snack of cheese and percutto and wine.  It was a nice day in sorrento. Today we planned on a hike out to the Roman ruins at the end of the isthmus.  We walked up to the top of the hill above sorrento and the views were great.  We were on a narrow road and a small garbage truck headed right for us with not much roo...
Read more