Tuesday, April 30, 2019

SOL: San Gimignano & Monteriggioni, Day 7

Friday, February 15, 2019

 Another "from a moving bus" shot taken as we left Florence for a day in the hills of Tuscany.


First stop: Florence American Cemetery and Memorial
"The 4,398 servicemen and four women interred in the cemetery represent 39 percent of the temporary burials originally made between Rome and the Alps. Most died in the fighting which occurred after the capture of Rome in June 1944. Included among them are casualties of the heavy fighting in the Apenninnes Mountains shortly before the war's end."
- Florence American Cemetery Memorial Visitor Booklet  

Second Stop: San Gimignano
San Gimignano is characterized by its towers. The towers give the  city a unique appearance and show us what most of Tuscany looked like during the Middle Ages. Many of the original towers survive, but the 14 we see today is only a small sample; there were once more than 70 of them. Those huge structures are fine examples of medieval engineering, but also emphasized security, prestige, and neighborhood dominance for the families who built them.
Church of San Francesco
Piazza del Duomo,
the town's Romanesque cathedral
 Piazza della Cisterna, built in 1273, showing the stone imprints of ropes that were lowered into the well more than 700 years ago.

San Gimignano was a natural stop for pilgrims traveling to or from Rome on the Via Francigena. Today it's a natural stop for tourists complete with the medieval towers, the well in the town center, shopping, views of the Tuscan countryside, and of course gelato.

A scheduled late lunch made this gelato stop absolutely necessary!

Third Stop: Lunch at Bibbiano La Taverna
overlooking the Tuscan Hills 

Empty plates, happy diners! 


  San Gimignano from our lunch spot

  
Back on the bus with Nancy, a lady who loves stars. 
This bus was made for her!

















Fourth Stop:  Monteriggioni, 
an impressive walled Medieval town, 
built in 1200
The village, viewed from the bus!

Fifth Stop: Famous Florence viewpoint!
  
Sixth Stop: Dinner on our own  
before evening presentation on Florence
Love an Italian grocery
and these fabulous traveling friends!

5 comments:

  1. Loved traveling w/ you via this photo journal. The world offers so much for us to see and experience. Wonderful pictures.

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  2. The colors are amazing and, knowing how pictures do not do justice, I can only imagine how stunning the colors actually were! I particularly love the yellow brick building :-) Thanks for sharing!

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  3. This is another wonderful photo log of your trip, Ramona. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  4. There is always so much to see when travelling. And what would a trip be without good food. Gelato in Italy is a must.

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  5. I've never known anyone who went to Italy and didn't have a good time! And to do it with several close friends is the best. Your photos made me want to go back...again!

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