Tuscany – France to Bulgaria Part 3
We hit the road fairly early the next day and got straight on the motorway to head down to Pisa for a whistle stop tour. We could see the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the distance and managed to pick up signs for it, along with navigation from the Sat Nav, find a nearby street to park in and then ran to the Campo die Miracoli square, where the Leaning Tower and the Duomo are, took a few photos and ran back again, hopped in the van and back out of Pisa – done and dusted in 20 minutes!
From Pisa we headed inland and for the dramatically located village of Volterra. It is a scenic climb to the plateau where the village is situated. We first decided to head to the Balze cliffs on the north western side of the village. Over the years, much of the village has apparently slipped over the cliffs and the guide book talked of being able to see walls disappearing over the edge and of a
Roman city buried underneath the Alabaster mines. However, while there is a fantastic view over the countryside and you can see chasms in the hillside where it has been mined, there was no real evidence of a village falling off the edge of the cliff. But it made a pleasant place to walk the dogs and have a picnic and there was a decent campsite (www.campinglebalze.com – we did not stay there).
After lunch we drove the kilometre or so to the old medieval walled village. There is free parking on the lower side, right by some fairly impressive Roman ruins. The village itself is lovely to wander around, although you would not need more than a couple of hours to explore it.
It was early afternoon when we left and drove across the Tuscany countryside to San Gimignano. According the the guide books this is the most visited small village in Italy and judging by the huge number of coaches and tourists around, we could quite believe it. A couple of kilometres outside the village is Camping Boschetto di Piemma; a lovely shaded campsite with hard standing pitches, a brand new shower and toilet block and restaurant and bar (and swimming pool in the summer). It was 25 Euros a night and pets are allowed at no additional cost. There is a bus that runs directly from the campsite to the village for 1.50 Euros each, but it is an easy 20 minute walk. Aside from being very
touristy the village itself is impressive. It sits atop a small hill and the skyline is dominated by the numerous towers. It is best to just wander the narrow winding streets, taking in the numerous touristy shops selling olive oil, wine, pottery and cured meats.
We made the mistake of visiting (and paying for) entry to the Spezieria di Santa Fina, which was supposedly a museum of sixteenth century spices and herbs used in medicine. However for the 7 Euro entrance fee there was little to see except a few old herbs in jars behind a glass case and a few bits of pottery. There was little by way of explanation and it was all in Italian. No trip to San Gimignano would be complete without tasting the delights of the famous Gelateria di Piazza in the main square, voted the best ice cream in Tuscany and winner of Ice cream of the world in 2006. There is an amazing array of ice cream and sorbet flavours and the prices are very reasonable.
We stayed two nights near San Gimignano and were contemplating a third when I decided to check my emails (there is wifi available through pre-paid cards) and found an email from the ferry company to say our ferry had been cancelled and we could either sail a day later or on an earlier ferry. We opted to go for the earlier option and so headed towards the Adriatic.
