Tuscany

San Gimignano

Thursday, July 7

We took the metro to the bus station and found our bus (FlixBus) pretty easily. Then we had about 45 minutes to wait outside on crowded benches. When we finally boarded there was only about 10 of us and the bus didn’t make local stops so it was a straight shot from Rome to Tuscany for about 3.5 hours.

We got out at a town called Poggibonsi and navigated to the local bus stop to take another bus. We weren’t sure how to buy tickets and it wasn’t until the bus showed up and we waved some euros at the driver that he told us to buy a ticket at the office, pointing behind us. He asked which bus we wanted and we indicated his. He made the ‘hurry, hurry’ hand motion so we ran to the ticket office and got tickets just in time. We still could barely pronounce San Gimignano and the ticket office guy gave us the most dramatic ‘huh?’ look. We said ‘San Jimmy!’ and he understood and laughed.

The bus dropped us off at the town’s South Gate. We were staying close to the north gate but when we asked to go one stop further he just wagged his finger at us so we got off and walked through the town.

San Gimignano is a medieval, walled town on a hilltop in Tuscany. It is famous for its six ‘skyscrapers’ which are tall, stone towers built by wealthy families in the area as a way of showing off. So some people refer to it as a medieval Manhattan.

We walked through the gate into the walled city and it felt like we were in a dream. The streets are narrow and cobbled and cars aren’t allowed inside. There are tourist shops selling Tuscan leather, cheese, wine, and boar meat plus lots of different souvenirs. There were a good amount of tourists and most of them had American accents. We were not unique travelers traveling during a pandemic anymore.

We walked through to the North Wall and found our Airbnb. We ran into the owner just as he was leaving to come pick us up in his car on the south side. He showed us into the most adorable, old apartment. It was surprisingly big but didn’t have air conditioning so it was stuffy and hot. He explained where everything was while I stared at the tiny fan that wasn’t on yet. Finally he let us be and we opened the windows to let some air flow in.

By this time it was about 7pm and we were hungry. Eating at 7 is early for Italians so we figured we could get a table at a nice place without a reservation. We googled best restaurants and found a steak place nearby. We did indeed get there early enough to not need a reservation, and they had tables outside in the courtyard.

As we walked outside I heard someone say my name…it was Leah! She and her HUSBAND Daniel had chosen the same restaurant at the same time! We didn’t want to disrupt their romantic dinner so we didn’t join them but just sat awkwardly nearby, close enough to still catch their eye and hear their conversations with the waiter. It was serendipitous and awkwardly funny.

We ordered a burrata salad, steak tartare, and a huge steak with rosemary potatoes. The burrata came with greens, cherry tomatoes and a pesto sauce and it was the best burrata we’ve ever had. Chef’s kiss. The steak tartare was good, but not revolutionary. The main event steak was cooked rare and had maldon salt on it. It was so good.

We paired everything with a bottle of Pinot Noir from San Jimmy that was good and not too expensive. The meal itself ended up being our most expensive meal on the trip, as if it was OUR honeymoon meal in Tuscany. But we thoroughly enjoyed it and have no ragrets.

We told Leah and Daniel we would see them the next day and we stumbled back to our apartment to watch an hour of Gladiator before going to sleep.

Friday, July 8

Happy Birthday Leah!

We slept in and awoke to the sound of four Italian men arguing in the courtyard outside our bathroom. Once we were ready, we headed across the walled city to the other side to find the cheap grocery store our Airbnb host had recommended.

We got supplies for our picnic later and some fruit tarts that we enjoyed on a shady park bench just before diving back into the walled city. We rested in our cute little apartment until that afternoon.

Leah and Daniel had rented a car so they picked us up and drove us to a nearby town to a trailhead that Leah had read about. The trail went along a creek that, for some reason, had beautiful milky blue water. There were tons of people picnicking and swimming in the water. It was beautiful. We regretted not bringing our swimsuits.

We found a quiet spot in the shade and laid out our blanket and picnic supplies. It was nice, but absolutely infested with mosquitos. We talked and ate while nonstop swatting them away. We finished the sweet wine I had bought in the Budapest airport and decided it wasn’t worth it to sit there any longer.

Daniel and Leah had heard that the town where the trailhead was had better nightlife than San Jimmy. They recommended we get a cocktail and some tiramisu somewhere to celebrate Leah’s birthday. We found a place in town that had cocktails and pastries, but no tiramisu. Daniel went on a hunt while the rest of us sat on the patio and sipped our Hugo Spritzes. Finally he returned with a tiramisu ice cream cake. It wasn’t traditional, but it was tasty.

When we were done it was almost 10pm so Leah and Daniel drove us back to San Jimmy and dropped us off at our Airbnb. They might move to CA so we told them we would meet them there.

Saturday, July 9

We started the day with hiking up one of the medieval towers called Torre Grossa. We climbed the stairs to the top floor and then a ladder to the roof. The Torre Grossa was built by the government when they mandated that no towers could’ve built higher than it. The privately owned towers nearby circumvented this rule by building two towers that were almost as tall.

From the top we admired the Tuscan scenery, with vineyards as far as we could see, and the chaotic layout of the medieval walled city. We climbed back down and checked out the many Christian paintings and sculptures in the museum on the first floor.

We went back to our Airbnb to eat some breakfast and do some laundry before wandering around the city some more. We were grateful the Airbnb had a washer but the drying system was a line that hung over the pedestrian street. We felt awkward hanging all our clothes above the tourists walking by but the clothes ended up drying SO quickly and didn’t fall or get bird poop on them, so it worked out well.

We found a medieval fountain and several viewpoints. We tried to get lost by taking random tunnels left and right but we somehow ended up at the main square.

The gelato place was staring at us so we had to get some. I got a flavor of grapefruit and champagne that blew my mind. Carl got lavender and mixed berry that was also phenomenal. We sat in the shade and people watched before winding our way back to our apartment.

That evening (5pm which feels like noon because it’s so hot and the sun doesn’t set until 10pm) we went to a wine tasting. On the top of a hill on the west side of the town is a place called La Roca that offers different types of wine tasting. We went for the ‘Superior’ experience which includes 6 wines and lasts for 1.5 hours.

We were surprised to learn that the tasting would include 5 white wines of the same grape varietal, Vernaccia, and one red. We had thought the famous Tuscan wine would all be red but were pleasantly surprised to learn about the Vernaccia which is heavily regulated to earn the mark of ‘Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita’ (DOCG).

The first one was the most citrusy and minerally, and they seemed to grow more buttery and complex as we tried them. Carl and I want to learn more about wine and this experience made us realize that even the same grape from the same place can taste so different.

The tour was led by a man who worked at the shop, which seemed to be a center for the DOCG. He let us have a final glass from our favorite and sit and chat with the other participants for a while. One guy was from Vancouver and was traveling alone having just finished his medical residency. There was also a couple from Kansas City, Missouri who were SO nice and they convinced us that Kansas City is full of nicer people and better housing prices than anything we will find in CA.

We talked with them for so long that eventually our guide had to kick us out so they could close up the shop. We said goodbye and went back to our Airbnb to have a drunken dinner of the leftovers from our picnic the day before. We started watching a Netflix original dramatized documentary about Julius Cesar, called Rome, and it was actually really good!

Florence

Sunday, July 10

We checked out of our Airbnb and walked through the middle of town to find a cafe to hang out at for a bit. We landed at the one that serves gelato and claims to have the world’s best gelato which is right next door to the gold medal winning gelateria we had gone to the day before.

We got cappuccinos and a tiramisu. The tiramisu was so elaborately decorated that it felt like my birthday. It was also so very good.

When it was time, we got the bus to Poggibonsi. While looking up directions, google told us that there was a strike and trains were being canceled. Somehow, gratefully, our train wasn’t canceled but the other trains going to Florence were, so our train was especially packed.

When we boarded it was like a comedy. There were people sitting in the aisle so we couldn’t move past them and where there weren’t people there were massive suitcases. Then a guy with a bike got on and left his bike in the very middle as he went to use the bathroom, whose door many people were leaning against causing ever more shuffling.

We managed to scooch in further to the train, away from the door, and then miraculously found fold down seats that our bags could fit under. We watched at the next stop as three more bikes, two strollers, and more honeymooning couples with massive roller bags tried to squeeze on.

Finally we made it through the hour journey to Florence, the final stop, and everyone got off. We walked just a couple blocks from the train station to our hotel. The man that checked us in was much more laid back than we were feeling. He took our passports and showed us to our room.

We came back downstairs to collect our passports and pay and he looked at us like we were crazy. He said he needed time to copy the passport information and that we could pay later (some undetermined time). He also said he’d let us know (later) whether we could stay another two nights as I had requested via email because Hostelworld did not have a function to modify the reservation.

So we relaxed, changed clothes, and went down again in 20 minutes to get our passports and find something to eat. We landed at the first pizza place we saw and got a table for two outside. We tried melon (cantaloupe) with prosciutto and it was really nice.

The herb pizza with tomato we ordered was soggy and they didn’t fool us when they put big Roma tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes as the menu had described. But the table bread was good and they provided oil and balsamic so we doused everything in that.

Then we decided to stroll around the city and see what appeared to us serendipitously. We planned to do a free walking tour the following day so we used the time to just explore (free time as Karen likes to call it). We first walked to the Arno river which runs through the middle of the city. We strolled along for a bit until Ponte Vecchio, a medieval bridge lined with jewelry stores.

We later learned that the bridge used to be lined with butcher shops but that the city’s benefactors, the Medici family, didn’t like the smell of meat on their way across the bridge to their palace so they required all the stores to be gold shops instead.

We turned toward the city center and walked up the main road to Piazza della Signoria. The Palazza Vecchio, a previous Medici palace turned museum, sits on this square as well as a bunch of sculptures including one of Neptune, Medusa being beheaded, and an exact replica of Michelangelo’s David.

We followed the throngs of tourists up the main road to the Santa Maria Cathedral (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore). This medieval church is covered in beautiful red, white, and green marble (Italian colors) and has a dome, bell tower, baptistery and a crypt.

On the back side of the domed building there is a row of restaurants that follow the curved shape of the building. We paused at one offering a drink deal and decided to get a Negroni and an americano (Negroni with soda water) and admire the backside of the cathedral. It was also an awesome place to people watch.

So far, touring Italy it seems like all of America is here. Every tourist accent we overhear is American and there are hoards of them. There are also a lot of people from Spain, who are also very loud when talking in public. We are glad the world is healing and people feel ready to travel but we regret not getting to Europe sooner, before everyone else. Still, being here has made us realize how lucky we were to see sites like Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat all to ourselves.

From here we passed by an Italian author’s book reading on the street before coming to another church, that of Santa Maria Novella. Also beautifully decorated in marble, on the top of this church there is an image of a baby face in a sun that just reminded us of teletubbies.

We walked back to our hotel and, still full from a late lunch, decided to skip any formal dinner and just get a couple beers at the local bar/cafe on the corner.

Monday, July 11

Upon awakening we discovered that, not only was the hotel bed awful, but the room had several mosquitos that had been feasting on us throughout the night. Carl got a very unfortunately placed bite on his eyelid that swelled and made him look like Quasimodo. He put his contacts in and sunglasses on to try and hide his monster face.

We started our day with a trip to our now favorite corner bar/cafe to get coffees and pastries. The same guy was working there that had been there the night before.

Our only plan for the day was to take a free walking tour and then see where the day takes us. We joined up with the tour in a parking lot near the train station. There were so many people that they divided the tour into two groups. We were assigned to the cutely dressed, short Italian woman with a thick Italian accent.

She led us over to a corner of the parking lot and began telling us about Florence and the Medici family. She was holding the microphone to her mouth (instead of using the headset) and had the speaker hanging from her waist (instead of her neck) which saved her outfit from being affected but prevented the intended sound quality every time she shifted.

We gathered around a parked car that, of course, the owner came to drive away and then another person drove in to fill the spot. There was also some construction going on behind us that seemed to echo along the walls. As a result of all this, we could barely hear our guide. We shuffled to get closer to her and then just had to hope it would get better.

At the next stopping point our guide may as well have been riding the jackhammer herself. We were in a terrible spot, so close to construction, with not enough area to gather around her. Carl and I just looked at each other and laughed because we couldn’t hear anything. For the rest of the tour I shoved my way toward the front of the group and caught the gist of what she told us. Later, talking to Carl, it became apparent he hadn’t heard a single word she had said, but enjoyed looking at the sites nonetheless.

She looped us around the city central and we actually stopped at many of the sites we had seen the day before. We learned about the wealthy Medici family and how they sponsored great names like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and even Galileo, until he was accused of heresy.

Our guide also pointed out good markets to buy souvenirs, where to get cocktails later, and the street, Via dei Neri, where we could find the best focaccia sandwiches and the original gelato.

After the tour we went back to Via dei Neri and got a prosciutto sandwich on focaccia with mozzarella and mushroom sauce. The sandwich place, All’Antico Vinaio, has multiple store fronts and no seating. Lines of hungry people wrap around the street and the curbs are full of people squatting, happily munching on their massive sandwiches.

We shared one so that we could save room for gelato. The Gelateria dei Neri has the supposed original gelato flavor, Buontalenti, named after architect Bernardo Buontalenti who is claimed to have invited gelato when he mixed together milk, cream, eggs, and sugar. I got Buontalenti and liked it though it’s really subtle. Carl got black cherry that was quintessential Italian gelato (and absolutely delicious).

Afterward we considered going to the Santa Maria Cathedral and going up the bell tower but the tickets that included the dome were all sold out, so we decided to wait. Then we considered going to one of the many art museums but discovered that all the public museums are closed on Mondays.

So we settled for the Galileo museum. The Galileo museum should instead be called the scientific instruments museum because it is overflowing with every kind of scientific tool from microscopes to telescopes, but it has little in terms of anything related to Galileo himself.

The museum does have Galileo’s middle finger on display, for some untold reason. There were also a display of terrestrial and celestial globes that we found interesting, and a collection of terra cotta cut-away replicas of babies coming out of the canal the wrong way (used for educational purposes).

It was hot and we had no other goals for the day so we went back to the hotel to rest before dinner. For dinner we asked the front desk guy where to eat. He recommended Osteria dei Centopoveri, just down the street.

We got there at the exact right time and were able to get a table without a reservation. We started with an appetizer of prosciutto and burrata that was (obviously) delicious. Then we shared a plate of gnocchi with cheese and rocket and wide noodles with boar sauce. Confident from our recent wine tasting experience, we ordered a bottle of Tuscan white wine and we ended up really liking it.

Tuesday, July 12

Too late we realized we should have bought timed tickets to the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. All the timed tickets were sold out so we decided to get to the museum as soon as it opened and see what happened.

They opened at 8:15am. We showed up just after 8am and there was already a sizeable line. We realized that they accepted people from the timed entry line at their designated time and then let in about 8 more people from the commoners line, our line. Carl and I debated whether to stay, knowing we had a train booked for 11:30am out to Pisa.

We decided to stay until 10am to see what would happen. As luck would have it, we were the last two people that they let in at 10am. Once they let us in we tried not to rush immediately to the David. But when we turned a corner we saw him standing underneath a huge glass dome at the end of the hall and it really was phenomenal. We had seen an exact replica standing outside the Palazza Vecchio (where the original once stood) but somehow the original seemed so much greater.

We took our time to look at the David, walk around, and take photos. We couldn’t agree on whether the statue was supposed to depict David before or after he slayed the giant.

Then we wandered around the rest of the museum which wasn’t much. It mostly consisted of lots and lots of gothic or renaissance artist’s paintings of biblical scenes. So many baby Jesuses, so many Jesus on the cross, so many Virgin Marys.

At least we figured out that John the Baptist is always looking disheveled and often wearing a camel hair dress. Any Catholics reading this might be thinking ‘well, duh’ but we had never seen enough of him, repeatedly, until this museum. We also later discovered that St John is the patron saint of Florence, which helps to explain why he is in every painting.

Satisfied with our visit we left just before 11am and had time to get a tripe sandwich before hopping on the train. The sandwich, Lampredotto, is the fourth stomach of a cow. It comes with a spicy sauce that mostly masks the fact you’re eating guts, but not quite enough. We didn’t even get a chance to eat it because when we got on the train we had to wear masks. Also we ended up sitting across from each other because the train was so full, we were lucky to get seats at all.

Pisa

When we got off at Pisa we walked the long way around the station (on accident) and ate the rest of the sandwich. We walked into town and across the river toward the leaning tower.

We couldn’t see the tower until we turned a corner and we were basically right under it. It was leaning more than I had imagined and apparently they had just fixed it in the early 2000s to not lean so far.

We took some photos and then bought tickets to ascend into the tower later. We decided to get some food and maybe some WiFi to google how safe it was to go up this janky tower…

A woman at the tourist office told us about two places that serve authentic Pisa-style pizza. By the time we got to the first one, Il Montino, they were closing for lunch and not serving pizza. So we walked back across the river to the train station and went to Nando’s which google described as a ‘no fuss’ pizzeria.

We ordered at the counter and they later brought us our pizza, cut into two perfect half circles and served on two plates. We got one with speck (pork belly) and gorgonzola and it was really, really good. We had wanted to kill some time at the restaurant but, being a ‘no fuss’ kind of place, it didn’t feel right to sit there too long (and they seemed to be closing for lunch).

We walked back up the main drag and found a place offering drink specials so we got an aperol spritz and a Hugo spritz that both came with a free slice of pizza with capers on it. It was pretty good!

Then it was time for our trip up the tower. When we first went in they had us wait inside at the base. The floor was SO sloped, it was like being in a fun house. Then we climbed the 220 + something steps up the stone, spiral staircase to the top. With each step we could feel what side of the tower we were on and it felt like the outer wall was either leaning in toward us or away- it was trippy.

At the top we had 360 degree views of Pisa and surrounding Tuscany. Then we were allowed to go up another, smaller, spiral staircase to the very top. It was a little scary being up there and the metal gates they had installed did not give much comfort. One man near us tripped on the steps and I just about had a heart attack because I thought he was a goner (he was fine though).

From the top looking down onto the town (especially to the East) you could tell we weren’t standing on level ground and it created a weird optical illusion that actually made me kind of nauseous.

Back at the base again we took a few more photos before deciding to walk toward the train station to kill a few hours with another cocktail. We got some more Aperol Spritzes that came with potato chips, peanuts, and mini focaccia sandwiches: dinner!

When we got to the train station there was an earlier train to Florence that hadn’t left yet. We decided to play it safe and get our assigned train at 8pm and then regretted it when a smaller (and we would find, un- air conditioned) train showed up for our departure time. Still, it is so nice to be in a country where public transit is so easy.

Florence

Wednesday, July 13

Having learned our lesson with a long wait to get into the Accademia gallery, we booked tickets ahead of time for both the Uffizi gallery and the Duomo.

Before heading to the gallery we stopped at our corner café, which we discovered is part of a chain called Moka Arra. The same guy was working there that had been working two mornings before and the evening shift. We watched, impressed, as he managed the cafe by taking orders, delivering food to tables, making coffees and cocktails, and handling payments. He did the job of 10 Starbucks employees and in half the time.

We also watched as an Italian woman ordered a glass full of Campari at 9am, drank it whilst standing in the cafe, and then threw some euro coins down on the counter to pay before leaving.

Then we walked over to Uffizi and still had a bit of a line to pick up the tickets and enter the museum, but nothing bad at all. Entering into the museum we were led down, up, left, right, through passageways and dungeons before having to climb several flights of stairs to reach the actual entrance. They made you work for it.

The first thing we saw was a row of marble sculptures. We had been impressed by the smoothness and human details on the David but the ruffled togas were so impressive. Making stone look like a piece of fabric draped over a muscle or knee cap will never not be impressive.

We then entered into the iconic hallway lined with statues and busts on both sides and topped with a ceiling full of frescoes. Some of the ceiling paintings were a little lewd and we wondered if it had been several centuries since anyone from the Catholic Church had bothered to look up there.

From this hallway there were entrances into adjacent rooms lined with paintings. We saw paintings from all the great Renaissance artists like Boticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and others. We saw the Birth of Venus, Primavera, and the iconic painting of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino. We learned that many of the marble statues had been ‘touched up’ over the centuries so that they were both not original but also reflective of artists over a greater span of time rather than one point in time.

We spent about three hours in the Uffizi and then were kicked out for the museum’s lunch break just as we’d had our fill.

We walked back over to Via de Neri to get another focaccia sandwich. We picked the sandwich shop with the line going around the corner into the alley, because at least it was shaded. Just as we had stepped up to the sandwich counter to order a pigeon sitting above the shop let loose. The poor girl right in front of me got a massive green gob of pigeon poop on her shoulder. Luckily, she was wearing a spaghetti strap dress so the poop just got on her skin, not the cloth. I was so thankful it didn’t get on my white t-shirt because that definitely would’ve ruined my day.

Shocked from the bio attack, we didn’t know what to order. We asked the sandwich guys what to get and they suggested the Favolosa: salami, pecorino cream, artichokes and eggplant. It was fabulousa, indeed.

We couldn’t leave the street without getting gelato so we walked back down to the famous gelateria. I got cafe and ordered a shot of espresso to go with it. Carl got passion fruit and he loved it. We had to fight with a Russian family that had 1,000 children in order to get a seat, but we did and sat and enjoyed our treats in the air conditioning for a few minutes.

Then it was Duomo time. There were no more tickets left to climb the Duomo but entry inside of it was free. The interior of the church is relatively bare compared to all other Italian Catholic churches. This is because they moved all the art into a museum for storage and protection.

Still, the building itself is impressive and the dome’s ceiling is mind-blowing. The whole thing is intricately painted, so high up in the sky. It hurt our necks to look at it. The ticket package we bought allowed entry to the crypts which is below the church and shows the original mosaic floor and steps as well as some spooky tombs from about 1300-1350 CE.

Afterwards we went up Giotto’s bell tower. The outside of the tower is clad in the same red, green, and white marble as the church and it is covered in interesting carved images (not just biblical scenes!). The inside was not decorated but provided great views of the plaza and the surrounding old town. Three times I thought we had climbed to the highest point allowed and three times there was another, smaller, windier staircase leading up the the top.

They let us stand on the top of the tower, above the bells with the roof right next to us. But there was a metal fence over us that prevented perfect panorama photos. We still took too many pictures and then rushed to get down the nauseatingly narrow staircases before too many other tourists tried to come up.

We ended our long day of staring at things with a visit to the baptistery and then the duomo museum. The museum includes replicas of famous statues that you can touch, which Carl did. It also had a nice video on the history of the dome and we learned that it took forever for them to install a facade to the building but that they eventually decided to make it look gothic, like the original would have been.

We were all museum-ed out. I then went to get my nails done for an hour and enjoyed just spacing out. Carl and I met up for dinner. We went to a place down the street from us that had good reviews and cheap, authentic food.

The menu only had the option of pre-set meal where you choose each course from a list. It was 20 euro for two courses (pasta, then meat), a side, water, and wine. At first we didn’t like having to follow this ordering regime but when the bill came and it was indeed only 40 euro total, we were very happy.

We shared ravioli, seafood spaghetti, mixed meat plate, and Francesina, Tuscan style boiled beef marinated with wine and onion. They brought us a cute little bottle of Chianti and a paper bag full of bread. It was good, authentic (we assume), and cheap, like the reviews said.

On our way home we stopped by our favorite corner cafe and sure enough our guy was still hard at work. We bought a bottle of Italian beer and took it to go and marveled how this shop sells everything we could ever want or need.