Volterra Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

After Pisa we headed towards Volterra.  Thank God for GPS navagations systems.  I had only read about Volterra in my DK Italy travel guide, and there wasn't much mentioned about it.  What a pleasent surprise that was.  A really neat city with plenty of breath taking views.  Since it was already afternoon we didn't get to do to much in Volterra.  I will be going back sometime.  We saw the Piazza dei Prior, Remains of a Roman Theatre, the park, and o...

After we were done in Pisa, we found a city called Volterra in our Italy travel book and thought we'd go and check it out. It's not very far from Pisa, and it's definitely worth going. It's a really old city (dating back to the 9th century BC) on top of a hill (555m). Volterra is and has been known for its alabaster craftmanship which can be bought in several stores there. There are also a few museums, restaurants, cafes and a variety of stores.  

A cruise thru the western Mediterranean. Spain, France, Italy, and Gibraltar

it`s a beautiful country....

Beautiful travelling today.  Rolling hills with patchwork hills.  Soft, sunny light, with a constant haze.  Poppies, wild cherry trees, vineyards, olive groves, hemlock, buttercups and great clups of mauve iris's.  Open up windows and sun roof and turn off the air con to breathe in the scents of Tuscany.  San Gimignano is a walled town atop a hill with 13 remaining towers.  It once boasted 74 which were built by 13th & 14th centuary wealthy families trying to...

I ventured off to Volterra in the morning. It's a hill town pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I've been sick with a cold so I didn't do much of anything. I wandered around a bit, saw the town in about an hour and then killed the rest of my time there reading a novel (my second of this trip). I stayed in a seminary which was big, empty and kind of freaky when it was dark. I was supposed to stay two nights, but woke up to rain and decided it was time to get out of there. As soon as ...

I made a castle blog for the Best castles in the world group, now I will make a Waterfall blog for the Waterfall group.

Great trip trough the sunny vineyards of Toscany

Ride 2:  If you want to do a grueling ride in Tuscany and don’t mind out-and-backs this one will satiate all physical and mental needs.  Following Rick Steves advice to see Volterra, Josh and I decided to incorporate it into our rides.  The best route that we found went there by climbing in and out of hill towns.  You can expect to pass through/by many olive and grape farms, gorgeous sections of forests, and quiet Italian towns. The views on this ride are overwh...

The hill country is simply beautiful, with farms and cottages dotting the countryside.  Wheat fields were almost ready for harvesting, and of course, there were the ubiquitous olive groves.  We stopped at a few scenic overlooks for photo ops.   Volterra was one of the most important Etruscan cities.  The city bitterly fought against the Florentines in the Middle Ages, but like many Tuscan towns, it lost in the end and was given a fortress atop the city to “protect” i...

Bonjourno! Bonjour! Hola! This is my trip to The Vatican, Italy, Monaco, France, and Spain from July 8-27, 2006. I traveled with an organization called People to People Student Ambassador Programs, founded by President Eisenhower in 1956. I apologize that the travel blog is not complete, but it will be in the future! Thank you for waiting and please enjoy! Grazie, merci, y gracias!

San Gimignano Volterra is not.  But, what's not to love about a quiet hilltop town that has an old stone fortress still being used as a prison and an Etruscan graveyard and archaeological site? After drinking wine all afternoon at the Torciano Winery, we hit the cafe in Volterra.  Of course there was the daily debate among us about Italian coffee.  Some of the group believed that American "drip" coffee is real coffee and others believed that an espresso is real ...

Vince did pick us up in Colle, and we were off to Volterra . . . in a catering van. Volterra is an old town, high up on a hill. The roads to Volterra switched back and forth up and through the hills. It was pretty intense, but made for some spectacular views of the countryside. We spent much of our time in Volterra eating great food (cooked by Vince and his Italian friends), meeting real Italians and meandering through the city, stopping every so often to take in the sights and sunsets. The c...