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 could, I was on a bus to Siena (April 29)

And finally a couple pictures of a man made watefall from our latest trip to Volterra Italy.

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 other things.  We did go into the museum of torture,  it was interesting enough sure but at 8 euros a piece I don't think the price was right.   

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.

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 coffee.  Although I tried to fool people, they would not accept the Cafe Americano -- no matter how watered down it was -- as American "drip" coffee.  You'd figure that in this age of four Starbucks per block in the United States that people would get used to espesso drinks....

Volterra was a pretty town.  It was much more quiet than San Gimignano and there were a lot less tourists.  The churches and museums were nice if you'd rather do the indoor thing.  I would go back to Volterra again, but not at the expense of San Gimiganano because the views from the Torre Grosso are fantastic.

The origins of Volterra are in the etruscan culture, 3,000 years ago. 

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 city had a small-town feel to it; everyone seemed to know everyone else, except if you were a tourist. The city is known for its Etruscan origins and its alabaster mines (is that right? do they really mine alabaster?), both of which we got some glimpses of during our stroll through the city. It was a nice and relaxing weekend, meeting up with an old friend in an old city in Italy.

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” its citizens.  Shades of the Rocca Paolina!

The most famous sight in Volterra is its Etruscan Gate, Porta all’Arco, built in the fourth century B.C.  It is the oldest-standing Etruscan gate.  In 1944, the Nazi forces wanted to blow up the arch to slow the Allied Army.  To save their treasured landmark, Volterrans tore up the stones from the street leading into the city and filled in the arch, and  convinced the Nazi commander there was no need to blow it up.  After the war, the arch was restored to its former glory.

Volterra is known for their alabaster, and many shops displayed beautiful alabaster products.  We lunched in the village square, then headed to the 13^th-century wall to look down into the Roman theater, which was discovered in the 50’s under the detritus of the town dump.

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 overwhelming.  And if it was not obvious before it will be after you do this ride: hill towns are built on hills.

The best way we found to get there starting from Florence was: Galluzzo to Gerbaia to Montespertoli to Castel Fiorentino to Tinti dei Mori to Montaione to Iano to Villamagna and one final climb to Volterra.  Volterra is a town with a view!  To me it seemed that it was between two distinct geographical areas.  Looking east out of town it was Tuscany – hills, trees, and farms.  To the west the land seemed to roll out as a more calm landscape.  Volterra is worth the ride!

The total ride is a couple miles short of a century with over 6000 feet of total elevation gain.  So, bring some food, water, and full glycogen supplies.

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 outdo each other to attract the pilgrims to stop at their establishment.  For lunch we have scallopini al limone, pizza with artichokes and a salad.  The shops are very classy selling local preserves, olive oil, wine, salamis made with game boar etc, proscuitto, chopping boards made of olive wood, alabaster products painted pottery, cheeses and the decorated masks.  Buy a small mask for a souvenier.

Drive on through God's country to Volterra.  Again it is a walled twon way up on a very high hill. It has a Roman Ampitheatre with amazing views across this countryside.  decide to find a camping spot near here and the tourist map shows one just outside the walls but still atop the hill.  It is clean, quiet with few campers and proves to be one of two that come in as the cheapest at 12 euros for the night.  A few light showers of rain pass over us.  Have a greek salad with crusty bread and some wine for dinner. Church bells ring out as the evening drifts along.  Bliss.

 The only draw back was that the beautiful ameities block was close to being finished but the standard toilets were not all installed so non of those were functioning, just the Turkey (squat) toilets.  They can be quite tricky if you have recovering blisters on your feet and a bunion op that hasnt left you with full mobility in the foot!!!!  During the night there were some spectacular thunderstorms as close as about 2 kms, but we sleep well in the tent despite heavy rain.  Next morning we wind our way down the hill and continue through Tuscan country.  A stop/go man nearly drops his paddle when he works out that I am driving from the right hand side of the vehicle, his face was a picture.

On the motorway Andrew takes over the driving and we make our way to the GRA ( ring road) around Rome.  Find the caravan park we are looking for which is on a busy road about 4 kms out of the centre of Roma.  Do washing, shower and cook up a vegetable meal.  Think I smell incense in the air?  Imagination?