Livorno Italy San Gimignano

     After Siena, we walk back to the bus for a drive to San Gimignano, but first go to a farmhouse for lunch. This one is so much better than the previous day. The food was delicious and original, and the farmhouse was old and authentic. They supply wine, red and white, for all of us, and everyone is happy. They have a little store that you can buy wine etc. It was so crowded I didn't go in, but I wished I would of. I forgot we could buy wine and no corkage fee. Anyways, when we were done, we drove to San Gimignano, which is only about a mile away, another beautiful  medieval village. 

San Gimignano is an Italian hill town in Tuscany, southwest of Florence. Encircled by 13th-century walls, its old town centers on Piazza della Cisterna, a triangular square lined with medieval houses. It has a skyline of medieval towers, including the stone Torre Grossa. The Duomo di San Gimignano is a 12th-century church with frescoes by Ghirlandaio in its Santa Fina Chapel.

    At this time, we really want wifi, and it's really hot. So we head up the main street, turn left and ... wha-la. A bar/restaurant with free wifi. Hubby gets beer, and I get a gingerino. But this one is small so I have to savor it. I check in with family, post a quick pic and we head up to the main square. Our guide told us the best gelato was at the top, and you know it when you see it because there will be a long line. And yes there was a long line that we didn't want to wait in because we only had an hour and 15 minutes. So we took some more photos and wandered back down the hill. Bought a few souvies, and by the time we met our guide, I was so dehydrated. 

I walked into a little store/bar to get water, but when I saw the frozen granita, I went for that. I remember feeling my dry throat like in the movies and felt like I was going to pass out, and this little cute, old Italian lady was slowly mixing and making this granita. Painfully slow and deliberately, more ice, more juice, mixing with the spoon. I felt like I was watching in slow motion.  I'm thinking, I don't even need the flavor, just the ice. And then finally.......completion!  A lemon granita was just what I needed and could feel it going down my throat. It was needed for the hot walk down the hill. Ice never felt so good. 

The entrance to Sam Gimignano.

I'm practicing my panoramic shots below. 

Livorno Italy Siena

      The last time we did Livorno, we discovered  Florence and Pisa. See below link to our amazing  experience in Florence and Pisa. So we chose to do a little something different in Livorno.

Florence/Pisa

    This is the start of a long day. We visited the city of Medieval Siena, San Gimignano, and farmhouse lunch which is a 10.5 hour day. First we drive about 2 hours to get to Siena.

Siena, a city in central Italy’s Tuscany region, is distinguished by its medieval brick buildings. The fan-shaped central square, Piazza del Campo, is the site of the Palazzo Pubblico, the Gothic town hall, and Torre del Mangia, a slender 14th-century tower with sweeping views from its distinctive white crown. The city’s 17 historic “contrade” (districts) extend outward from the piazza.

 We have a guided tour, but it's hard to understand the guide, so I mostly take photos. This is a beautiful old medieval town with towers that can be seen from afar. We wind down narrow passageways and arrive at Duomo di Sienati which is an amazing church with byzantine stripes. 

After we tour we are allowed to be on our own and take photos, but no flash, and we end our guided part at the square and have about 30 minutes of free time to browse and shop. 

The streets are very narrow and amazed at how the ambulance races through. 

On to the next adventure. 

#Siena #Italy #Travelingtheworld #Travellife

Civitavecchia /Rome/ Italy

     We woke up early to go the Catacombs and Italian country side for lunch at a farmhouse, being that we have all ready done the Colosseum, Vatican and Rome highlights. It is about an hour and 15 minutes drive to the Catacombs on the outskirt of Rome. The Catacombs was a great choice as this is the middle of a heat wave, and this is the only cool place on the whole trip. 

The Catacombs are amazing but they don't let you take photos. Even though they say it's because of the flash, (and you can take photos without a flash from your phone) they let you use the flashlight on your phone for walking....which I think would be more harmful to the surfaces. So I will just have to keep my memories and respect their wishes. I highly recommend seeing these at least once in your life time, and there are a few to choose from in Rome. It really is amazing to think how they did this. Below is a link to the Catacombe we went to.

Catacombe Domitilla

Then onto a tiny little village called Castel Dover ( I think that is what it was called) which is up a narrow street with a couple hundred steps to walk along this quaint little street lined with restaurants shops.

 If you turn right you can see a picturesque lake.  

There is a church, however not only was I not covered properly, (90 degree day I was wearing shorts and spaghetti straps), there was a service going on, so 2 strikes against us going in. 

This was an unexpected stop for us, so we decided to stop for a drink and get some wi-fi to check in at home. The first 3 places we checked didn't have wi-fi, so we didn't stop. Always ask first before you order. So we found a really cute bar and I ordered a cappuccino and hubby ordered a beer. 

 Got our wi-fi, had a drink, and met a really nice couple from Australia who showed us some amazing photos of their vacation stops. 

Onto the farmhouse for lunch, but was actually more like a restaurant.

 The tour described it as we would tour the property and assist with making the lunch. Actually there was a cute little Italian lady who was rolling the dough to make pasta.

 We were a little disappointed that we didn't do what was described in the excursion, but I don't want to make a big deal about it. Lessons learned this time around. We had hand made bread, salad, pasta, dessert and coffee. When they asked who wanted coffee, it was pretty funny because one lady wanted tea, who got a huge teapot. And for coffee we got the little tiny espresso. But hey, I'm in Italy so I'm going to be authentic! I watched they guy across from me put a little sugar in, so I followed along and did the same thing. It was bitter at first, but actually tasted good afterwards. It took us all of about a few seconds to drink and out the door we went back to the ship. 

When you arrive in Civitavecchia, you have to do a lot of driving to get to places. Exhausted, but had a great day in Italy. 

Naples Italy

     This is my second time to Naples, Italy.  The first time I went to Positano, Sorrento and Pompei, so I wanted to try something different. I booked a "Naples Street Food and Sightseeing Tour" through Viator. 

The link below is for the Viator tour.

Naples Street Food and Sightseeing Tour through Viator

It was already 77 degrees when we started out in the morning at 8:30 a.m. It would of been about a 20-25 minute walk, but an adviser on the ship recommended the taxi for about  €15 because be warned of pick pocketing and being robbed. He didn't want to scare us, but wanted us to be cautious. However, when we got off the ship and went to the information to get to Piazza Dante, she said, "Why don't you take the metro? It's only 2 stops and € 1.20."  Well that sounded good, and being the adventurous type we decided, why not? 

The castle is right outside the pier, and we walked past it to the metro station.

Castel Nuovo often called Maschio Angioino (Italian: "Angevin Keep"), is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall (Palazzo San Giacomo). 

We walked about a block, and someone helped us with the ticket machine, because they were not in English. He directed us which way to go, and off we went. The subway was very clean and very empty. Maybe because it was a Saturday morning. The train came in about 2 minutes and we hopped on. It took only about 5 minutes to get to our stop. We ended up in Piazza Dante, but our tour wasn't for a couple hours. We wandered around some cobblestone small streets for awhile before coming back to the square. 

With time to burn, and it being hot and muggy, we stopped for a melon granita. Anything with ice is heaven on a hot day! Then we went over to the statue to meet our guide Sara. There were 12 people in our group and off we went. She gave us a brief history lesson while the armed guards were standing close by. It's not unusual to see lot of police (mostly near churches) and armed guards around. Off to the central old part of town where all the shops and action is. 

We went to a little shop of Antonio's for an appetizer of buffalo mozzarella and eggplant. 

It was unlike any cheese I had before and it was amazing. I can still smell and taste the distinct flavor and texture. You can buy water for €1 from him, which we did because it was now in the 80's. Wish I would of brought a hydro flask.

 Then off to a small pizza place where we had "Pizza Pizza". 

Now you may be wondering what "Pizza Pizza" is. It's kind of like fried pizza with mozzarella in it that was folded over.

 

Then she came out with margherita pizza and we each had a slice of that.

Naples is known as the birth of the the pizza and they say it's almost impossible to get a bad pizza there.

 Onto the Limoncello store where they made limoncello in the back, and we got a quick tour of the limoncello process. Up at the front we had the regular limoncello shot and the "la crema", which is a milkier looking, smoother tasting limoncello. We bought both as souvenirs for ourselves to drink at home and reminisce. 

Piunicho. Rub his nose for good luck. 

By now we are stuffed! But we aren't done yet! She walks us through the streets for more history, and we rub Piunicho nose for good luck before we go to a tiny shop for gelato. We ask for no cone because it's too much. 

We go sit at a table in the shade as she says there is one more stop of bread dessert.

 She asks us if we want it now or takeaway. I can tell you that every single person said takeaway. 

It was a Great 2 hour tour, and we had such a great guide. 

When we left she gave us directions the the Metro, as now we were in a different spot totally from where we started. 

We went walking to find it, but actually didn't find it and ended up at the pier. Os instead of €30 for a taxi both ways, we spent €2.20 total. A great day as I would of never stopped at all those amazing places and tried those different foods. A great experience and I definitely recommend it to anyone.