We had breakfast at our hotel in Lucca, and then drove to Volterra. It took about 2 hours with lots of Tuscan hillside views on the way, and lots of windy roads. Volterra is a walled town high on a mountaintop. Parking was difficult, but after finally parking we climbed a lot of steps to get into town. That was to be the motif for most of the trip: stairs, lots and lots of them. We ate lunch at Web and Wine, whose floor was covered with plexiglass that covered an old stone well. Volterra is a very cool medieval town. We had a good time walking around and looking at the alabaster in the stores (Volterra is famous for its alabaster).

We drove another 45 minutes to our destination: San Gimignano, another hill town. We parked outside of town and got a special shuttle to the Piazza Cisterna, where there is an ancient well. Our hotel was right on the square with a balcony overlooking the square. The hotel had a tiny elevator that barely fit two people, and I mean barely. The bath had no shower curtain, forcing us to bathe instead of shower.

We left our bags in the room and went walking. San Gimignano is known for it’s old towers. Some of them have had their tops removed for structural reasons, but they still stand pretty tall. We got some panoramic views and took some awesome pictures there.

After getting ready for the evening we went to Parco Montestaffoli and saw the sun setting over the hills. It was very romantic, the perfect place for a honeymoon. In one of the piazzas we listened to a guitar player for a while, then went to dinner.

We ate at ChiriBiri, which was recommended by the hotel. We waited over a half hour to get in, and when we did the place was extremely hot. The food was excellent and very cheap. We had vegetable terrine, crepes with cheese and spinach, pasta with pesto, wild boar stew, beef with mushrooms, and one liter of house wine. That’s right, one liter. When we ordered it I forgot that a regular bottle of wine is 750ml, so this was actually 25% more wine than usual. We were quite toasty afterwards. Dessert was zuppa inglese, a cake with chocolate which is smothered in vanilla cream. Mmmm..