Hilltop towns of Tuscany

We picked Hotel Marzia for our three days in Tuscany. Our son John (Jacob) and I had stayed there during our visit in 2014. "Stayed there" is relative. Having been delayed by a horrendous traffic jam in Southern France we arrived very very late and for our pleasure got to sleep in the car. The fine print of course that we check out later showed the hotel closed at 11 pm.

The hotel is close to the Milano-Napoli Autostrada but also has easy access into Florence itself. You take bus 26 for a short ride to the Tram station which then delivers you to downtown Florence (perhaps 25 minutes).

Wednesday we spent 4 hours in Florence, itself. But even though we stayed in Florence, it wasn't the main focus of this trip. Heather and Kathie Steele had been in Florence twelve years ago. On this visit we just wanted to walk around a bit, eat a nice meal and enjoy the atmosphere. We did visit the Medici's private chapel which neither of us had seen before. For April Florence was very crowded. The Duomo now has a reservation system; it was booked up for a week out. Good thing we had both seen the insides on other trips. Wonder what summer at the top of the tourist season is like?

I have enclosed two pictures, one of the ceiling and one of the floor.

This morning, Thursday, we were off on a 230 kilometer loop visiting a number of hilltop towns, the main reason for our stop in Tuscany. The first town was Certaldo, about 35 kilometers southwest of Florence. Not big in size, it is spectacular in its setting and design.

Of course we had to stop for an early morning gelato.

Three years ago Heather and I stayed in San Gimignano, but that didn't mean we couldn't get a good picture as we drove by:

Then we went to Volterra and had some lunch:

Finally we finished the day with visits to Colle de Vall d'Elsa and Monteriggioni:

Tomorrow we pack up and head south.