Italy

Published on August 31st, 2013 | by Rachel Budke

4

San Gimignano, Italy

Today I was my first trip outside of Florence.  It was kind of last minute, which made it exciting!  I went with Victoria, Madison and Madison’s roommates.  I really loved it there, it was very inspiring.  It was a small place, and enjoyed that it was quaint and filled with beautiful green scenery.  Florence is amazing, but I enjoyed getting out of the hustle of the city for the day.  San Gimignano does not allow cars inside of the city, which was a very nice change from the crazy drivers in Florence.

Santa Maria Novella, the train station in Florence.

This was the first time I have ever ridden on a train, so that was exciting for me.  We took the train and arrived arrived at Poggibonsi, and stayed there for about 30 minutes before the bus to San Gimignano came.  I finally got my first first espresso, or caffè as they call it, and it was great! It only cost me 1 euro.

After about a 30 minute bus ride, we arrived in San Gimignano.  It was honestly the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.   This was the first day I have really felt inspired to photograph, so it was nice to feel that.  Sometimes it hard to photograph Florence without getting tons of tourists in your photos.

Madison and I climbed the Torre Grossa, which had over 200 stair steps.  It lead to the most amazing views overlooking San Gimignano and the surrounding vineyards.  I know that I need to prepare myself for climbing to the top of the Duomo in Florence, because even just climbing this tower, I was out of breath.

Outside of the tower lead to a beautiful area, which was one of my favorite spots.  We also bought a ticket to go inside the San Gimignano Duomo.  They did not allow photos inside, and were very strict about it.  It was absolutely beautiful on the inside, and I wish I would have been able to share with you what it looked like.  It was covered from wall to wall with murals of different biblical stories, and had very elaborate painted ceilings and old golden decor.  It made me very excited to see the Duomo in Florence from the inside, because I am sure it’s even more beautiful.

There is a small wine museum in town where we tried four different wines from the region; two white wines and two chianti wines.  All of them were made from local vineyards and wineries.  We did not go through the museum, we only did the wine tasting.

The rest of the day, we walked around and did some shopping.  I bought a simple leather bracelet for 3 euros.  We stumbled upon Chiesa di Sant’Agostino and walked inside. It was pretty and simple.  There was a little gift shop sort of thing at the end that you paid for with donations.  The man working there was very nice and he had a cat laying on his desk while he sat there working.

We ate some gelato at Gelateria Dondoli, which was highly recommended on Trip Advisor.  It was very good.   I got pistachio, chocolate, and tiramisu.  The shop was very easy to find, it is just right along the main street of stores.

San Gimignano was a great day trip.  I was really glad that I went, and would recommend it to anyone who is traveling to Italy.  It is definitely a small town, so you can get just about everything you want done within 5 or 6 hours.

Thanks for reading along! I appreciate it. Ciao!

About the Author

Rachel Budke Rachel is a senior at Kansas State University, where she is studying Bakery Science. In the fall of 2013 she studied abroad in Florence, Italy. She loves cooking, photography and DIY projects.

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