When we got to Florence we received many recommendations to take a day trip to San Gimignano, a small medieval town in Tuscany. We decided it was a must see with so many people recommending it so we hopped on a bus and were on our way! The bus was a double decker! We climbed upstairs for a good view on the way and enjoyed our first two story bus ride :)
Our double decker bus!
As soon as we got there we were taken with an amazing sweeping view of the countryside, Tuscany is beautiful!
Entrance to San Gimignano
But we were excited to explore the little town. San Gimignano is known as "Medieval Manhattan" because it has several towers, more than have usually survived for a town of it's size, and they have been very well preserved, the town in is great condition!
Main Square
We walked through the main part of the town and found our way to a path that went around the outer wall and took that to see some wonderful views of Tuscany before exploring some of San Gimignano's shops.
This street was so cute it's picture perfect!
We picked a restaurant by one of the towers and got pizza for lunch
We found some cute shops around San Gimignano and made friends with Mr. Medieval Knight.
It was market day when we went to San Gimignano so when we got there there were cart vendors all over the larger squares selling everything from fruits and vegetables to Italian leather jackets. Later in the day when the carts cleared out we took some time to relax in the Main square near the big well.
We decided to skip climbing the main tower which is in the center of town and instead found a place to climb up and see a view of all the towers. It was wonderful! We found this old fort like building that you walk up to and it has a courtyard in the middle with a couple artists and musicians scattered around it (we enjoyed a nice flute performance) and around the walls there are little room like places and one corner has stairs up to a raised area that offers a spectacular view of San Gimignano and the Towers. We were so glad to have found this spot!
well in the courtyard
Erin in one of the "rooms" along the walls
View of the towers from the high point
butterfly we saw while climbing back down the stairs :)
Video of the flute player in the courtyard
Most of the rest of the day we spent wondering around the streets of the city, going in and out of all the little shops, and buying a few souvenirs. I loved how there were small little side streets to wander down, and every now and then we would go through a dark little tunnel, unsure as to where we were even going, only to be presented with a spectacular view of the country side on the other side, along with a street lined with wine shops. BTW we did try some wine from San Gimignano and yes, we liked it. We really haven't found a wine here that we haven't liked yet, I guess we'll have to keep on trying them :)
Or turn another corner and find yourself staring up at a castle turret. We even went through a couple doors (although I'm still not sure if we really were supposed to) to find small courtyards full of sculptures and mosaics on the walls. San Gimignano really is a nice place to just wander around and explore.
While we were waking around the town all day we saw a couple of these medieval torture museums and were kind of intrigued. I'm not sure why but at the end of the day we found ourselves curious and decided to go see one. We ventured in and found some seriously disturbing things. We actually ended up going to a two-part torture museum, one location was executions and just down the street was torture. It was weirdly interesting, and many of them were really terrible (like so much that I won't put those pictures up), but luckily it was just cheesy enough (see severed head picture) that it wasn't too depressing.
LIXO
the guillotine
a little cheesy huh?
Would you go down these stairs?
gas chamber
As we made our way through the museums there were some pretty gruesome things (gas chamber, "flayed alive" model, torn to shreds by a lion man, just to name a few) and I have to say I learned a lot about medieval torture methods. It's hard to believe these things were actually done, and let me tell you some of the rooms were genuinely creepy. I was actually scared to go down these dungeon stairs fearing something was going to pop out at me like a haunted house, so I made Erin go first. Luckily no one did and all we found at the bottom was and "iron maiden" which is actually pretty creepy, but (thank goodness) completely stationary.
Bear jacket
This guy definitely made me jump when I saw him. Creepy.
Believe it or not the description for this spikey jacket actually said it was used when hunting bears to ward off their "hug." I don't buy it. I think a bear would still kill you despite the spikes on your clothing. They also said they wore it when dealing with violent inmates. That seems a little more practical.
This is probably one of the most disgusting things in the 2 museums. Read the description if you dare, but fair warning it's gross. If you can see me reflected in the glass in the picture you can see my reaction to reading it. Seriously terrifying.
Not sure why this guy was there, apparently they had werewolves to torture people with also. Who knew.
Needless to say the torture museum was an interesting experience. We noticed this while we were inside, just above the guillotine display you can see some laundry out to dry. We figured this means someone actually lives above the torture museum and that their patio has a view of a decapitation. Interesting way to spend you morning, drink some coffee, read the paper, look at a beheading. We decided that it would not be our ideal dream home location.
After the horrors of the museums we decided we needed a little RnR before we headed back to Florence, so we got some.... you guessed it. Gelato! It was very yummy and so cute with the waffle in it. I had to snap a pic :) It definitely eased our troubles and was a yummy end to our San Gimignano adventure.
After gelato we walked around the gardens outside the town walls and waited for our bus back to the city. San Gimignano was a great place to visit and I definitely recommend it if you find yourself in Tuscany!
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