We left Poggibonsi after a not at all restful sleep. The electronnica beat went on until 2:30 am, and we only had a fan, but no air conditioning.
Onwards we went on a relatively easy day as the trip winds down, with the planned highlight being to one of the most heavily visited places in Italy, San Gimignano. I have mixed feelings about these sort of places. They have every kind of touristic inducement to spend money, tons of people and noise, but on the other hand, all that started for a reason, which is usually still intact.
We climbed out of Poggibonsi, rode about 15km and went for coffee and did some shopping in San Gimignano. It is spectacular because of the setting and the sheer number of towers in the town. There was a manageable number of tourists there on this day but it another month and it will be crazy.
The rest of the ride north to San Miniato was supposed to be straight forward but we did get surprised a couple of times by short sharp rises unaccounted for by Mr. Garmin.
At the end of the day we also ran into some trouble finding our Villa despite being all over it by GPS. Finally we realized it was on top of the heavily forested hill right beside us, and we found a gravel trail up and onto the grounds. That turned out to be the service entrance but no matter. Soon one of the staff saw us and welcomed us warmly as though they had been waiting all day for our arrival. A couple of young guys even hauled our luggage up to our rooms for us. What luxury, and what fun!
Pushing it up a street in San Gimignano
Heading north to San Miniato but looking back at San Gimignano. Yes those are clouds but they mostly burned off soon after.
It's all about grapes and olives in the fields here.
Creativity in finding a place to dry the laundry is usually needed
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