Volterra, Italy

In the very first stages of planning, Volterra was going to be the only Italian destination J and I were going to hit. It seemed like a really good idea in theory since we were going to be within walking distance of delicious food, gelato and beautiful Tuscany. We flew into Pisa and took the train to the bus station to Volterra which took about 3 hours when all was said and done.

I got to take some pictures from the bus ride but when we got to the town, all of our attention had to switch to figuring out where our hotel was. The entire city, for those of you who don't know, is basically a life-sized maze with no distinct markings and where a lot of the streets look the same. I was kind of relying on the similarities between Spanish and Italian to get me through but as it would turn out, the languages were a lot more different than I had thought.

So, after asking about 40 different people where we were staying and getting a map from the tourist office, we walked half an hour up hill to our hotel. Which was conveniently located around nothing. There were metal grates on the windows and, since we didn't want to try to find our way back to the city in the middle of the night, we ended up having to eat at the hotel restaurant which was ridiculously overpriced. Since J and I didn't plan for a rental car, and the beautiful sites of Tuscany were only accessible by driving, we decided to cut our trip short and head on to another city where we would be able to rely on our own two feet and public transportation.

Sadly, we left Volterra the next morning but NOT before eating some delicious gelato, pizza and finding the city-wide market place that was around the Plaza de Priori and pretty much every other open space you could think of.

(Random: Best gelato ever is the wild berry flavor, if you can't tell from my completely enthusiastic expression. If you're ever in Volterra, check it out.) But yes, this market had everything you could think of. They had fruit, meat, bread, cheese, wine, shoes, clothes, sweaters, lingerie, undergarments, movies, CDs, posters, potted plants, toys and books and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few other things. Everybody was out and about, talking to each other. Since J and I didn't really see many other stores about Volterra and the closest town was about an hour away, we decided that this was probably the easiest way for the people of Volterra to get their shopping done. But it was also a social thing, too. Kids were playing in the streets and everyone had brought their pets with them. It was one of the happiest things I've ever seen and something so quintessentially European.

It made me sad that we had to go but it made sense for us. (Though we did make a mental note to come back here when we're significantly wealthier s we can tour the vineyards and the neighboring towns). And, since all of Volterra sits on a hill, while we waited for the bus, we got to see the clouds over the towns below us dissipate. It was absolutely gorgeous and I probably took 100 pictures of that alone.

After we wandered around the market for a little, bought some fruit and drank some Italian espresso that made J go insane, we packed up on the bus towards the bus station that would take us to the train station where we would catch the train to our next destination.