After leaving Val d'Elsa I went from San Gimignano to Siena, to eventually get back on the hiking trail near Buonconvento. Follow along the whole trip on my profile on Haveyoubeenhere! 😄
Porta San Giovanni
From Val d'Elsa I decided to hitchhike back a bit towards San Gimignano as a lot of people mentioned I shouldn't miss it. I walked in through a small entrance to the town called Porta San Giovanni. Immediately you're struck by the old buildings flanking the little road. While it is a nice, quaint historic town, I've always liked either hectic cities or calm nature. Beautiful architectecture and history usually interest me a bit less. Still, it was a good little stop along my travels.
San Gimignano
I am an absolute sucker for street art, so when I found a piece of the Florentine artist Blub, I loved it. Unfortunately I was unable to find the exact spot of the piece on the map (didn't have my gps on when I took the photo), but if you walk around the town for a bit you'll likely stumble upon it. It's in one of the smaller streets past the main square.
Gelateria Dell' Olmo
On the square there are two ice cream vendors who both claim they have the best ice cream, I went to Gelateria Dell Olmo, and had the best ice cream I've ever eaten in my life. I wanted to go back to try the other one too, but decided against it. While the ice cream was super reasonably priced, on a 15 Euro daily budget you have to watch the little things as well. Next time if I wind up in San Gimignano I definitely plan on doing a detailed comparison between the two though, haha! 😄
My rating: 8/10
Porta Camollia
From San Gimignano I hiked and hitchhiked towards Siena, which I walked into through Porta Camollia. Siena is for a lot of pilgrims the end point, and it's also the first point I got to meet some. Walking inside the city I can only imagine what it must've been like to arrive in this city centuries ago. I loved wandering around the streets along small bars and shops towards the main square.
Il Campo
This is the main square in Siena. Normally every year there is an event called Palio. People get on the main square, afterwards all roads are locked off and a violent horse race happens between the different districts of the city. The price: a title and a years glory. When I arrived it seemed that a few other pilgrims were arriving as well. Including two guys who I shared a few hours with. We talked for a while in the hot sun, before wandering through the city for a bit to end up at the Cathedral of Siena.
My rating: 7/10
Duomo di Siena
The Cathedral of Siena is quite an incredible piece of architecture. I didn't feel the need to go inside, but I do feel that if you're in Sienna you shouldn't miss visiting the square. We ended up sitting in the shade talking about a lot of things really, until they had to take their train and I decided to get out of the city as I still had two hours to find a good camping spot.
My rating: 7/10
Porta Tufi
I left Siena through Porta Tufi and hiked my way down towards the road that goes direction Lago di Bolsena. I knew I wouldn't make it all the way, so I decided to hitchhike with the last hour of sun. Eventually arriving in Buon Convento where I rejoined the Via Francigena hiking trail again.
Via Francigena
Conveniently enough the part of the trail of the Via Francigena in Buon Convento is called, you guessed it, Via Francigena. As I left the town with the sunset on my side, I decided to stop at a nearby field to camp. Next to one of the famous rolling hills of the Val d'Orcia. One hour into my sleep I get woken up by noise next to my tent. Not knowing what to expect, I shake my tent cover a bit to make sure whatever is out there knows I am awake. The low aggressive growl of what had to be a dog returns the favor. Not quite the good nights sleep I had in mind. After about 10 minutes, I gathered some courage and used a strong voice to tell the dog off. He left immediately after that. So in short, I got scared for nothing really! 😄 The next morning I set out along the Via Francigena again, but more on that later!
My rating: 8/10
Join me on Haveyoubeenhere! 😄
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Would love to visit this place someday
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You should, it's very much worth it! And thank you for appreciating my post! 😄
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Oh Toscana is so beautiful! Was there a few times ;-)
Ciao ciao from Lugano in Switzerland
It's "Siena", and not "Sienna", just for info.
It definitely is, for me it was my second time, but it was a completely different experience this time around! 😄
Oh, I wouldn't mind being in Switzerland right now, I assume it's somewhat cooler than 36 degrees Belgium at the moment, haha! 😄
Thanks for letting me know, I'll update it!
Hey @martibis, I haven't seen your nice travel pictures in a while.
All the images are beautiful but I like one in particular and it is where two girls appear walking embraced, with their hats.
Thanks for sharing, have a good trip.
Yeah, I'm trying to post a bit more now, but there is a lot of work with all my different projects leaving little time to write! 😄
I totally agree, it's actually one of my favorite images of this trip I think!
Small winding paved roads always exciting to visit, old architecture in small shops with hidden delights in so many. Tuscany is a lovely region, nice to hike and camp seeing much along the way.
The hills and surroundings are charming, thanks for sharing your trip @martibis
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It definitely is, this trip was quite unexpected and turned out amazing!
My absolute pleasure, and thank you for the tip! 😄
We traveled the region by train using youth hostels many years ago, great fun lots of interesting places and people.
I only went to one youth hostel in Rome, but because of Covid it felt very deserted. It was a huge hostel, but only like 4 guests and 3 staff!
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Siena could be one of my favourite places in the world, in Italy I'm always amazed at how they drive cars around the paved streets without incident!