While it is very easily accessible with a car, it is also very easy to get there with the bus, even though you have to transfer midway at Poggibonsi.
Midway between Florence and Siena, perched on a hill, it was a perfect stop over for pilgrims of the time, and tourists for today.
San Gimignano was once a fiercely independant town. A walled village gave safe refuge to the farmers, and the 60 odd towers within the town gave refuge to the warring families within the town. This was the time of Romeo and Juliette.
But the plague hit the town hard. Of the 13 000 citizens, less than 4 000 remained, and it soon fell into the political orbit of Florence, which ordered many of its towers to be torn down.
No longer a power onto its own, if not outright impoverished, it was frozen in time. A Medieval town, with its winding streets and remaining towers.
While there are sights to be seen inside the town, the real site to see is the town itself. Walking the streets, following a small alley here or there, and then climbing onto some of the remaining walls is the real attraction of San Gimignano.
But it is well worth the visit.
Photographer's note: As I mentioned before I came to this trip with a Panasonic Lumix G1, my travel lenses are a Lumix 20mm 1.7, Lumix 14mm-45mm and a 45mm200mm Lumix. I brought two 16 gig Ultra fast SDH cards, I only used one at all times. 3 batteries, but one was enough to shoot with every day. I brought my carbon fiber Gitzo tripod, I used it ONLY once. I have a portable computer, plus a tiny external hard drive as back up. I usually shoot in both RAW and high res jpg. with Lumix. I only use the jpg files to re-size for the Blog shots.
I travel with this fabulous soft leather bag. It is fantastic. Italian made off course. It hangs just across my body. Holds all my camera gear and plus,(including my little shopping escapades, sunglasses, except the tripod). No one knows that it has camera gear in it. I go everywhere with it. Including when I travel in planes.
My tripod goes always in my luggage.
This trip was very magical. I hope you all liked following our adventures. My other daily photograpy Blog http://www.myphotoramblings.com// will start back Monday October 11th. 2010. Thank you for all your support.
Anthony & Hera
