16. Dream tour day

Today I was in Certaldo Alto, an ancient little village high above Certaldo, of course walking up and down. Lovely town, very peaceful with a great cooking school where you can book classes. Otherwise, lots of views and cats, who seem to own the place.

By the way, the bus tickets have to be folded in half otherwise they won't fit in the stamp machine on the bus 🤦‍♀️. I wonder who came up with that. Also, bus tickets can only be bought at the Tabacchi- in the cigarette shop! Good to know.

And you always have to buy two scoops of ice cream, one flavor is not an option, it's not even offered. By the way, it tasted really good in Certaldo 😋😍

The return trip took a different, very beautiful route, but I'm still shaking a bit. This time it was very important for the bus driver to accelerate before sharp corners, and then quickly turn the steering wheel to drive on the grass strip, off the road. It wouldn't be so bad, but the hairpin turns were barely secured and I could see us plunging into the abyss several times. In addition, he had to check his phone and look at the newspaper from time to time🙈, quite unusual.

In San Gimignano, I enjoyed the absolute silence once again. When the day tourists disappear around 17:00, this place is full of magic. Dimmed light, muffled sounds, no cars, hardly any people, pigeons, cats, and birds dominate the town. A wonderful place to find peace. I hate to leave it.

Insight of the day: be grateful to every Italian bus driver if you arrive in one piece!