Day 4- Volterra
Volterra clock tower
Original entrance gate to Volterra
Massive cistern to store the town's water
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Our tour of the town of Volterra began in the morning with Annie, our local guide. She came to Volterra, fell in love with the place . . . and a man, and the rest is history. She had such a love and passion for the town and people of Volterra. It was a treat to hear its history and the determination of the Tuscan people to not have their city ruined.
Halfway through the town tour, we took a break to have some espresso. I thought, “I could get used to this.” It was incredible to have time to take a break. I thought about tours in the US where they get people in and out as fast as possible. We would never be given an espresso break on a walking tour of Williamsburg! After our break, Annie showed us the original entrances. She shared how during World War ll, the townspeople were told that the entrance was going to be blown away by soldiers the next day to trap them inside; so, in the night the people of Volterra found a way to avoid the destruction of the entrance. They took the stones from in front of the entrance and used them to block it. Once the soldiers arrived to destroy the entrance, they decided that since the town already closed off the entrance they didn’t need to waste explosives for a job already done. They had saved their entrance! Later on, we visited an Alabaster workshop and had such an excellent experience. I had decided to taste my way around the country trying as many pizzas as I could; so, I had another pizza for lunch . . . which was fabulous. Truth be told, I didn’t have a bad pizza anywhere in Italy. The afternoon was free for us to wander around. We had a Volterra city pass that gave us entrance to many places like the art museum and the town’s cistern. Going down the giant cistern was a wild climb where we were greeted by a cold, damp, and dark place. The cistern had saved the town during the Truscan wars when people hid there for many years without ever leaving the city. What an incredible story. Once we finished our trip to the cistern, my roommate went to explore Volterra and I was torn with napping or exploring on my own. I chose the nap. It was wonderful to have quiet time to catch up on my jet lag. I’m very glad I took the opportunity to rest, especially when my gut reaction was to go, go, go. I was starting to take on the Italian way! In the evening, we all met together to have a fabulous wine tasting with Annie’s husband. Afterwards, I went to dinner with my fellow solo travelers. It was great to be able to have others to eat dinner with and to explore new places! There were two other couples from our tour at the restaurant we were at as well. Halfway through my potato Gnocchi I realized that one of my fellow travelers was gone for a long time. I started to worry! 25 minutes later she came back and said that the lock broke in the bathroom and she was stuck there until her pounding had alerted the waiter. We laughed about it later, but it was a pretty distressing experience for her. Thankfully the hostess was very nice and helpful to her. I also learned during dinner not to ask your waiter what they would recommend. That might be helpful in the states but not in Italy. I asked the waiter what dessert he likes and he scoffed at me saying he doesn’t eat sweets, just salad. I thought, “Yep, you look like you only eat salads!” |