Volterra

We made an effort today and got out of bed before 8am to hit the road and spend a morning in Volterra.

As usual the journey was filled with the contrasts of beautiful Italian countryside and psycho Italian drivers :-)



We managed to get to Volterra in one piece within an hour despite stop when a double decker bus and a tourist bus from Germany tried to squeeze past each other on a road that was barely wide enough for one bus. 10 minutes later after lots of reversing, with a big queue of traffic behind us they finally made it through without toppling.

The road to Volterra was steep and winding as expected as it is situated over 1700 feet above sea level up on a Plateau. We managed to get parked a little easier than we had done in San Gimignano and walked up some steps through to the main part of town.

Volterra is a pretty small town and you can easily walk across it in twenty minutes or less, but it is a nice place to stop and spend an hour or two. The town is filled with narrow winding alleyways and tiny little streets. If it wasn't so small it would be easy to get lost here.

We spent an hour or so just wandering about the town and the main square, through lots of little alleyways that often opened out to places giving beautiful vistas of the Tuscan countryside.



Before leaving we stopped at a little Pasteleria for a coffee and a pastry, after which Stuart was shocked that I'd spent 3 Euros 30 on a can of diet coke, then it was back to the car to continue on to Siena.

I'd highly recommend Volterra for a 2 hour stop off during a day trip.



If you'd like to stay longer in Volterra you can read reviews of Volterra Hotels here.