Travel to San Gimignano

San Gimignano (pronounced san jee-meen-YAH-no) is about two hours north of Rome. This is the Tuscany district of Italy. To get here, we took a taxi, a train, and rented a very small car for five people and lots of luggage.

Our day started at 7:50, very early again with a short 20 minute taxi ride to the station. The train left at 9:00 but we since we didn’t know the process very well, we left early. This is very fortunate as we had a terrible time retrieving our tickets. Our itinerary from the travel agent said use the e-ticket machine but that didn’t work. So, Barry and I were frantically running around the station to find someone to help us.

We found the ticket counter but the line was well over an hour long. So, while Barry continued to fight the machine, Bob waited in line. Barry was able to get his ticket; but, only his. So, he found an employee who said “Yes, you have a ticket to Orvieto”. Barry of course already knew that. He wanted five tickets. Then the employee pointed out the one ticket was for five passengers. Viola!

Now to find our train. It was supposed to be on track 2est. We found track 2 but where is 2est? A nice gentleman helps us find the right place which was very far away. He literally took us to the right track, right train and right car and then put us on the train. We sat down with only minutes to spare. This kind citizen wanted some serious money for helping us. UGH!! At least we got our train.

The train ride between Rome and Orvieto was beautiful. It took about 75 minutes and was very smooth. We picked up a Citroën C4 Picasso and headed farther north. The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful with only one small misdirection. We found that driving in Italy is a team sport; everyone in the car contributes some.

Here is a short video of how we entered into the city, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50VhwqkqbFM.

It’s very hot here today. Well over 90 and very sunny.