Tuscany

One of the real highlights of our trip was the return to Italy. This time to tour two villages in Tuscany: Volterra and San Gimignano.
In Volterra we were introduced to the world of alabaster in white, beige , brown and pigmented to any color you can imagine. We learned that alabaster is a salt and porous. It is not hard like marble and cannot last when exposed to the weather. We even saw windows made of it, but they required a separate glass outer window to provide protection.
We also climbed up to the walled town of San Gimignano. In the first shot part of the original Etruscan wall built 500 years before Christ can still be seen. It was an amazing sight and historically dwarfed the excavation of a Roman theater that was closer in toward town.
After our delightful tour we went to lunch at Fattoria San Donato. It is a combination farm, winery and B&B. Looking for a place to stay for a week? Look them up on the web. You won't be disappointed. Our open air lunch is pictured in the third shot. We had plenty of good white and red wine, awesome cheeses, meats and salads. But what dinner is complete without dessert?? Each table was given a bowl of biscotti and a bottle of grappa. Instructions were to dip the biscotti in the grappa before eating. Now this is a decadent dessert.
The final picture shows the Tuscan countryside with the greyish olive trees in the foreground and the vineyard in the background. We would return tomorrow and make San Donato a base camp.