For days we have been longing to hike the Tuscan hillside but it is not as easy as it looks!  The hills are everywhere but you never see a person working or walking and there are always fences that prevent you from going in……obviously it’s all private land!    One day while Marilyn was busy doing things she needed to do, Jim and I decided to go off and find a way to get into those hills and we started with the internet researching hiking trails just outside San Gimignano.   There was one very well known Pilgrim trail, LaFrancigena, that was mentioned several times and we had seen the signs.   So off to tourismo we go and yes, no problem,  just join it outside the gates of San G and you could go for 50kms plus on a path.   Well I wasn’t in for that big a hike, knowing Marilyn would be expecting us before the day was out, so we lowered our goal and started off.    Boring, boring along the roadway where you were dodging traffic although we had been reassured there were paths……but not the case although it did get a little quieter with less traffic.    Overall we were gone for a few hours, return, with the inclusion of a cappucino of course, and thought there’s gotta be a better way.    So we emailed our host, Juliana, inquiring how to enjoy a walk without the traffic.  In her best English she gave us a few suggestions and also advised  we check with tourismo……..no won’t be doing that again as my three Italian words with many hand gestures and rapid English just doesn’t get the message across.   So the next day, with Marilyn, we followed Juliana’s suggestion and although we never found an actual path we did find the trail that allowed us to enjoy the Tuscan countryside without  all the traffic………wonderful walk and the top two pictures represent a little of the beauty……..referring to the landscape, not the people!