10 Best Things to Do in San Gimignano, Italy (with map)
San Gimignano is one of my favorite places to visit in Tuscany. I love the history surrounding this place and all the amazing architecture and charm. We came to San Gimignano on the advice of a friend who insisted that it’s worth our efforts to visit while in Tuscany. He was right, as we enjoyed visiting San Gimignano for a day, coming from Florence. Situated in the Tuscan countryside, San Gimignano dominates the nearby rolling hills. Come along with me as we explore the best things to do in San Gimignano.
Romanian Castles are surprising for most visitors to Romania because they are unexpected and very impressive. In addition to beautiful modern castles and old fortresses, Romania has some of the best medieval castles in Europe. Most of the Romanian Castles are located near mountain passes and hilltops with beautiful views of the surrounding areas. So, come along with me as we explore some fairy tale Romanian Castles.
Medieval castles abound in Scotland, especially in the countryside. Even near large cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow you can find very old castles and palaces, which makes them very easy to visit. In our four days in Scotland, we tried visiting all the castles close to Edinburgh. Here is my list of castles in the South East of Scotland.
England is filled with castles! And most of them are very well preserved and amazing to visit. We visited a few English castles and even our kids loved them. They have beautiful museums with lots of old military gear as well as gowns and party dresses from the old times. There is lots to learn in these places as they give you a snapshot in time of British high society. Read on about four of these beautiful fairy tale castles in Britain.
Bavaria, Germany has many majestic medieval castles. Unfortunately we have only been able to visit five of them. I love old castles. The older they are the more interesting they are for me. I love learning their history because a castle has the entire history of a town or even an entire region concentrated in one place. Behind a castle’s wall lots of people found refuge and shelter during times of war and found joy and entertainment during times of peace. All this tumultuous life is many times captured inside a castle’s museum. Read on about five beautiful castles in Bavaria, Germany.
If you are driving from Salzburg to Vienna you will be passing by the small village of Melk, Austria. You must stop and visit the Melk Abbey and village! The village of Melk is very close to the freeway (A1) and the parking lot is also very easy to find. After a short, steep walk you get to the Abbey area entrance where you can purchase tickets to visit. I really like the fact that the Melk Abbey complex is being used as a high school so the local kids get great exposure to history every single day. How cool is that!
Salzburg Fortress, also known as Hohensalzburg, is very impressive. The Salzburg Fortress is a fully preserved monument of over 900 years old and is one of the largest existing 11th century fortress complexes in Europe. Situated at over 500 m altitude and measuring 250 m (820 ft) in long and 150 m (490 ft) wide, Salzburg Fortress is an impressive site. Read on about my visit at Salzburg Fortress.
Sirmione, Italy is a stunning place to visit in Northern Italy. It is situated on the southern tip of beautiful lake Garda and it has amazing history. Sirmione, Italy is the quintessential Italian tourist destination. We arrived in Sirmione a bit tired, coming from Padua, but taking a swim in the warm waters of Lake Garda, completely refreshed us and made us ready to head into town.
Soave, Italy was a small village that we knew nothing about when we visited Italy. We simply saw it from the freeway and decided to stop…and we were glad we did it. It is definitely a very old small village with an impressive castle and beautiful views of the surrounding country side. Soave, Italy is a delightful day trip from Verona or Lake Garda. The stairs leading to the castle provide beautiful views all around the area and the surrounding hills are simply beautiful with grape vines stretching in all directions. Read more about visiting Soave.
We arrived in Verona, Italy after a few hours drive from