woke before 8 having slept close to ten hours. Got my stuff together had breakfast. Two other couples were staying at the agritourismo, it seemed only the man was running both farm and guesthouse. Had simple breakfast and hit the road by 9.30. after about 40 or so minutes of walking the slow winding descend a car pulled over. It was the mid-age german couple I had briefly spoke to at guest house. They were trying to offer me a ride, they where going to Pisa.. generally that was the direction i was going.. but I told them I was into walking and thanked them.. they bid me fair journey... the walk was again along the street...traffic, over all, was pretty mellow with the occasional speed demon giving me a start... lots of weekend bicyclists..mostly men in bright spandex... most seemed quite skilled at riding these hills...but occasionally there was some inexperienced rider struggling up the hills..funny that the inexperienced walker would notice such things!!.
I reached Certaldo around noon, I stopped at a cafe and had pizza and got my barrings from the man working there, he was trying to tell me about a more scenic route to my destination but unfortunately my map did not show it, and when I walked to were I thought he meant, all I saw was private driveways...also the man running the newspaper stand near there knew no other way than the main road, a minor highway. I was a bit torn because the old part of town was up in the hills and I was not going up to explore it...instead I was on my way.. to Castelfiorentino. I had to walk along what appeared to be an industrial park... one side was farm land the other company lots... so not as aesthetic... fortunately perhaps because it was sunday the traffic was pretty low... eventually the road started going through small towns with green spaces between... road narrowed but still fairly safe feeling.. there was a tiny strip I could walk in without fully being in the road... again prob an hour from my goal an elderly italian gentleman pulled over and tried to give me a ride... I thanked him ...we were both impeded by language barriers...
and then I almost passed the town, I meant to stay in, because all the signs were indicating other places and not the name of this town... I dont think it is a tourist destination at all... so maybe that's why the signs did not even mention it. I had to back track a bit to get to it... it was similar in some ways to other small towns.. the road went into the hill and there were narrow steep streets but it had a more forlorn look, like it had seen better days. Judging from the residence it had a large immigrant population for it's size and maybe people were a little poorer here than I've seen. A lot of businesses were closed, first because it was sunday and second because it was before four pm... this place had only one hotel from what I could gather... and did not get best price ..my hotel too looked like it had lost some of its' polish.. the woman running it was friendly enough... it was only three. I was suppose to have walked 20 kms today but it did not seem that much... though my feet still get plenty foot sore and are always glad of rest... I walked my rounds through town... there seemed to be several stations set up for children's activities.. a maze made of sheets with a pan like figure putting white tunics on willing children who were then lead through a maze with activities inside...
it seemed like it had vague vestige pagan initiate cermonies... another place kids could face paint and paint on scrolls of giant paper... and under yet another canopy there was a reading circle...
I found out internet cafes were all closed sunday... I did go into a small museum and found I could surf the net at one of it's terminals ...then found a little restaurant actually open before eight..and had dinner... same same.. .cheese ravioli with walnut sauce, mixed herb greens salad, white beans in oil, and fried veggie plate side. I circled the town a bit more.. now the whole town seemed to be out... surprisingly large crowds were doing nothing other than walking around town... I think it is the sunday social ...people come out to take the air, see and be seen and run into neighbors and friends to have conversation with...perhaps stop for ice cream or a drink... it seemed that this was a long standing tradition probably going back into the mists of time... but as an outsider, it was novel thing to see..
then back to my room...to laundry and rest...italian MIB on tv...
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