I’m starting to learn that the problem with walled cities, as pretty as they are from a distance and on foot, is that parking can be a nightmare.

San Gimignano, in case you had not already guessed, is a walled city. I picked the parking lot the furthest from the route from the main road — quite sneaky I thought — only to find it already full and the path out almost blocked by a badly parked SUV.

I eventually managed to find a space a little walk out of town, which was fine as it’s not a huge place and it allowed me to catch my bearings. I quickly remembered some of the sites that I first saw in 2004, most notably the famous towers. The number of still-standing towers varies depending on which guide book you read. I won’t add to the confusion by adding my own count.

Once inside the narrow, cobbled streets also seemed very familiar. This time I took a bit of a detour from the main drag, following some of the even smaller lanes away from the centre. Also familiar was the rain. Does it always rain in San Gimignano?

In addition to being a very pretty town in its own right, San Gimignano sits in a very attractive part of Tuscany — high praise indeed! Some of the views just outside are truly amazing.

With the weather not being terribly helpful I decided to move on to Siena fairly quickly. Hopefully I’ll have more luck there.