Tuscany Two

Views within and around the streets of San Gimignano Tuscany.

This below is the main northern entrance to the town.



This below is the main square in San Gim (Piazza della Cisterna)


During the day numerous birds mainly Swifts fly around the towers screaming away.



The tallest of the towers (The Torre Grossa) which you can climb up steps on the inside and see all around the area. Great views.


This below shows part of the outer southern wall to the town with the entrance on the right.


The main church (The Duomo)











All vegetarian of course, but most of the main dishes in Tuscany are meat based.

Tuscany One

Some scenes of the ancient hilltop town of San Gimignano located in the Provence of Siena in Tuscany. Views are from a distance including some of the surrounding areas. The town has a population of approximately 7000.



From the originals only fourteen towers of different heights remain in the town.






The wine grape in the San Gimignano area is the "Vernaccia" which makes a strong dry white wine. (Apparently? {:))







Check this out Steve B. Definitely not ripe yet for a while.



This view, which is just next to where we stayed has vines and olive trees. The olive trees are right and left of centre.



The temperature was around 27Cel/80 Fht during the day. July and August gets much hotter especially in the towns.

Blogging Absence

This photograph helps to explain my recent Blogging absence. Its a villa near San Gimignano in Tuscany where we have been on holiday. You can see the towers of San Gim in the distance on the left of the shot. I took approximately 2000 photographs of scenes of the countryside and cities, flowers and butterflies. I was using a Canon G10 compact digital so I didn't take any birds unfortunately. I will shortly post some of the various favourites in the hope that I don't bore anyone too much.

Check out
http://www.casavacanzelecase.it/index.html

Butterflies of the Week

The Brown Argus (Aricia agestis)

Another one of the small butterflies (wingspan 29mm), the Brown Argus can be found mainly in the south eastern part of England.

The male and female look similar and at a quick look can be confused with the female Common Blue, female Adonis Blue, female Silver Studded Blue or the Northern Brown Argus. So the best thing to do is photograph it first and ask questions afterwards. {:) Always the best policy.

Its main food plants are Common Rockrose and Dove's-foot Cranesbill.







The Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

A native species and common in more shaded areas such as woodland and leafy lanes. It flies from late March right through until October.

Although basically the same pattern, this species tend to vary in the shade of the same colours. The average wingspan of the male is 47mm and female 50mm.




(Scheduled)

Another Cow Day

Its time I had another Cow Day.{:)














(Scheduled)