Day Two in Siena

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Siena, Italy

Well after walking around for a couple hours this morning I realized that unless I hit up a museum I had already wandered down many of the streets and was not going to find too many new things. I know what you are saying...why didn't you hit up a museum? Let's face it I have seen a lot of museums and still had many, many more to see. Even I will get tired of museums I think. I tried to book a tour in the morning at the Information spot but they told me there were no tours going today. I knew there were and I knew where they left from so I decided I would just head there and see if I could join.

A random pool of water I found at the bottom of a hill.

A random street I found while walking. I didn't walk up this hill.

Il Campo......full of random people.....just hanging out.

Siena is very differently from other places I have been thus far. First the tourist information guys have been completely useless to me and second there are not a lot of people wandering around trying to convince tourists to spend thier money on things, so I have been left up to my own devices. At 1400 (2pm) I went to the meeting point and was easily able to get on a tour bus with a few others tourists.

Another random street.....I did walk up this hill. What did I find at the top? Another random street.

This time of year seems really mixed with how busy or not busy things are. I was worried that a tour on a Saturday afternoon would be full but it was mostly empty. The tour took me to a couple neighbouring villages.

Another town, on a hill, surrounded by a wall.

The first stop was in Pienza, a very small little village, up on a hill, surrounded by a wall, whose main industry happens to be cheese. You can actually smell it as you walk down the streets. There is also a great view of the country side from the outer wall of the city.

Me along the outer wall in Pienza.

As usual they suggest that you visit the church in the centre of town. Have to say it was pretty unremarkable considering some of the churches I have been able to see while here in Italy.

This seems like a pretty good place to stop. Wouldn't you agree?

We then got back on the bus and headed to our next stop. Along the way we passed a lot of the stereotypical Tuscan country side you would expect to see with lots of grape vines and all that. Of course this time of year things are not as green as they would be other times of year and the leaves are starting to change colours but still very nice. The soil is certainly a change from Alberta though. Very use to seeing all that dark black soil. Here the soil is very light in colour and has a high clay and stone content. Good from growing grapes and olive trees I am told, but not much else.

Our second stop would be at Montepulciano, which as you can imagine is a small village, up on a hill surrounded by a wall. We actually had to park the bus down the hill and then hike up. Parking is a little limited especially with a large bus. Up top I was able to climb the centre clock tower…...which was pretty disappointing. They did not allow us to go up to the very top but still got a nice view of everything in the area. I am glad I took the few steps up to take a look......and when I mean a few I mean less than 50.

Once again they tells us to check out the church and what a disappointment this one was. Nothing to look at all, no paintings, no statues...nothing. As a non-religious person if there is no real artistic or architectural focus to a church it really means nothing to me.

One of the random streets in Montepulciano

After the short tour of town we headed to one of the small local wineries for a quick tour and tasting. The 2 wines were actually quite good and I must say that I am acquiring a taste for red wine while here in Italy. I obviously have not had any good red wine in Canada but the stuff here is great.

One of the large wine barrels. Looked a little like a challenge to me. It holds around 10,000 litres (approx. 2640 gallons).

So in all the tour lasted about 6 hours. Certainly a good way to spend the afternoon. This is the first organized tour I have been on since I left Egypt and it was kind of nice to have someone else do all the planning and work and that kind of thing.

Looking down the street in Montepulciano

I ate dinner at a little restaurant on a side street (cars actually had to dodge the tables). I had to try some Tuscan dishes. I am sure it was chicken liver or something like that but it was not too bad so once again I won’t complain.

So the chore for the rest of the night is to try to get everything in my back pack for the trip to San Gimignano.

A look from the outside wall of Montepulciano.

Julie

And now to Siena

Friday, October 24, 2008
Travel from Florence to Siena and around Siena, Italy

Some of the scenery I managed to see before I went to sleep.

Well I boarded a Tran bus today in Florence and took it to Siena. Actually not a bad ride at all. Took just over an hour and buses here are pretty much the same as tour buses back home. Unlike the train, the bus not only ran on time…it actually left a minute early. Just a few stops in and around Florence and then it was straight out to the highway. I did take a few moments to catch some of the Tuscan country side, but let’s be real..…I slept for most of that short trip.

On arrival in Siena, it should have been a very short walk to the hotel I had chosen. Once again, no planning ahead and picked one I liked out of Lonely Planet. The little map in the book was pretty good and I managed to get to the information centre to get a bigger map. Let’s just say the map I got from them was no help at all and actually sent me in the very wrong direction. I ended up walking up a hill, down a hill, around a few blocks….to end up right back where I had started from, in front of my hotel…...just one road over. I did find the internet point and a few little restaurants along the way so all was not lost…however I would have preferred not to have done it with a 18 kilogram (around 40 pounds) back pack on.

One of the random streets I found along the way in Siena.

I got checked into my hotel which is quite nice....very small but nice. Only about 7 rooms above this little restaurant but a good size room and a nice clean bathroom so no complaints. No TV though so I guess I will have to use the street to create some background noise.

The stairs that lead up to the Duomo

The hotel is just off the main plaza in town known as Piazza del Campo (Il Campo for short). Mostly it is a big open area with restaurants around the outside. There always seem to be people just laying out in the middle of it. Europeans can apparently just lay around anywhere...…very strange.

The Palazzo Pubblico. The Torre del Mangia (the tower you can see) was completed in 1297. The building houses the Museo Civico and a few other things. It lines the one side of Il Campo.

Anyway, Siena is a pretty small place but still has many things to see and a great atmosphere to go along with it. I am hoping to head out on some sort of an area tour tomorrow so I figured I would see as much as I can today. I got here by noon so I had plenty of time.

The front of the Duomo

So already having seen Il Campo I headed to the next big thing in town....the Gothic Duomo (cathedral).

A close up of some of that detail on the outside of the church. I like the lion. He looks cute.....and furry.

All the little towns in Tuscany are walled cities and usually have one big cathedral as their focal point. This one is great. Many frescoes and artwork throughout. I actually really enjoyed the library. A lot of old texts and books on display. Always so neat to see.

Inside the Duomo.

Some of those old texts.

From there I went to visit the crypt. The place was very neat as it was actually only found in 1999 when restoration to the floors above it revealed some art work on a wall. It took 3 years to empty the crypt which had been filled with rubble since around the 13th century. Of course no pictures allowed in this part of the church, or in the baptistery, which I am discovering are also focal points to many of the churches in the area.

Looking down at the crypt level. I couldn't actually take pictures while I was down there but I took this one from above.

I then decided to take a walk to check out the rest of the city. As we all know by now this means trouble for me. Like I said the map I got from the information booth was really quite useless. So I just followed some streets.

Some more random buildings I found along the way.

I actually ended up on the outside of the wall and could not find my way back in. I followed this road for a while (which was kind of scary and I think I am quite lucky I did not get hit by one of those little cars or a van). Eventually I came to a parking area, and a series of escalators that lead back up the hill and inside the wall where I wanted to be. Very nice.

A look at some of the things I was looking at while outside the wall. They are inside the wall....where I wanted to be.

I also did a little shopping. Of course there is no shortage of little shops here in Siena. I found a very neat little candle store that hand makes and carves all the candles. I bought a few. Not sure where in my bag they are going to fit at this point but I will worry about that later.

I had a great dinner sitting out on Il Campo. The area started out very quiet and then really started to get busy. Seems like everyone decided to come to the same spot I had picked out. I guess that was the hot spot that night. Very interesting how quickly the dynamic of the area changed, from quiet little café to loud little bar.

So I think I have seen most of what I wanted to see here in Siena. Hopefully I can get booked on a tour tomorrow afternoon.

Julie