Tuscany

Siena is a quaint town – managed to see it all in one afternoon.

I left Rome early Friday morning and on the way to Siena had a bonus stop at Orvieto – such a lovely small town.

Cool looking marble church – from the outside; never got to go in because somehow the hour allocated flew by.

I arrived in Siena, along with the other (4) getting off mid afternoon, checked in and headed into town.

The hostel we stayed wasn’t the greatest but it was a place to sleep and it was clean.

The town is lovely, narrow little streets, cute shops, many many food stores – wine, cheese, pasta – and all looking very very yummy!

The main ‘hang out’ place in the town is Il Campo. This is the piazza in the centre of town and here a bi-annual horse race is held. We missed the horse race by about a month. I saw postcards of this event and I really don’t know how that many people fit into that small area!

After our wander about town, headed back to the hostel and just chilled – first early night of the entire trip.

We were all quite glad that other people got off at Siena because that small town by yourself – it would still be quaint but not the same as having other people to hang out with.

Saturday was a lie in day (seeing how there really was nothing urgent we needed to see or do in Siena). Made our way back into town mid morning, bought goodies for a picnic lunch and chilled on Il Campo – good food, lovely place to just soak up the atmosphere.

It’s amazing how different a place can feel – Friday had this small town vibe, and Saturday was crowded with tourists taking day trips to Siena.

Last night about town grabbed a meal – was divine Tuscan cuisine.

I had toasted bread and sheeps cheese drizzled with Chianti honey and accompanied with two pear slices as a starter. My main – aubergine ravioli with a tomato based sauce.

All of homemade, all so so yum!

I know aubergines aren’t the greatest vegetables – I had my doubts, but the way it was described on the menu made it sound fab – and I was not disappointed.

Desert – gelati of course! I’d been having gelati daily since I arrived in Italy, kinda decided to make it my unofficial rule of this trip :p

Sunday, woke up poured with rain...and it being Sunday public transport of course not as frequent and we were catching a lunch time bus out of Siena. Bummed around the hostel waiting for time to move along so we could move on out the hostel – seriously not the best atmosphere! But it is the hostel in Siena and being on a budget, fussiness is curbed!

Siena to Florence!

(only one hour’s drive)

Stopped at Piazzo Michelangelo for aeriel view of Firenze – pretty – before heading in to town and checking in.

Central enough hostel – within walking distance of everything you want to do and see within Florence.

I’d opted in for the group dinner – and it wasn’t even Italian food, and mediocre at best. The biggest disappointed was that they didn’t even serve gelati – but ICE CREAM! There is a difference in taste, trust me!

And this in the place that is also known as the gelati capital of Italy.

Other than the mediocrity, the company was good. Didn’t stay for a karaoke do afterwards – I really did not like the feel of that bar/restaurant and the loos were SMELLY!

A group of us headed back to the hostel and chilled on the Terrace bar for a bit. Nice-ish view of Florence by night – you could only really see roof-tops and the dome of Florence’s Duomo.

On a Monday all the museums in Florence are closed – so, if you do make your way to Florence and are an art buff, do bear this in mind.

Did a wine tour of the Tuscan, in particular the Chianti, region.

The countryside is just beautiful, if you don’t love Italy in which ever place you first arrive – Tuscany will do the trick!

First stop – can’t recall the place’s name – tasted four local wines, 3 reds and a white as well as olive oil!

The olive oil was just divine. Especially the Truffle Olive oil. And don’t forget the 30yr old Balsamic vinegar, sweet and oh, so yummy. And only 45 euro a bottle (which is actually reasonable cos I saw it for 60 at some other shop in Florence)!

Alas, I bought neither the olive oil nor the balsamic – no space...and my budget. I do have the web address somewhere though...so maybe, just maybe!

Oh, the wine was good – Chianti, Chianti Classico, another red and a white. Their tasting is a whole lot more than what I would pour for tasting!

Another wine farm – this time we were shown around the vineyards and in the distance we could see the medieval town of San Gimignano.

At the second stop tasted a white (better than the first), a rose and red (too dry for my liking and by then I’d had enough – but still not as much as the others around me – and I didn’t finish it).

We had ‘lunch’ there too – more of an entree really: bread salad, 3 types of Salami, bruschetta (yum!) and pecorino (sheep’s cheese) drizzled with Chianti honey – not melted this time, but still really really yum!

The Tuscan region is known for its wines, olives, cheese (pecorino) and meat.

There are meat stores everywhere! As our guide said – if it moves, they kill it and eat it!

Our last stop was San Gimignano – a town which contains the best Gelataria – having one awards etc etc – and making the oddest of flavours, like rosemary and basil (or some sort – together!)

I was not that adventurous – chocolate, lemon and cinnamon flavoured; the cinnamon was surprisingly good!

Wandered around the town along with all the other tourists and enjoyed the views of Tuscany.

The symbol of the Chianti region is a black rooster.

The story goes that way back when (sorry, there is limited space for dates, seriously!) Siena and Florence needed to decide on the borders of their regions. Initially they wanted knights to go to war but then someone suggested that they get two roosters and when the rooster crows a knight from each area must wake up and start walking, where they meet this will be there border.

Florence had a black rooster and Siena a white. The Sienese fed and pampered their rooster making sure it will crow, the Florentines kept their’s hungry.

This paid off – the Florentine rooster awoke crazy early and started crowing...so the knight started walking. We were told that the well fed Sienese rooster was so content he didn’t even wake.

And this was how initially the border of Florence/Chianti was 12km (if I remember correctly) outside of Siena.

It differs today, but I don’t know the details.

The tour was an all day thing, head back in to town and I went a wandering, had dinner with of the people I met and then bed.

I was optimisitic and wanted to go to the Uffizi and Musea d’Academia – but couldn’t get tickets reserved – the guy at the hostel was on the phone for like 5min and gave up. Pfft, what kinda holding is that?

I slowly made my way to the Uffizi, and stood the queue for like an hour before finally getting in and spending a couple hours inside. I missed one section though – more queues, and by then I’d had enough.

It’s slightly annoying that you have to pay for pretty much everything in Italy – Students get discount, and if you’re an EU citizen in a certain age bracket – you either get discount or free entry. I’m none of the above so full price it was – this and more queues stopped me from seeing the real David.

Instead I saw the fake David where the real David used to stand before he was moved to the Museu d’ Academia

Lunch – getting cultured by (trying) to absorb Renaissance art is hard work and makes one hungry! :p

More wandering the town up and down random streets; was good. Had gelati three times!

I had to make for the ice cream on my first day in Florence!

First one was so so. Second one was good, the third one was AWESOME! From a gelataria called Vivoli, out of the way and not where you find hundreds of tourists – but the shop is busy! Because it apparently has the best gelati in Florence.

Yoghurt, dark chocolate and lemon flavoured gelati – heavenly!

Last night in Florence, dinner, terrace, drinks, met up with some other people...and then chilled for a bit (ok, a few hours) before eventually heading to bed and having an early start the next day and catching the bus out of Italy to the Côte d’Azur!