Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra

The host of the apartment were very good and made sure we had enough for breakfast to get started. Bread for toast & jam, milk for coffee. Hated the bread, it is in a sealed package that does not expire for 2 months, how much preservatives is in that? After breakfast, we decided to take the fast route to Siena instead of the country roads as we knew we had a full day ahead of us. Only about 1 hour drive.

Typical road of the region

We arrived in Sienna around 9:30 and found parking with only one detour. Siena is a large city. Not too bad overall to figure out where we are and where to park. We headed to the main square Il Campo as soon as we could. It was still quiet when we got there and not too many tourists. Walked around the square once and decided we would go explore the town and come back later. As we were leaving, one of the hostess for a restaurant asked if we would like to sit and have a coffee. No thanks, no 5 Euro coffee for this gentleman.

First view of the square in Siena

We found the Piazza del Duomo. The square is surrounded by amazing buildings. Almost no one around either here as it is still early as well. The cathedral facade is amazing. Full of statues with 3 peaks with mosaic tiles (I think). Another building is the hospital which has served as a hospital for over 1000 years up to 1990. The third, I believe is the city hall. We debated visiting the Cathedral and the other places associated with it but since we will be doing similar things in Florence passed on it.

We explored Sienna for a bit before returning to the main square. A lot more tourists here now. This square is where they have the horse race twice a year (July & Aug.) We saw some pictures online and some of the shops have photos you can buy, the race looks crazy, and very busy! The Palazzo Publico and the tower (Torre del Mangia) which is over 300 feet high are the main point of the square. The tower was closed until the end of the month. I would guess the views are fantastic from up there.

The square (more like an oval) slopes down towards the palace and many people come and sit down and just hang around.

To tie the horses

Decided to head back to the car as we have a couple more stops planned. Next to where we were parked was the Basilica San Domenico. The door was open so why not catch a visit. Usually when it's a Cathedral or a Basilica, it is going to be very nice and worth your time and this one did not disappoint either. There is the severed head of St. Catherine of Siena in this Church, first time we have seen this in a church. No pictures were allowed in this church.

I was happy when it was only 4 Euro for parking as the sign said 2 euro per hour and we were gone for over 3 hours.

We drove the back roads to San Gimignano which took about 1 hour. San Gimignano is known as the city of towers. It used to have 72 but only 14 remain nowadays. It was a way to show how wealthy a person was. Even if it was Sunday, not many tourists around today. They were having a carnival parade today in town starting at 3:30PM, too late for us as our check list of things to do today was still too long. Coming in the summer certainly would help with more daylight! We walked around looking at the different views from the wall and the many towers. We walked up to the highest point in town to the medieval fortress which gave us a fantastic lookout. There was a woman playing the harp in the center of the fortress which sounded beautiful. A great place for a picnic, or just to catch some sun.

In preparation for the parade in San Gimignano

Lady cleaning her carpet at the window

Wild (Dead) Boar

San Gimignano from a distance

Very few restaurants are open, it is amazing how many had signs they were opening in March or April. The owners must be taking advantage of the slow time and taking their vacations. We did find a small place that had little pizzas and some great pastries. Only 8 Euro and that included a glass of wine, water and pastries as well. So lunch is done and we are ready to move on. This little restaurant is like a little coffee shop as well. Coffee shops here are so different from home, people walk in, order these tiny coffees, drink it in 3 minutes then leave. Guess they just need the caffeine hit.

Another torture museum, which we skip but I did get Wendy to see the wall of skulls. Not sure if they were real or not. Wendy is refusing to go into any torture museums, who knew this was an Italian thing?

Next we have a 45 minute drive through the gorgeous back country roads to Volterra. This is a town that not so many tourists seem to visit but we loved it. Their town map says it dates from 1398. This may have been the highest towns we visited. We loved that there were all kinds of locals visiting and enjoying the sunshine just outside the wall. A very picturesque walkway along into town.

It's February and it's only 12 degrees

3 generation out for a walk, very typical

This town also had an amazing Roman Amphitheatre, the first that we have seen this trip that you could still tell what it was. We didn't do the tour, saving that for Rome.

A really pretty cathedral here, one thing we have noticed is that in these smaller city churches you still light actual candles, when you get to the large cities many of the churches have electronic tea lights that you light instead. I have no idea how a fire could ever start in some of the churches we visited. Another thing is these churches are really like museums, the artwork, statues, and carvings are fantastic. This city also had the baptistery right beside the Church separate. In old days you were not allowed to enter the church unless you were baptized.

baptitery

I was also excited to see that there was a moto club having an exhibit going on that had Italian motorcycles on display. Wendy, not so excited. Of course I am taking pictures for Robin...

Next was the short 70 km ride back home to Lucca that takes 1.5 hours. Lots of the roads were only just wide enough for 2 cars to go by. No cyclists here on these roads as they would not last too long before being in the ditch. We are not breaking any speed records here. Lots of small towns along the way with many traffic circles. We were happy to be going towards Lucca and not the other way when we got about 10 km from Lucca. The traffic was backup for km on end. I guess everyone goes to Lucca if it is a nice day. We parked the car for the night and will return it tomorrow morning. Tons of people leaving from inside the wall, so it must have been a very busy day inside the wall today.

One of the many hilltop towns we saw today and did not visit

We made pasta for supper with leftover sauce that we had and enjoyed the bottle of wine we bought in Montepulciano. 3 games of crib which I finally came out ahead, 2 games to 1. Wendy said it was because she was exhausted from all the driving. She did a great job handling the stick shift going up and down these hills on twisty roads.

This trip would probably been better on a 3 day trip instead of 2 days. Voterra and possibly San Gimignano had attraction pass that you could buy for the day and visit a majority of the churches and museum/attractions and you could probably spend an entire day in any of these cities we visited today. Having said that we had a great weekend and enjoyed it immensely.