Morning in Monteriggioni, afternoon in Greve, and evening in Siena

This morning's homemade Italian breakfast at the B&B included, going clockwise from the top, an omelet with homegrown tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, fruit salad, homemade apple tarts, small focaccia sandwiches of ham and cheese, yogurt, breads, and in the center, two kinds of homemade preserves.

And of course, cappuccino with the breakfast.

Our new friends from China, Irene in the middle and Lynn on the right, as we wished them farewell, since they were leaving for Florence, and we have one more night before we leave for Perugia.

This morning had a hot air balloon fly over and land a couple farms away, either to pick up or drop off some tourists:

Then we drove about 25 minutes to Monteriggioni to see another ancient walled town perched atop a hill.  This is quite a small one, and below is the main piazza.

Here is their church:

And a view of part of the wall, taken while on top the wall:

Some olive trees inside the village, green-grey in color:

One of the gates into Monteriggioni, barely big enough for a car to enter.  I think that town has only 2 gates.

The we were on our way to a winery at Castellina, with some great views of the Tuscan wine country farm land along the way:

Unfortunately, the winery was fully booked, and they could not accept any more visitors today.  We revised our plan, and headed to Greve, where we knew there was a good place to sample Italian wines for a modest fee per glass.  It was very comfortable there, with free wifi and self serve wine, using a smart card and special self-serve wine kiosks.

After spending a couple hours in Greve, we started back south, trying to find a place for dinner along the way.  Most restaurants close in the afternoon from about 2:30 until 7, leaving few options for dinner before 7 pm.  We decided to head back into Siena, I found a good parking spot just outside the city walls, with escalators (a series of 6 escalators that took us higher and higher) that saved us from climbing the hills inside the city.  Using the iPad, I found a restaurant with good reviews, and we entered at about 7:15 without a reservation, and asked for a table for two.  The hostess apologized, and said that they were fully booked!  We were about to strike out for the second time in one day (having been turned away from the winery earlier), but the chef said something in Italian to the hostess, and we got a corner table.

This place is very close to the Duomo in Siena, and the dining rooms are all subterranean, almost as if in the ancient Etruscan tombs.  The walls were carved from the solid limestone.

Finally a place that had a good selection of items featuring truffles, the precious mushrooms that are gathered each fall.  Here's a photo of my second course, rare steak with shaved truffles.  It was very good.

For dessert, we shared chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream, with some berries and currants, and a couple of cups of decaf espresso.

Tomorrow we pack up and say goodbye to Tuscany.  We'll head east into Umbria, where our next overnight destination is in Perugia, famous for chocolate and other regional foods that make it distinct from other parts of Italy.

Day 8: sightseeing in Siena

Here's the view that we had from our window at this B&B when we got up this morning and opened the shutters.  It was a beautiful morning.

From the same window, if I zoom in as far as possible, you can see Siena on the distant hilltop, about 7 or 8 miles away.  The tower on the right is the clock tower, which you see in photos below, and the tower on the right is the bell tower of the Duomo, which is also in a photo below.

Here'a the breakfast that our hosts prepared this morning, and it served us well through a lot of sightseeing and walking the hills of Siena today.  That's an omelet in the lower left, and ham and prosciutto on the,plate in the upper right.  And a piece of cake for each of us.  You've have to admire a culture that puts cake on the breakfast table.

We drove to Siena and found a place to park, which is usually not easy in many of these towns, and then walked about a half mile to the Duomo, one of the most beautiful churches in Italy.  Construction started in the year 1215:

Among other sculptures contained in the church are a couple of Bernini sculptures, with incredible realism for marble.

And many paintings, such as:

But the real masterpiece is the floor, specifically the inlaid marble mosaic panels in the floor.  These are almost always covered, but this year for a few months they are uncovered, and here' same few pictures of what has been called the most beautiful floor in the world:

Our next sightseeing stop, just a 10 minutes walk away, was the Piazza del Campo, with the adjacent clock tower.  Built with a slight slope, it's a gathering place for students, locals, and tourists.  Tired from walking and wanting to take a break, we just laid down on it for about 15 minutes this afternoon.  Here's a series of photos that capture life in the piazza, surrounded by the nearby buildings:

Here's a photo of the top of the clock tower.  More than 500 steps to the top.  We decided not to do that today.

    

Laundry day for some people in Siena:

Various travelers visiting:

An olive tree we passed as we walked back to the parked car:

And us, after a few hours of walking and hill climbing in Siena today:

We arrived back at the B&B at about 6:30, relaxed until dinner was served at 8:30, which was pasta with pancetta, grated cheese, and olive oil for the first course, followed by roasted guinea hen, stuffed pork tenderloin, grilled eggplant with fresh herbs, and green peas.  Dessert was a local specialty of crispy cookie-like pastries, served with a sweet dessert wine.

Tomorrow our plan is to visit some wineries.  As the driver, I will not be drinking much, but I"m rather skeptical of the navigator's abilities throughout the day.

Day 7: settled in Siena for a few days

Thanks to the readers - we enjoy sharing, and we enjoy your comments.

Dick, due to the weather, we decided to head on towards the next place, instead of going back into Volterra.  Quite rainy and cool, so we're not keen on spending too much time in that,  and we also need to allow more time for travel in these conditions on these roads.

Nate, I figured the decor in that enoteca was just some kind of acoustic management system...

Today, Saturday, was quite a rainy day, and cool, not really conducive to doing much walking.

Dogs and Apple iGadgets are prolific among travelers over here.  This morning a couple had their medium size dog in the breakfast room, and we've seen dogs in restaurants and wine bars.  Locals that own dogs often seem to favor smaller dogs, which makes more sense in the compact areas that we've been visiting.

Drove to San Gimignano in the fog and rain, not sure if the weather would allow a walking visit, but it wasn't too bad.  Even though many of these old towns have common features, and you might lose track of where you are, just walking about is still very interesting, imagining the history that preceded you, and watching people, both locals and other tourists.  We visited the Duomo in San Gimignano, which has beautiful frescoes painted on the walls that depict religious events.  Had a great quick lunch of bruschetta and wine, 20 euros for 2 bruschetta, 2 glasses of local red, and a large bottle of water.  A few photos from San Gimignano:

Then started the drive to Siena, which became quite a challenge because we got lost about 3 times.  The GPS unit was no help at all, probably due to the clouds and rain (Bennie our house cat sitting on the dashboard would have been just as helpful), so we relied on the iPad and google maps (very grateful I bought the Telecom Italia Mobile SIM card), which has worked quite well everywhere so far.  I researched the various cellular providers in Italy before the trip, and TIM allegedly has the best coverage, and we've gotten a good signal almost everywhere so far.

Finally arrived at our B&B in Siena:
http://www.tenutalasantissima.com/en/tenuta/
And we've decided to just relax here this evening and have dinner with the family that runs the place.  There's only 2 guest rooms, and it is very spacious with views.  The guests in the other room are a pair of young Chinese women, sweet and chatty.  It's still rainy, but we feel very welcome here.

The son who seems to be the main face here is named Pierre, for his mother who is French, and met his father, who was a university professor when the mother was here in Siena for university examinations.  Pierre puts a real face on what had simply been news about the struggling Italian economy.  He's a college graduate in an engineering field who cannot find work here, and his younger brother, also an engineer, just started a job in Germany.  The father died a few years ago, but the house is richly populated with all manner of antiques, including furniture, dishes, paintings, some sculptures, most of which came from the father's side of the family.  The mother, Pierre, and a couple of remaining siblings started the B&B just a couple years ago, probably to make a living here, but they do a superb job of it.  Pierre is charming with good English, the mother stays behind the scenes, cooking up a storm, and I don't think she speaks much English.  Dinner started at about 8:30, with an herbal flavored aperitif, sun dried tomatoes from their own garden, and local olives, cheese, and salami, followed by bruschetta.  Then we were invited to the dinner table where the first course was spaghetti pomodoro, and Pierre offered some of his own homemade pepper infused olive oil.  I said it tasted like he had used more than a single kind of chili, and he returned with a grin and a foil packet of three kinds of his homegrown peppers for me to take, explaining how to make it as he does.  The next course was pork tenderloin with a balsamic sauce, served with potatoes from their garden that had been crisply fried, and a salad of their own lettuce.  Alongside this was a bottle of fine chianti wine, and for dessert was creme brûlée, served with our choice of Tuscan or Sicilian dessert wines, followed by espresso.  It was all perfect.

The rain and occasional lightning continues outside, having started at 5:00 this morning while we were in Volterra.  Tomorrow the chance of rain is down to 50%, and we hope to visit either attractions in Siena or wineries in the Chianti region.