Skip to main content

Italy for the New Year {Tuscany-Day 3}

On New Year's Eve, I took an 11 hour tour out to Tuscany.  The tour made stops in San Gimignano, Siena, a winery in Chianti, and Greve.  First stop was San Gimignano.  SG is a small medieval walled town famous for it's 14 still standing towers (It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site).  As with most tours, you end up wishing you had more time at some stops and less time at others.  SG was definitely a stop where I wished I'd have had more time.

This is the main street in town.  All of our time in SG was self-guided, and they encouraged us to stay on the main street due to the short time there.
I saw this little off-shoot though and there was a sign indicating a scenic overlook, so I detoured.
The sun wasn't at a great angle for photos, but I was glad for my detour...



The scenery was beautiful

Piazza della Cisterna is the main plaza in town...

 We were there before some stores/restaurants had opened, and some were just completely closed for the off-season...

 Laundry day...



 Collegiate Church





 You can buy lots of pottery in SG.  I found a shop that commissioned 3 or 4 local artists to paint scenes of Tuscany on various items...I got a great Christmas ornament & magnet for my refrigerator.  I really wanted some dishes though!
I was kinda hungry because I skipped breakfast, but it was getting close to lunch so I just decided to have a snack.  One of my friends had been concerned about my lack of gelato intake, so I decided now would be a good time to fix that problem.
Pistachio and Strawberry...yum!

The outside walls of SG
 The landscapes around SG

Next stop was Siena (also a UNESCO World Heritage Site).  Siena was the main reason I booked this tour.  I desperately wanted to see the Duomo in Siena.  The tour didn't include a tour of the Duomo, but indicated there would be time to tour on your own.  This was partially true.  I think we had a fair amount of time in Siena (about 3 hours), but I didn't love how the time was dispersed.  We had 1 hour on our own, and a 2 hour walking tour.  The 1 hour on your own really needed to involve eating lunch.  But as I had come to Siena to see the Duomo, that is what I did.  I could have skipped the 2 hour walking tour, but I didn't really know much about Siena so I felt like it would be good.  

SO...I spent my free time mostly in line for duomo tickets, then a quick run through the duomo, and just enough time to purchase a Coke Zero before the walking tour began.  That gelato basically became my only "meal" until 8:00 that night.  But enough about that...

The streets of Siena...
 The tower is called Torre del Mangia and is located in the Piazza del Campo...

The Piazza del Campo
I took this pic of the Duomo as I was standing in line for tickets.  Others on the tour intended to see the Duomo, but I think I'm the only one who did.  The long line, and hunger, scared them off.  
 I'm so glad the line moved quickly enough for me get tickets to go inside, if only for a few minutes.  It's so pretty.







 They had a very elaborate nativity set up inside...




 The walking tour did end up having lots of great information about Siena.  

 Laundry day in Siena too.
 Siena is constructed on a hill, which means there is no natural water source.  This is one of the city's fountains... Fonte del Casato.  It's hidden between buildings.
 Siena has a horse race every summer.  It's not for tourists, but is really a medieval tradition that the city has held on to.  They take it SERIOUSLY.  A lot of our tour was spent talking about the race, which is called "Palio di Siena" and the 17 city districts, or "contrades".

I know much more about this than I probably ever wanted to know, but the Palio is a race between the   17 districts.  The 17 districts each have their own colors, mascot, church (not to be confused with the local parish church) and museum.  These are generally closed to the public, but our tour guide was able to take us into one of the district's museums and churches.

This museum had gathered jockeys shirts from various Palios of the past.
 When your district wins, you win a banner (or Palio).  These are some of the older Palios.
 They differ from year to year, but always have the Virgin Mary on them.
 The walking tour circled up around the Duomo and I found out some great info
 That door to the lower left of this pic was where I had to enter to get tickets earlier in the day.  The line snaked out from there and I had looked at this scene not knowing what I was seeing.  On the tour, I learned that there had been a plan somewhere around 1337 to expand the church.  The expansion work started, but was never completed, and this is what the next two pictures shows.

 I love the Moorish influence in this Gothic church...


 The mosaics are beautiful when they catch the sunlight...



 Siena Duomo was built of brick with a marble veneer.  Here you can see where some of the veneer has come off to reveal the bricks (along the roof)...
 The Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico...

 Siena is a labyrinth of narrow, hilly streets.



We left Siena and headed for a winery in Chianti.  We passed lots of vineyards along the way...
We arrived at sunset...



They also grow olives...
I'm sure this was a great part of the tour if you like wine.  I tasted it and it reconfirmed that I HATE wine.  Wine in the U.S.  Wine in Italy.  Makes no difference to me.  I HATE the stuff.  We did get to sample some of their olive oil, some local cheese, local salami, and a grape marmalade (kind of like a balsamic), and they were all good.
The last stop was a town in Chianti called Greve.  I'm sure it is a great stop in the summer, but it was a waste of 45 minutes for our tour.  Everything was closed.  I'm not sure if that was because it was off-season, or because it was New Year's Eve.


I would definitely go back to San Gimignano and Siena.  In my opinion, they were absolutely worth stealing a day from my time in Florence to see.

Thanks for reading!  Stay tuned... next post is New Year's Day back in Florence

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Swiss Oatmeal {Copy Cat Recipe}

I'm obsessed with Swiss Oatmeal.  I particularly love   Corner Bakery's Swiss Oatmeal.  If you are not familiar with Swiss Oatmeal, it is a cold oatmeal cereal with fruit and nuts. I've had a similar recipe for years, but it was only similar.  It wasn't close enough for my liking.  So I finally set out into the land of Pinterest to find a recipe that was a good Copy Cat.  I found a few, combined them and came up with what I think is a very close Copy Cat Recipe of Corner Bakery's Swiss Oatmeal. Here's what I do (note, this recipe is really just pictures, because I don't really have measurements for these things.  The photos aren't great, but it's easier if I show you what I do)... Here's the Phase 1 ingredients...   Milk Honey Yogurt (I use a vanilla greek yogurt) Oats (old fashioned, not quick...you probably could do steel cut too)    I've simplified this to where you only need a bowl and a spoon for Phase 1 becau

Europe 2023 {Day 9 ~ Munich & Bavarian Alps}

 On Tuesday, December 20th I grabbed breakfast at the hotel and then walked about 15 minutes to where I met my tour for the day.  On my first visit to Munich, I only had time for one "day trip" outside of the city and I chose to go to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, but I always knew I wanted to venture down to the Bavarian Alps and see some castles on my next visit.  I had booked the premium tour and it was so fancy.  There was a snack bar and they even served beer and wine on the way home after the last stop of the day.  First stop was at Linderhof Castle. This was a "small" castle of King Ludwig's that was a partial mini-replica of Versailles.  It was a snowy walk to the castle... Interior photos were not allowed, but you can see some pics of the interior HERE Like Versailles, there are fountains and sculptures surrounding Linderhof, but they cover the statues with wood huts to protect them from the winter elements. After visiting Linderhof, we made a (to

It's all about the dress...

I mean I guess it's really all about getting married, but come on, you always anticipate the dress right?  Well holy moly folks!  Today a big secret was released to the press.  No, we still don't know which dress or tiara Kate will be wearing, but we heard for the first time that Princess Diana had a back-up dress!  Here are some of the pictures and sketches... Real dress on Left~ Back-up on the Right Here are the sketches of the back-up dress And you know what?  I like the back-up dress better than the one she wore!  I know, I know.  I'm going to get blasted for saying that, but I'll just confess it right now... My name is Kara and I've never thought Princess Diana's dress was all that and a bag of chips.  Nope.  Not my favorite Royal Wedding Dress by any stretch of the imagination.  What is my favorite?  Probably the one that Sarah Ferguson wore when she married Andrew... It had beautiful beading and stitching throughout.  Also on the train it had an &quo