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SIENNA
In our last week we decided to take a side tour to Sienna before we headed right into the wine country. After a long day of train delays we did not feel like hunting for accomodation so we got off the bus and walked straight into the hotel across the road and booked a room. OMG! what an expensive dive. But luckily there was so much to see in Sienna that we only headed back to the room to sleep late at night. In many ways Sienna is like many other italian towns. It has its Duoma and cofee shop on every corner.There are loads of people walking the streets and an abundace of gelato shops (only these ones suck you in by adding large peices of fruit and chocolate to the displays so they look delicious but in reality they are not) For some reason I really enjoyed our 1 day at Sienna. We spent the afternoon sitting in the Piazza Del Campo which is basically a big square except it has been made famous by the horse race (Palio di Siena) it holds twice a year. Seven horses representing seven provinces around Sienna race it out along
the cobble stone path to see which is the best town of all. The Jockeys ride bare back and dirt is added to the cobblestones. Apparently the Piazza is packed when the race is on. I wonder how the horses even race on such a surface but it sounds like fun.
My favourite part of all was a restaurant experience that evening. After hours of walking around we settled for a restaurant recommended in Rick Steeves and I will say it has officially become my most favourite restaurant on the whole trip 'Trattoria La Torra' located just out of the Piazza Cel Campo. I dont think you could have got anymore rustic italian than at this restaurant. When we walked in the freshly made pasta, made from scratch, was laid out on the table and a very quirky, amusing old man escorted us to a table. As we sat down he said 'Now what do you want?' Al and I looked at each other very confused thinking that we really couldnt answer until we had seen a menu but then he proceeded with. 'What kind of pasta do you want? Saghetti, taglatelli, gnocchi etc etc. After making our selection the
Piazza Del Campo
Home of the Palio Siena Horse Race next question came. 'What sauce do you want? pomodora, bolognese, carbonara etc etc and then the third question came with an answer included. 'What do you want to drink?....... a caraff of red wine'. Al and I just nodded yes to everything and before we knew it we had the best pasta I have ever had in my life sorry mum! The fresh, made from scratch pasta was unbelievable, not to mention the caraff of red wine and I was feeling content.
But then amusing man came back and said 'What do you want? Chicken, meat, turkey etc'. Al and I were both feeling very full but did not want to upset anyone so we decided to share a chicken dish. It was a to die for roast chicken served with a side order of fresh asparagus. YUMMY! In hind sight I should have just ordered a whole one to myself cause we ate it so fast you would have thought we were both dying from starvation ha ha ha. Dessert followed as fresh stawberries. Honestly such a simple peasant meal was absolutely divine. When bill time came around I was panicing because we had eaten 3 courses and not
known any prices. It ended up costing us 10 euros each which would probably be one of the cheapest meals we ate all trip and did I mention 'The Best'.
Needless to say we both made our way back to the brothel hotel at a very slow pace and fell asleep with very full stomaches. The following day we visited the church of St Catherine of Sienna. This is where you can find a part of the saints actual finger and her head. The real thing! Gross but it has lots of glass around it so you cant really see much. I think I stood in front of it for 5 minutes trying to decide if it was the real deal because it looked so fake. Al was very taken with the Cathedral Sienna. We did a whirl wind tour of its interrior, baptistery and museum. SHOCK HORROR! No Steeves to help us through this one. The mosaic floors were extra special and the lecturn was a gigantic sight itself.
Montelcino
We made attempts to get back to the train station early the next morning but attempts did not happen quick enough and did not get us very
far because we wasted half the day waiting for the next bus to come and take us to Montelcino. We had missed it by only 15 minutes grrrrrrrr. When we finally got to Montelcino it was worth the wait. This tiny village with one main street is a hidden gem with the best Tuscan views. It is famous for its Brunello wine which we had loads of and great cheese. We found the second pizza shop that I liked on our trip and the best thing was the price. All pizza is charged by weight which makes it a filling and cheap lunch. We went back to this shop 3 or 4 times and ate way too much. We opted not to book accomodation in advance and found a nice little bed a breakfast the first night. But to get to it required alot of stair climbing to get to the main street so on the second night we stayed in a very nice hotel called the Dei Capitani Hotel. Ahhhh! I was in heaven and where I belong.! he he Yummy breakfast, unlimited internet and classic balcony views. After just one night here I was forced to see reality
and we moved to a low budget hotel with basic ammenities but that one night was great. So while in Montelcino we visited the local fort and tasted 3 classic red wines and chowed down on a scrumptious cheese platter with the best salami. Outside the Fort thousands of daisies were in flower and were a beautiful contrast to the walls of the fort.
To my disbelief they do not have tour companies that take you to the thousands of wineries in the region. Individuals are left to make their own way so Al and I were really missing our cars. We went to tourist information with our dilema of transport around the area and they suggested we try to visit the wine shop 'Enoteca Pierangioli'. The family have had their wine business in the region for over 20 years. As soon as we enered the shop they were more than accomodating offering to take us to 'the best' winery in Montelcino. For a small fee Alessandro too us to the winery of Piero Palmucci. The Fattoria Poggio di Sotto is situated on some of the best land in the region and we were taken on a private tour of
the winery. After learning about Pieros particular wine making process we were shown his own private collection of wine throughout the world and then we sat with the man himself to taste his best. I'm not sure why but I felt very honoured to meet and sit with this man who was a wealth of knowledge and spoke with great wisdom. He made me laugh and was very interested in our trip and then....... I got sucked in a brought 2 bottles of his very expensive wine. Which is very, very good but very expensive so I am now saving it for a special occasion.
On our third day in Montelcino we decided to make a day trip to Montelpuciano. This was another gem but much bigger and very tourist operated. The bus drive to Montelpuciano was awful. Very full and very hot with no windows to open so I did not feel the best. Maybe this added to my take or leave attitude to the place. We saw some nice leather products and I brought a leather belt but that was about it. Oh yeah.... we did visit another Cathedral that had a different spin on it. Its construction
was never completed. The inside is nice but the outside is ugly. This appears to be the draw card to the church.
On the forth day we headed back to Rome and relaxed at a cafe before making our way to a hotel close to the airport. This seemed like a good idea in theory becuase we both had early morning flights the following day but the hotel was average and in an area lacking in places to find food. We did find something and ended our time in Italy on a common note......... loads and loads of food.
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