Siena and Toscana

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Right in the heart of Tuscany can be found a magnificent medieval town known as Siene. We had the privelege to stay in this magnificant old hotel with unbelievable views from your huge window out to the surrounding countryside. Siene is built around many piazzas however one in particular is the Piazza de Campa in which they run a famous race where horses go three times aorund the piazza. The race is called the Palio. One of the interesting features of this race, beyond the fact that it dates back to the 12th century and has been run every year, is that even if the horse loses its rider, the horse can go on to cross the finishing line first and still win. Because of the treacherous surface (sand over cobblestones) it is quite comnmmon for horses to slip and shed their riders. Each horse and rider represent one of the 17 burroughs of the city. And the winning burrough marches every week waving their flag and colours (this year it was the green goose) for the whole succeeding year. Noisy but fun to see. And if you choose to eat out in their slice of the city on a Friday or Saturday night the restos and wine bars are full of the lcoals wearing their colours around their necks.

Just outside of Siene, after 40 minutes drive, one encounters a beautiful hilltop village known as San Gimingiano. It is notable for its towers .. in fact it looks a bit like a modern city with skyscrapers from afar .. Today there are just half a dozen towers however back in its heyday the town had 74 towers .. many were pulled down by different occupying forces until a preservation order in the past centuries stopped this practice.

Wonderful clothes and leather shops filled the narrow streets so naturally you have to pick up a shirt or three and the odd superb hand-tooled briefcase!

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