Siena and San Gimignano - Wednesday 11 April

We joined others for a day trip to Florence's rival city Siena and an afternoons drive into the Tuscan country side to the hill top town of San Gimignano with its medieval street layout and 17 towers.

It was such a cold day that even the pigeons had to snuggle together to get warm.

The morning was bitterly cold and at times extremely wet but we would not have missed the beautiful Siena Duomo even if I had to walk through snow.  The exterior looks like a marble licorice allsort and has a pretty pink highly detailed front facade.  The interior is breathtaking and I immediately realised once I had shaken the raindrops from my hair, that I had completed a jigsaw puzzle with the image of the interior of this very cathedral some years ago.  What was particularly spectacular was the Library, a room to the side of the nave which had richly painted walls and ceiling and housed a huge collection of beautiful medieval manuscripts. After the Duomo and its Museum we walked to Siena's famous Campo which is a 12 century designed shell shaped public square famous for it's biannual horse race.

Siena Duomo

 For lunch we joined others from our tour group for a hearty but simple Tuscan style lunch with plenty of wine.  We sat with a South African family of four and spent our time between mouthfuls, chatting excitedly about what we loved in Italy.

The afternoon was spent traveling to and spending an hour wandering through San Gimignano.  Here, the wind was so strong it could have blown a dog of its chain and Mum struggled to keep a hat on her head.  We spent our hour browsing the shops and enjoying a hot beverage.

The only downside to the day was when the tour guide left two passengers behind in San Gimignano as they did not show up at the bus on time.  She only gave them 10 minutes before pulling the pin and insisting that we leave.  I was quite incensed with her attitude and wrote a letter of complaint to the tour company.

For dinner I attempted to make the simple tomato and garlic pasta that we had eaten the first day trip into Tuscany.  With a little practice I don't believe it will take long before I have perfected the sauce.