Siena, part two

What could be better than a day off in a European city with history that dates back over two thousand years? Not much.

We headed into the center of town by cab. Wow, that could have been a blog of its own, " Cab rides in Siena . Blogsopt.com"  if you ever want to see tourists get out of your way, use a speeding cab. Our driver was incredible! I'm sure he took the long route, but it was worth it!

We were dropped off in the Piazza del Campo. The plaza was what Boston's City hall plaza was fashioned after. Other than being built on a slope and being made of brick, there wasn't much resemblance.

The first plan was to find the stamp for the pilgrim passports. That took 5 attempts. 

The city is overrun by tourists, so many of the locals working seemed grumpy. You need to pay for everything so tourists on a budget would have made them that way I'm sure, expecting things for free.

After we got the stamp we headed back to the Piazza to Il Palazzo del Comune, the civic/city museum, loaded with art from Siena's past. Cameras were not allowed, but before I found that out, I did managed to get a few shots.

Thousands of years of touch.

Our next stop was lunch. As seen in the last posting, this little spot was recommended by The New York Times "36 Hours" Thank You.  

Way off the beaten path but still in the center, this little gem of Siena was one of the nicest restaurants we have ever had the pleasure to enjoy!

Well lubed, but still walking in a straight line, we headed back to Il Duomo to go inside.

Thirteen euro each, it was worth every cent. Truly the most exquisite sights we have ever visited!

Some of the pipe organ pipes were no larger then a bick pen!

And some of the pipes were 15" round!

Kind of looks like a bicycle.

After the Cathedral, we went our own ways to do what each of us wanted to do on our own.

I went around and shot photos.

Maybe Italy's greatest beauty, is her people, especially this one on her big day. 

Our evening ended early, still full from lunch, Barbara stayed in the room while I crossed the street for Pizza and Beer.

Siena is a must see. We have been to many famous Cathedral's but Il Duomo di Siena is truly the most spectacular we have seen to date!

A Meal to Remember

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Truly the best dining experience we have had for a very long time. The staff of Tre Cristi welcomed us and treated us like old friends. Attention to detail is their art and every detail we had the good fortune to enjoy today.

Our waiter was totally professional, informative and fun. He took the time to go over detail about our dinner and made choosing our wine a wonderful experence. his passion for his job and love for food and wine made us want to take him home. What a truly great person. We were honored to have him as our host.

When we told him that we had  our tandem from Switzerland and what we were doing, he wanted to hear all about it. We gave him our card with the blog address and it made his afternoon.

Shortly later, the owner ( I think, or should be) came out with a huge smile on his face. He had opened up the blog inside and wanted to thank us for being there. The staff pulled out all the stops and for the rest of the afternoon, we were treated like royalty!

Our local wine of choice.

Bread salad with fresh locally grown vegetable bits.

Two layered vegetable soufflé topped with bacon.

Veal steak in Saffron Sauce and the Swiss chard was from the owner's father's garden.

This was truly a fantastic dining experence. The staff were spectacular in every detail. If you are ever in Siena we strongly you make reservations and go. You will not be disappointed!

Siena

Our day started as usua, breakfast and on the road by 10:00 am. Our final destination for the day was going to be mostly all off road with a little stop at another hillside town.

The trail was dry, dusty narrow for the first 10 miles. Again, fist sized rocks for the most part, ride a bit, walk a bit. As we walked we talked about how the cars and trucks were the problem chopping up the road. Just then we saw an SUV making its way up hill on the trail, stalling as it went. 

Remember that the camera flattens out the actual view. This was very steep.

After a while the trail became a bit more rideable. Grass fields with vineyards of white grapes this time with great views of the country side.

We have had a mix of just about every trail surface this trip except for mud. Perfect weather every day.

Shade when we need it and just enough sun to makes things nice.

Our last look back at San Gimignano.

The hill top towns can be seen for miles away. It has happened more then once. We see the castle or town and as we get closer, we decide let's not ride up there. The next thing we know the trail has us looking down at the spot. 

Today's hill top town Monteriggioni. The last 200 yards, we pushed the bike. We met a lovely couple slowly talking their time coming down the very steep and slippery road. So nice to meet folks along the way. We had a great chat, gave them our card and continued the climb. The last bit was the hardest. Slippery rock road, we made it to the top and were pleased to see that there were very few tourists. It wasn't until we left that we saw the reason for so few tourists was that the parking lot was about 3/4 of a mile below.

Cute town, we were able to get our passports stamped and move on.

At that time it was 4:00. We could see that we had a choice of 20k off road or hit the street for the last 12 miles. We took the street so we could get in at a decent time and not in the dark.

A full day off tomorrow. A day off the bike and a chance to really see a town that both Barbara and I had never been to.

The last bit of road was all up hill. Finding the hotel was a bit of a challenge, but with a mix of walking and riding one way streets the wrong way. We found our stop for the day.