Lovely landscapes have been in short supply on our trip so
far. I’m not talking about the
wonderful vistas from outside our window in Bellagio, but more about the
roadside scenery on our drives between locations. I guess we have, to this point, been concentrated mostly in
the northern part of the country which is far more industrialized. It shows in the drives. There really was nothing to see. But now that we are starting to venture
into Tuscany, things have definitely changed. The drive from Ravenna to Siena was rife with bucolic
country scenes – rolling hills with ripening grain mixed with bright red
poppies, blue sky and fluffy clouds.
At times it was difficult for me to keep my eyes on the road. I’m glad that I’ve finally grown quite
comfortable with driving here again.
I don’t get butterflies in my stomach any more and barely flinched when
we reached the walled city and I had to navigate the small winding paths (I
can’t in all fairness call them roads), some of them with gradients beyond
those legally allowed in other countries.
I’m still glad we chose to drive this trip instead of taking the
train. We get to see more, and I’m
convinced that even though we sometimes struggle with parking, it is much less
hassle.
Our hotel in Siena, the Palazzo Ravizza, had one of those
aforementioned beautiful Tuscan views from its back terrace. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t have a
whole else going for it. The staff
were friendly, but not overly helpful, the rooms were large, but that only
meant that the poor, tiny air conditioning unit struggled to keep the space
anything more than a few degrees cooler than the 30 outside. The second night we thought we would
give it a break and open the window instead, but the bell tower outside tolled
at the top and bottom of the hour all night long, so that didn’t work. Don’t get me wrong, the hotel was nice,
but as part of a value proposition, where you consider what you pay, I have a
hard time saying it was worth it.
Siena, on the other hand, was brilliant. I think we were only there a few
minutes before saying that we would come back. It is a little tough on the feet, as there is a lot of
walking, most of it up and down hills, but there are enough terraces,
attractions and gelateria to give you a moment’s rest. After hiking to the centre of town to
see the Campo, or main square, where they hold the twice-annual Palio horse
race (I refer you to the last James Bond movie, A Quantum of Solace – opening
sequence – if you want to get a feel for the Palio). We found a nice trattoria and had a quite pleasant pasta
lunch with our first bottle of Brunello.
There are two reasons why I call it our first: because it is our
favourite type of wine, and because before we left the hotel we had booked a
tour of Brunello wineries for the next day. The particular bottle we had in the side streets of Siena
was amazing.
Siena is not like a lot of other Italian cities, with an
endless collection of Palazzos and museums. A lot of the appeal comes from walking around the Campo,
people watching, walking around the edges of the city, scenery watching, or
taking in as much Tuscan food and wine as possible.
We did go through the main tourist draw, though, which is
the Duomo. Like much else in Siena
it has a history based in rivalry with its neighbour, Florence. While it is hard to rival the
Florentine Duomo, the Sienese gave it a really good go and I think they came
quite close to matching their rivals.
There were beautiful ‘pavements’ or scenes of marble inlaid on the floor
illustrating historical or biblical people or events of significance. There was amazing sculpture, fresco and
paint work, including some fierce looking lions by the pulpit. The ceiling was ringed (rung?) by the
individually carved unique heads of all the popes – including Pope Hilarius,
which I consider the greatest pope name ever.
We ended our day with a bit more walking and nice meal on a
nearby terrace. A nightcap on the
back terrace of our hotel – limoncello for me, Bailey’s for Fiona – while
looking out at the Tuscan hills capped a pretty phenomenal first day.
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