We were determined to walk today, supposed to only be 12+ miles and all of us had energy after taking the day off yesterday. Rain was predicted for 1pm and we wanted to see if we could get most of it done. It ended up being 14+ and 3 more walking around Siena. Made up for missing the day before!
But first – somehow, I didn’t include photos of the town of Monteriggioni yesterday. The first was the 13th century church, then the village in the rain.
Last night, the woman at the hotel had recommended a restaurant 300 feet away, there was a choice of 4! But we went to the one she recommended and it was a fantastic meal. So so good and I’m not even a foodie. Then because the town was all of about 3 blocks long, it quieted down quickly and the window was open and Rick and I both actually slept. Amazing.
The hotel owners had said that they started breakfast at 8:30. After some discussion, we decided we just oculdn’t leave that late, wanted to leave at 7:30 latest and we told them, no problem, we bought sandwiches and had a few snacks, so would be fine. Plus, we’d eaten so much the night before, no big deal on missing a meal.
Then we woke up, got our bags down (thank you elevator) and found that the older man had gotten up early and set out his full breakfast for the guests. We couldn’t believe it. We actually were good to go, but no way, so sat down and had cappuccino, tea, and the usual bread, cheese, ham, fruit, etc. Then he brought out warm croissants that looked gorgeous and I broke my usual and had bread – and it wasn’t just bread – it was wonderful. Never had a warm perfect croissant with jam inside. Wow. Way to start the day happy.
And off we went. Happily, it was sunny, perfect temp and beautiful again. Leaving the gate and onto the VF:
Impact from the rain the day before:
We’re walking along and I see the sign for a castle. The Castella della Chiocciola. Huh, well, it is huge and in the midst of nothing, so took the photo.
Oh, no, there it is, but doesn’t look like we can get too close.
Oh, this is definitely a castle. All within 200 feet or so of each other! Though staggered on opposite sides of the VF.
The Castle of La Chiocciola, built in the 14th century, known for the resistance it opposed to armies of Spaniards and Austrians during the war of Siena in 1555. it takes its name from beautiful stone winding stairs connecting the stories of a cylindrical tower. Clearly, I hadn’t read the full sign…
I said, there’s someone living there. Rick said no way, noone’s living there. Yes, I think they are. Nope. Well, I’m going to walk up to the gate. And I did and waved to the person hanging out the window. Walked back down and then 2 cars full of people pulled in the drive, making Rick move out of the way. I would love to have been able to join them to see what they were going to see. We’ve realized we can’t at all guess which buildings have people living in them and which don’t. Some are pristine, all are beautiful, but boy, it looks like so much work to manage farm/vineyards/buildings. I hope there are many magical moments for people who live in these historical buildings and keep them alive.
We kept going, had our sandwiches,
kept going and then the rain hit. We started getting close to Siena, and it started thundering, bit of lightening and then it started pouring.
It lightened up, we thought we were good
And then it was really pouring. Then hailing. Rick almost ruined his phone trying to figure out where we were going, it took all night to recover. The last 2 miles walking through Siena towards the old city were at least 5 miles long, we were definitely wearing out. But we got to our hotel right at 2:15 and they said if we could get down there in 5 minutes, they’d give us lunch. AND they’d taken our bags up to our rooms which was really nice because it was up several floors and no elevator. We had soup and salad and it was perfect. The soup was the one that Stanley Tucci showed his mom making in the Tuscany episode of his show. Seriously perfect for cold sopping people, albeit in dry clothes after a quick change.
Then we took an hour to shower and recover and started off again walking to see Siena. Bob and Susan were leaving the next day (no!!!!!) to go to Rome and then fly home so we needed to see what we could see. And it was so cool. We went first to the synagogue. Unbelievable history of survival, from the 1200’s with records showing a yeshiva. The ghetto was created in 1571 by Medici upon orders by the pope. The synagogue we saw was built in 1756 on orders of another pope who wanted the community to have only 1 synagogue rather than the 10 or so that were scattered around.
Reb's Walks! 