August holiday with Dan!! Siena/Tuscany

The next leg of our trip was going to Siena. From Santorini, we went to Athens and flew back to Milan. The flight was uneventful outside of it being extremely early. I'm wondering if it's either just the Italian way, or Southern European, but they seem to love clusterfucks at the airport (or anywhere in general). I'm not sure, but there must be a more effective way of doing things.

We got into Malpensa at 8AM. From there, I drove for 4 hours to Siena. On the way, we intended to stop for an hour to teach Dan how to drive a stick shift car, but in the end, we only stopped for 30 minutes and then he never got to practice very much. I ended up driving the entire stretch in Italy, which wasn't too fun, but couldn't be helped.

We arrived to Siena without any major problems. The drive was relatively smooth and didn't' have a great view, by any means. When we arrived in Siena, we got to the Best Western we were staying at for the first night. Since it was the night of the Palio, the Best Western was the only hotel we could find. I was exhausted, but insisted on going out. Dan eventually convinced me to take a nap and we stayed in the hotel room until 5PM.

It's said that Siena and Florence were the two heavyweights in Tuscany during the medieval times. They battled each other on who has the greatest church, the greatest town hall, the greatest people, etc. Siena was much more of a republic than Florence was. In the end, Siena lost the popularity contest and now Florence is the more well known city. Although I liked Florence, I really do love Siena as well and would recommend anyone to visit it.

After a nap and some difficulty driving into Siena and back out again, we were at the Palio. We followed the crowds of people into the central square of the town, Il Campo. Again, what is up with Italians and clusterfucks? It was nuts trying to get in. People were pushing left and right. I lost Dan for a moment and was a bit worried. He didn't have a cell phone, so there was no real way to get in touch with him if I really did lose him. Eventually we found each other, but it was a bit of a mess.

Palio is a famous horse race in Siena. Each quarter of the town, called contrada, has a symbol and a horse and rider. There's a lot of fanfare with the Palio, which happens twice a year. Whoever wins the Palio gets bragging rights for the year that their contrada is the best. The race is held in Il Campo, the city square. It's a clam shell shaped city square which they fill a track in with packed down dirt. The buildings surrounding Il Campo are filled with people during the race. There are parades and then finally the race itself. All the while, tourists and locals may have the chance to sit in the middle of the track (for free) and watch the race. Since there's no way to get out from Il Campo once you're in for the race, it's ideal to go to the bathroom before, not bring in a ton of water and bring some snacks.

Palio is also particular with the way the horses line up. There is an order to the horses lining up and the riders go around making deals with each other while trying to line up. There's a lot of false starts and horses who just don't want to line up. We waited for 2.5 hours this year. There have bee Palios which have had to pause and re-start the next morning due to lack of light. We were close to that point. The race itself was an exciting 3 minutes or so long. Not worth the wait again, but it was fun to see it once. Immediately after the race, people are pushing and shoving to get out. The restaurants nearby fill up completely and everyone enjoys a dinner. We had a wonderful meal at a small restaurant in a nearby restaurant.

The next day, I woke up really late and we went to Siena again to actually see the town. From the day before to that day, it was like night and day. The town was still full of fanfare and marching. The contrada with the owl won. The Doumo has really beautiful marble work on the inside, but nothing much else. In Italy, they are very hardcore Roman Catholic. If you want to go into a church, you typically must have your shoulders covered and knees not exposed. At the Duomo in Siena, they had thin mesh pieces of fabric passed out to everyone who went in, so if you have anything exposed, you can cover it up and still enjoy the Duomo. Where do they get the money for this kind of stuff?

One other interesting tidbit of Siena is the Fountain of Joy. The original fountain is well preserved in a museum, but the copy is in Il Campo for all of us to enjoy. From the fountain, there are depictions of God and people who are punished for doing not so great things. The strangest are the statues of wolves, which is where the water comes from. The she-wolf and Romulus and Remus are the symbol of Siena. Pigeons line up perched on these wolf sculptures, dip their heads down and take a drink of fresh water from the wolf's mouth. If a real wolf was sneaky, he could pretend to be a statue and get a free snack....

Earlier that day, we made our way to Agriturismo Marciano. This cute little farm house was purchased by its owners in 2000 and restored to its original glory. The owner told us it was originally a worker's home who used to work on the owner's farm. They later abandoned the home and the grape fines were left to themselves. The person who owns the farm now re-organized all the grapes and found a lot of indigenous grapes to the region. He started to produce his own wine and enjoys keeping the farm. He said he also produces olive oil, but last year was a bad year and the olives were not very good, only producing enough oil for his small farm. It's incredible how people will quit their day jobs to work on vineyard with such passion.

That night, we had the opportunity to eat dinner at the agriturismo. If there is ever the chance to do this again, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The food was so delicious! Christian and Nadia were wonderful hosts. They took us into their family kitchen and sat us down at the tables in the middle of the kitchen. They gave us the chance to cooked traditional Tuscan fare. Most of their ingredients came from their garden and farmland. Christian opened 4 bottles of wine per table (there were two small ones). All the food was delicious and very fresh. Staying at the agriturisumo gave us an opportunity to really get to know the owners and feel like we were part of the family. The whole atmosphere had a homey feeling. In the other agriturismi i've been to, it was much more industrial.

The next day, Dan and I went to Montalcino, Pienza and Monteplucino. These three towns were in a small row and although they were within 20 minutes of each other, each had their claim to fame. The town Montalcino itself is really nothing much to look at. The surrounding area is famous for its Brunello wine. There were over 200 wineries in the area. Since it was just the Palio, many of the wineries were closed and we were only able to visit one for a tasting. Although I liked the Brunello, most went for 50 euros and up, so I stuck with the Rosso di Montalcino, another good wine which goes for 5-10 euros.

In Pienza, they were famous for their cheese, pecorino. They had fresh pecorino, aged pecorino, and everything in between. These cheeses went amazingly with honey. The town itself was relatively small and didn't have much to do, but it was worth walking around and taking a look at. The cheese is definitely delicious, but there was no chance to taste the cheeses and buy which ones we liked. We just bought a block of both the young and middle-aged cheese.

Monteplucino was a small town with a lot of character. Monteplucino is known for its Nobile di Monteplucino. They're really wonderful, medium bodied wines. At least I think they're medium bodied. I have no idea what they're actually. We went to a cantina where we met Aldo, an old Italian man who was the master winemaker of their winery. He would hobble around and greet people with warm smiles and strong handshakes. When meeting him, he asked for my name then declared "Georgina, an Italian name" while giving me a kiss on the cheek. Hilarious. We tasted all the wines they had and purchased 6 bottles in total. We weren't the only ones to purchase wine in such mass quantities. There were several groups who were in and out around us who also were doing the same thing. Since we bought so much, or perhaps he just liked my name, we got a free corkscrew. I don't actually own my own corkscrew, so that was awesome.

The last day in Tuscany, we went to Monteriggioni, which wasn't that interesting, then Volterra and San Gimignano. Monteriggioni was a old castle/fortress in the middle of fields, and not much more. We then went to Volterra, which is a small town rich in history. It also happens to be the town which Twilight features as the home of the Volturi. The town itself didn't seem to have a lot of mystical vampire-esque feelings, but that's just me. They had Twilight tours to show the famous parts which were also in the book. I liked the town, but I don't understand why Stephanie Meyer chose it. It seemed like any other Italian small town to me. Perhaps it's just because I have lived here and seen a lot. Maybe it's rich in history. Regardless, it was a bit funny to see tons of Twilight paraphernalia. After Volterra, we went to San Gimigano, a famous town for its tall towers. The towers made it look a bit like a medieval Chicago or something. Other than the towers and the good views, the town had a lot of history, but I think it was too hyped up and full of tourists. I would've been just as happy spending more time in Monteplucino or around Montalcino (not the town itself).

I loved Tuscany and would go back again any day. You need to have a car to go to Tuscany, though. Driving around the small towns is half the fun!