22 August Tuesday: San Gimignano, Siena and Monterrigioni

We had a later start this morning, meeting in the dining room at 8.00am. Breakfast was wonderful; no bacon and eggs because that’s not local custom, but heaps of continental variety and great espresso coffees, no limit. We all took some snacks for the day as well. Max (whom we’ve dubbed Mad Max because of his incredible highway technique) was there right on time at 9.00 and first town on the list was San Gimignano, a 12^th Century medieval town famous for its towers, a sign of wealth in those days. On the way, we stopped at a great viewpoint on the edge of a winery.

Therese remembered the way to the panoramic viewpoint, which was spectacular.

Siena

Siena was crowded and hot, quite a drive from San Gimignano. The cathedral is visual overload. I chose not to do the 11 euro tour, as we’ve had so much overpowering interior church art already; I was able to buy a postcard of the inside of the church. 

We worked our way down to the main square, where we had a delicious lunch, followed by ice creams. I had a rocket salad with lots of smoked salmon and pecorino cheese. E13. We enjoyed sitting there watching the world go by. After a few minutes of wandering, we all met at the ice cream shop and had an ice cream (E1.50) waiting for Max.

Monterrigioni

This was Max’s suggestion; it’s a lovely little medieval town. We walked around for half an hour. Very pretty; more wonderful pictures. There was a very striking statue of St Anthony of Padua in the little church: a very peaceful place of worship obviously well used today.

We were home by 5.00 and headed for showers, fresh, comfortable clothes and then shared food by the pool. Dani had a swim too. It was quite cool out of the sun; very cool wind. We’ve finally got Therese’s blog sorted.