Scenic country drive to the historical buildings on top of the hills, picturesque landscapes, great works of the great artists in the renaissance, organic farm lunch, wines... All in ONE DAY!
How I'd looked forward for this tour. We booked it as early as April 2015 to secure seats for our desired schedule. Enchanting tuscan scenery is like oil painting, it was approaching summer though the time we were there. More so, the region is full of significant history that somehow had influenced the present.
We had joined the 8:30 am group of Walkabout Tours, one of the local guides to Tuscany Region. The meeting place was at the front of Santa Maria Novella train station. That was where we got off the day before from Rome. We checked out the exact location before we left the train station to avoid hassle finding the place on the day itself. There was a sign WALKABOUT at the taxi stand at Florence train station.
Everything went well in the morning. The organizers knew exactly what they were doing. We boarded the air conditioned coach and there we go, off to the beautiful Tuscany's hill top towns. There were about 50 of us from different countries. Our guide was Sandra and the coach operator was Ricardo. While on the move, Sandra was educating us about the history of Florence and Siena. Once, these two beautiful cities were best of enemies. Sandra is an Italian but she spoke English fluently. It was her job though and have been doing this for several times in a week, her in-depth knowledge of the places we visited and passed by is very impressive.
It was an hour drive from Florence to Siena. While a few had fallen asleep on the way, I had feasted my eyes with all the amazing views and had listened to Sandra's clear commentary.
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| view of Siena Duomo and Basilica San Domenico, Tuscany, Italy |
Off the coach,
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| Streets in Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Streets in Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Siena Tour, Tuscany, Italy |
In Siena, we were temporarily turned over to the city's tour guide. She walked us around to the historic and important places of the city. Siena was once very progressive in the 14th century before Black death swept almost 4/5 of its population.
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| narrow alley and old buildings in Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Palazzo Salimbeni (farther center) on Pizza Salimbeni, Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
Piazza Salimbeni is a known square in central Siena. It houses the headquarters of the oldest bank in the world, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena- Palazzo Salimibeni. Other renaissance style buildings in the surrounding are: Palazzo Tantucci and Palazzo Spannocci. All three palaces are now owned by Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
During our visit, the statue of Sallustio Bandini (1882), an economist, scholar and a local religious figure, stands in front of Palazzo Salimbeni wall all covered. It could be under maintenance during that time.
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| Palazzo Spannocchi on PIazza Salimbeni, Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Palazzo Tantucci on PIazza Salimbeni, Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Street lamp in Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Church of San Cristoforo, Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
The Church of San Cristoforo is a Roman Catholic church on Piazza Tolomei, Siena, Tuscany, Italy. The building was initially constructed in the 11th century and underwent several modifications especially after the earthquake in 1798.
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| Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena |
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is the oldest surviving bank in the world (1472)and the third largest Italian commercial and retail bank by total assets.
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| Palazzo Pubblico and Torre del Mangia on Piaza del Campo |
Before we headed to Siena Cathedral or the Duomo, we had free time to go around. Piazza del Campo is one of the best medieval squares in Europe. Twice a year, the Polio horse race is held at Piazza del Campo.
On Piazza del Campo is the Siena's City hall or the Palazzo Pubblico of almost 800 years
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| Piazza del Campo, Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
A few restaurants and retail shops near the Piazza del Campo. Too expensive though even for a cup of coffee.
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| Piazza del Campo, Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Torre de Mangia |
102m tall Torre del Mangia is a tower in Siena adjacent to the Pallazo Pubblico on Piazza del Campo
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| Fonte Gaia (Fountain of Joy) on Piazza del Campo, Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Sculpture at the Fonte Gaia |
Sculpture of the angel on the left of the Madonna and Child at the panel of the Fonte Gaia (fountain of joy)
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| Madonna and Child at Fonte Gaia |
Madonna and Child at the panel of the Fonte Gaia (Fountain of Joy)
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| view of Basilica San Domenico and Siena houses, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Basilica of San Domenico, also known as Basilica Caterriniana (1226) |
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| Siena houses, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Siena Duomo Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Siena Duomo Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy |
Siena Cathedral, or Duomo di Siena in Italian, is one of the medieval churches in Italy located in Siena dedicated to the Assumption of Mary The church is considered to be one of the most significant examples of Italian Romanesque-Gothic Cathedrals. . It is filled with amazing artworks by Pisano, Donatello, Michelangelo and of course, not to miss the frescoes by Pinturicchio. The construction of the church begun in 1229 and the cupola was completed in 1263.
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| Siena Duomo Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy |
Please click the above gif photos for a separate blog of Siena Cathedral with detailed descriptions.
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inside the Siena Duomo Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy
(background: towards the main entry) |
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inside the Siena Duomo Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy
(background: towards the high altar) |
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inside the Siena Duomo Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy
(background: towards the high altar) |
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| Piazza del Campo, Siena, Tuscany, Italy |
Gelato indulgence...
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| Chianti Vineyards, Tuscany, Italy |
We made sure a visit to the toilet before boarding the coach. Transfer to another station took at least an hour. The next stop was at Chianti vineyard for a Tuscan farm lunch.
We had lunch at Fattoria Poggio Allorro (Poggio Allorro farm), a family run, organic farm and winery in Tuscany- 5 minutes away from San Gimignano.
A group of staff showed us around. Everything was fabulous! walked through the vineyards and spectacular views of the valley as far as our eyes could see, the moo moo cows at the stalls, wine cellars... a tour of their daily routine. They run a hotel and restaurant too.
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| Chianti wine |
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| Chianti Vineyards, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Chianti farm cows, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Chianti, Tuscany, Italy |
Lunch... the food served were all home cooked, ingredients direct from their farm... from appetizer down to the desserts and all paired with their very own wines: red and white. We had biscuits, pasta, cheese, olive oil, salads, salami, cookies and lots of wines. Each course was matched with wine. Four courses were served, thus, four different wines have also been served. They had showed the correct way to drink wine and the kind of wine that goes with each course.
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| Chianti, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Chianti valley, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Chianti, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Chianti, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Chianti, Tuscany, Italy |
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| view of San Gimignano from Chianti Vineyard |
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| Streets in San Gimignano |
The next stop was at the hilltop village in San Gimignano. We enjoyed the nice views from up there, check out the craft shops and of course, tried the suggested awarded best gelato. Nothing much to do, the place itself though is worth the visit. Surrounded by medieval tall towers known for its Gothic and Romanesque architecture. Cobbled narrow streets, this place has been preserved like back in the 16th century.
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| Streets and shops in San Gimignano |
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| Best Gelato at San Gimignano square |
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| San Gimignano Square |
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| view from San Gimignano |
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| Pisa, Tuscany, Italy |
One hour and a half to Pisa. Most in the coach were asleep, must have been very exhausted. Sandra actually stopped talking to give us peace :). Leaving San Gimignano, the views was again so amazing with all the hill top landscapes, castles and churches.
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| Pisa sightseeing train |
Not included in the tour though, Sandra took us around the heart of Pisa by this unique train..
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| The Leaning Tower of Piazza dei Miracoli |
One hour allotted to explore Pisa, we had to make the most of it. As we got entertained by the varied poses everywhere: acrobatic poses, pretending to support the tower from falling, dwarfing the tower... not surprisingly, we were one of them :).
Piazza dei Miracoli or Square of Miracles is a beautiful manicured lawn. All were trying to get the best picture of and with the tower.
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| Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy |
Main or solely reason most go to Pisa is to witness the leaning tower that had defied the laws of Physics. This one of a kind tower stands 60 meters and leaning at about 10 degrees angle. Construction started mid 12th century and currently with 297 steps to the tower.
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| Pisa Cathedral and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy |
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| Pisa Duomo and the Campanille on Piazza dei Miracoli, Tuscany, Italy |
Spotlessly clean Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles) is the cathedral complex of the four remarkable architectural structures from the medieval Europe: Pisa Cathedral (Duomo), Baptistry, Camposanto (cemetery) and the world famous, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
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| Leaning Tower of Pisa (Campanille), Tuscany, Italy |
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is considered as the iconic symbol of Italy. It is actually the Campanille or the Bell tower but is not attached to the church.
Remember the Gallileo experiment? To refute the Aristotlian notion that heavier objects fall faster than the light ones, Gallileo went up to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He dropped two spheres of different weight and had observed that both hit the ground at the same time.
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| Pisa Cathedral (Pisa Duomo), Tuscany, Italy |
Pisa Cathedral is a medieval Roman Catholic Church and an example of Romanesque architecture.
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| Pisa Baptistry, Tuscany, Italy |
Such a regret unable to see the beauty inside of these historical buildings. Pisa is over two hours drive back to Florence. We were only given one hour just enough to spend at Miracoli.
It was a long day but definitely worth it. The following day was a visit to the
Galleria Dell' Accademia for the very famous Michelangelo sculpture, David.
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Florence,
Italy |
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Via Cola di Rienzo
Rome, Italy
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Spanish Steps
Rome, Italy
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Check out the places we had visited in Asia
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| Japan trip 2014 |
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| Hong Kong |
See also:
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| Family World Travels |
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