Under the Tuscan Sun...and Rain

Tuesday, May 29 - Thursday, May 31

Tuscan Landscape

St. Gimignao

After managing to get out of Rome we went first to the town of Orvieto; a place known mainly for a special kind of white wine produced in the region. Unfortunately it was raining most of the time we were there. Nevertheless we walked around town and did a little bit of wine tasting. We then drove to the nearby town of Montepulcino. Another place known for its wine. We followed the same routine from Orvieto: wine tasting, walked around town, and had dinner. After dinner my dear travel companions decided it was a good idea to drive around town to see the part of town we had not gotten to see earlier. If I had to compare the roads of Montepulcino to something else it would have to be with the roads in Toledo: extremely narrow roads made of stones (not paved), with cars sometimes parked along the side of the road, roads that go up and down, and of course no traffic lights, only a couple of stop signs from time to time. Oh! And did I tell you this was at 10 o’clock at night? I made a wrong turn and ended up on what seemed to be the entrance to the parking of a building that was under construction. Karina and Marelys had to get out of the car in order to guide me in getting out of there ...in reverse.

We left Montepulcino and arrived in Siena around 11 -1130 at night and checked in at our hotel. The historical center of Siena is a pedestrian area where the traffic is basically limited to only cars that need to go inside for a commercial purpose. When you are staying at a hotel you can only go into the walled part of the city twice: one time to drop-off your luggage and check-in and one time to check out and put your suitcases inside your car. So we followed these instructions, left our luggage in the hotel, found a free parking site and walked about 10-15 minutes back to the hotel. On Wednesday we woke-up to a beautiful sunny day and walked a little bit around the city of Siena.

Siena

We left Siena around noon and began our scenic tour of Tuscany. We drove to the nearby town of San Gimignano. Here is where the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" was filmed. This town is gorgeous. It has a big pedestrian zone full of little shops, cafes, restaurants and gelaterias. Lots and lots of tourists (Americans and Germans). Specially people with small children.

After visiting San Gimignano we drove back to Siena to see the remaining part of the city we still had not visited. On Thursday we woke up to another marathonic day. Our final destination: Cinque Terre. Places visited along the way: Luca and Pisa.

The first thing we looked for when we arrived in Pisa: the leaning tower of course!! The tower is located in an area called "Campo dei Miracoli" or Field of Dreams . 4 buildings sit on this green field: the cathedral or duomo, the baptistery, the cemetery and the tower. The leaning tower is the bell tower of the duomo. The tower started to lean soon after construction began in 1173 because of a poorly laid foundation. It turns out that all of the buildings are leaning or sinking one one side, not only the tower; it’s just that the tower is the one with the biggest problem. However, the tower went thru some major restoration effort a couple of years ago and they were able to correct the lean by about half a degree .

Campo dei Miracoli

Baptistery -----------------------Duomo or Cathedral

So we ended this very busy day by arriving at night, via train, to the town of Monterosso in the Cinque Terre region: another paradisaical place in the Italian coast.

So keep tuned for the Cinque Terre post. You will see what a breathtaking place this is .