Tuscan days

Monday 8^th April, San Gimignano and Monteriggioni.

 It was a showery start to the day. Jacqui had work to finish therefore we needed to  stay at the camp site in Florence until the very last minute so she could use the wifi. While she worked I cleaned and serviced the van after the very sandy rain storm we encountered in Pisa. We were also running low on radiator coolant and had run out of spare fuses for the van. So of I cycled to the neared Fiat/Lancia garage to buy both and to keep Buster running smoothly. We then drove through the beautiful Tuscan countryside to San Gimignano which is dubbed as the medieval Manhattan due to the 11^th century towers that soar above the skyline. When we arrived we were met by a motorcyclist that directed us to a “Camper” parking site outside the town. He wore a florescent jacket with “Camper” printed on the back. As he drove his motorcycle he kept beckoning us. We just did not know where he was going or if we were doing the right thing following him. This very enterprising young man guided us to a campsite where we could park for 3 euros an hour, including a taxi ride to and from San Gimignano or an overnight stay for 25 euros. Impressed by his entrepreneurship and knowing we would have to pay something similar to park near the town we decided to park up and take his ride into town. San Gimi was very pleasant to wander through. All the guide books say how busy it gets in the summer. The “Lonely Planet” says “To avoid the crowds try to visit midweek, preferably in deep winter” . But today it was both sunny and not too busy. The place is paced with tourist shops and we saw three hand loom weaving shops which made Jacqui hopeful for Louise’s future enterprise. As with most Tuscan towns the views across the countryside were breath taking, especially from San Gimi’s fortress. We stayed exploring the town for a couple of hours then met our lift to take us back to our van, then onto our overnight stop planned at Monteriggioni. This was a lovely spot at the base of a small walled medieval village. We wandered in and decided once we had seen everything to treat ourselves to a good Italian pizza, local wine, beer and sweet panforte for pudding.

Tuesday 9^th April, Siena and Montepulciano (as recommended by Jane Massey).

We were up early and away by 8.00ish to get to Siena. We thought it would be difficult and expensive to park but we managed to find a free spot next to the railway station and near a Coop Supermarket. We parked up and did a big 70 euro shop. Once it was all packed away we made sandwiches had coffee and then set off on foot to the old town which was only 1.5 Km away, up hill. Siena was great to explore on foot as the centre is so compact. We aimed for the cathedral, passing some lovely fresco buildings on route. The cathedral is very distinctive with its black/green and pink stripes. We paid 4 euros each to go in. Although very dark inside there was a lot to see. Some wonderful marble floors, gothic striped pillars, paintings and a beautiful library with medieval books, manuscripts and paintings.

From there we headed to the Campo where they hold the famous horse race (the Palio) through the square. The Campo has been called the most beautiful square in the world, it was impressive but not at that level, in our view. The Palazzo Pubblico was an impressive building dominating the one side of the Campo and all the streets from the old town led straight into the square. We stopped here,  had lunch and people watched. We continued exploring, buying lovely ice cream at Nanini’s in Piazza Matteotti, finishing with the fortress before we headed downhill back to the van.

We decided to explore the Tuscan countryside a bit more so we headed off for Montepulciano (a region known for its excellent wines). Here we found a good parking spot, very similar to Monteriggioni, at the bottom of the hill looking up to the fortress town of Montepulciano. We had supper then headed to explore the town at sun set. We were now on the edge of Tuscany and Umbria and from the top of the fortress town we could see for kilometres across the plains to Castilione d. Lago and Lake Trasimeno.