We leave for Firenze via Siena and Greve…
We get an early start to Siena (by now we can pack the trunk with all of our luggage in only minutes) find the town and after two laps around the inner city discover that parking is not a problem. Of course the town isn’t open yet but we are able to find a café for Americanos and pastries. We walked around the campo where the palio will be run in less than two weeks. Hard to imagine the banners, bleachers, barriers and sand that will be carted in and out for a two minute horse race. Then off to see the Ridotto Duomo (Cathedral) with Jill freezing in the wind for the 15 minute wait until it opened. An amazing and beautiful church. Fairly empty when we go in; jammed packed with tourists when we leave. The architecture around the duomo is significantly different from the smaller towns in that it is taller, more officious looking and generally less intimately inviting. I guess a city bureaucracy (which typically clusters around the church in the city center) has the same type of nameless, faceless look whether it is the 15th or 21st century.
Lunch is back at a pure tourist restaurant on the campo (the menu even noted that some of the food was frozen) but a couple of glasses of wine solve that problem. Still can’t imagine a horse race and thousands of people cheering in that small square. What a sight it must be! Finally, the sun came out (yes, it has been raining and cold the past couple of days), Jill stopped shivering, and life is good. 
Sienna to Greve via the smallest roads Sheila can find. Some of them aren’t even roads but rather clay and rocky tracks (about 2 meters wide) with 150 meter drops to the right and cliffs to the left. Of course the traffic, what little there is, doesn’t believe that to be a reason to slow down at all! However, the views are spectacular, the castles gorgeous, and the country green and breathtaking. That’s Chianti for you… 
Greve is known for its cured meats and sausages of all kinds. Walk into the iconic meat seller and you will be knocked over by a veritable miasma of pork fat and the odors of cured meats. They keep a team of paramedics standing by at the main entrance just to take care of the tourist. Bacon, ham and other less obvious cuts of meat hanging overhead in the shop; a basement with nothing but cheeses – the two primary food groups in one place! Clearly, in Greve it is not safe to be a pig. After a quick cup of coffee (and a piece of a fruit torte built up from a crostata with dried fruits, nuts and custard) we were off to find Firenze (Florence). The trip to Firenze was pleasant. Sheila did a masterful job navigating us from one side of Firenze to the other; John managed to drive us safely through rush hour traffic without touching another vehicle, wall or traffic barrier (although I did not mention the one way street incident in Greve) and the Hotel Mona Lisa actually had its own car park. For not reading or speaking Italian and the confusing signage throughout Italy we have done really well getting around.
We found our hotel and have settled into to the Mona Lisa, a 15th century building in the center of the city with a beautiful garden and a wonderfully helpful desk clerk, Katrina, who will provide us with great advice over the next day and a half. Our adventures will include the Uffizi and Academia; a significant portion of gelato and, as you would imagine, at least one church… Ciao!
Jill and John
No comments:
Post a Comment