At eight this morning we joined forty other travelers on a nice motor coach for a day long tour around Tuscany. Walkabout Tours here in Florence offers an excellent tour that includes visits to the towns of Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa along with a stop for lunch at an organic farm and winery. Our local guide in Siena told us the history of the city with a special emphasis on the Palio horserace that has been a part of their tradition for many years. Siena is divided in to 17 sections called contradi and each section enters the race with a jockey riding bareback for three laps around the central piazza, Il Campo, for a race that lasts 90 seconds! 50,000+ people are there for the event and it is pure chaos when the winner crosses the line. The farm visit was next and you will see what good food and wine we enjoyed in the photos. Everything we ate (except the cheese) was raised on the farm along with the four wines we drank - delicious! Then we had a walk around "San Gimi" for a couple of hours to take a look at a true medieval tower town. Over 100 tower houses stood here in the middle ages and now only a few remain but it is still called "The Manhatten of Tusany". Last on our itinerary was Pisa to see not only the famous leaning tower (actually the bell tower of the cathedral) but also the other beautiful buildings in what's called "The Field of Miracles". All in all we can say we certainly did see the best of Tuscany on this great day trip. Come back later for more . . .
We took a LOT of photos today! To see them all click here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/106242844572593515289/albums/6196827574401096321/6196828470400383522?pid=6196828470400383522&oid=106242844572593515289
We took a LOT of photos today! To see them all click here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/106242844572593515289/albums/6196827574401096321/6196828470400383522?pid=6196828470400383522&oid=106242844572593515289
