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| Piazza del Campo, Sienna |
A good day out in the car. We headed away in good time to the east to Sienna. It’s a bit of a messy route to Sienna from Lucca, and we took a break at some small town to get some food for later. In Sienna we had the expected hassle finding somewhere to park, but managed it fine, and set the location on the GPS. On our way into the walls, we were asked by some Poms if we knew where the supermarket was, as that’s where they had left their car and they had no idea where it was.
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| Torre del Mangia |
The route to the Piazza del Campo was well-marked, and easy to follow in any case. Pizza and focaccia for lunch on the way to the Campo. Again an amazing sight when you first see it through an archway leading down to it. It was full of people milling about enjoying the warm sunny day. Alastair went up 88m 400-step Torre del Mangia where the views are stupendous. It took him forever to queue before he could get up, and Karen & I just enjoyed the people-watching in the Campo.
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| Duomo interior, Sienna |
Along to the Duomo next, but we got waylaid by some of the amazing courtyards along the route there. When we arrived at the Duomo, Alastair struck up a conversation with two Swedish cyclists who were doing a long tour on city bikes, much along the lines of what he wanted to do himself. He got their addresses and will try to meet up with them in France or Spain after we all leave Freiburg. The Duomo was well worth the visit, with a lot of interesting features including huge inlaid floor mosaics and a gorgeously painted library. Sienna was well worth the trip, and we took so long it was 3pm before we headed off on our next leg to San Gimignano.
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| Piazza della Cisterna, San Gimignano |
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| Palazzo Pubblico, San G. |
It was funny being there for the third time, the last being only 20 months ago. It hadn’t changed at all between any of the visits – it’s still a lovely little walled mediaeval town. We took the normal route up the main street to Piazza della Cisterna, then around into the square in front of the church, into the town hall’s amazing shield-painted courtyard, and up through the town to the far end. And of course it almost goes without saying that we were forced to get a multi-flavour gelato at the 2007 gelato world champion’s outlet on Piazza della Cisterna.
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| Tuscan landscape |
We had intended to go to Volterra as well, as it wasn’t too far away, but time had marched onwards, and I had had enough of driving, and it was still 100+km home, so we flagged it.
