Italy - Part 4 - To Siena

We actually covered a decent distance this day although we didn't get that far on the map since we went to meet up with the tour route and take the beautiful scenic route through the country side. It was pretty awesome scenery.

Here we've gone about 15km, but we're back north at 2km from Colle di Val d'Elsa because of the circular route.

One of the many vineyards along the route.

We stopped at a small town called Strove which was in the middle of 5 star scenic riding according to the tour. There was a really small COOP there and we bought some hot dogs to replace the ones that had gone bad. We've always had a good supply of peanut butter on this trip and here Greg had some that had melted so much that he could drink it. We also bought some cold drinks and had a good game of Fluxx before getting back on the road. That night we slept about 5km away from Siena. We wild camped in a pretty good spot where cars driving by on a small dirt road could not really see us unless they were looking. We cooked the hot dogs in the dark and then set up the tents and crashed. In the morning we packed up quick and early and then ate some breakfast a little further down the road. Then we biked into Siena and followed signs to a campground to arrive about 10am.

After doing some laundry and taking showers Gordo, Alex and I played some Fluxx outside the laundry room while eating cold lentils from the cans for lunch. We were watching over our camera battery chargers plugged in in the laundry room. Then we were all set to head into town. Alex, Gordo, Jon and I took a bus and Greg and Beth would meet us later.

In the old center of the city we snacked on some pizza, visited a bankomat and then hung out in this piazza for a little while. It had a statue of Sallustio Bandini who founded the library of Siena in the 17th century.

At the top of the wall overlooking the piazza was a series of heads. I assume they are of people who ruled the city but they could also be criminals considering they are just heads.

Finally we came to the Piazza del Campo and the Torre del Mangia of Siena. Gordo and I decided we had to go up but Jon and Alex stayed down in the Campo because they'd already been up.

At the top there was a couple bells...

...and an amazing view...

...and us! I didn't look very good in any of the photos though.

The stairs up/down were ridiculously narrow at times...

...and the ceiling became really low. Gordo filmed the majority of the trip down.

The Campo is a huge space where lots of people come and just hang out and sit on the ground. It's shaped like a fan divided into segments and twice a year there's a horse race around the outside. Siena is divided up into 17 contrade (districts) which have competed in the race for centuries. Actually each contrada hires a mercenary from the surrounding towns to ride their horse bareback. Apparently there's quite the celebration right after the race but we were there about a week after.

After Greg and Beth showed up we went to look for a place for dinner.

The place we found was pretty nice and the patio we were on overlooked a valley although our table wasn't near the edge. Everytime we ate in Tuscany it was outside. All the restaurants seem to have patios. I had a lasagne and split a spicy pizza called Diavola with Gordo. The lasagne was really small but all the food was good. Alex, Greg and I split some wine again. At the end of the meal we tried to work out the bill but couldn't figure out why there was an extra $9 item on the bill and the waiter was really busy. So finally we just left some cash for it all and left. Apparently Alex wrote "Hmm..." beside the item on the bill.

We went and hung out in the Campo for a while and played a little Big2, but then headed for the bus station because it was late. We waited for the bus and then Gordo, Alex and I rode the bus while Greg, Beth and Jon opted to walk back. The next day we would spend a little more time in Sienna before riding out at sunset.