Today, we had an all-day tour of the Tuscan countryside plus a visit to Pisa. The meeting point for the bus was just in front of the Florence railway station, so it was just a few minutes walk from our hotel. Since this hotel (Grand Hotel Baglioni) started serving breakfast half an hour earlier than our hotel in Rome, we felt that we could grab a quick bite before hopping on the bus. But, like all good plans, breakfast took longer and by the time we searched for phones, cameras, batteries, etc., it was quite late. We had to jog to reach the bus and were the last ones to register. A couple of minutes later and we would have missed the entire day trip. It was a chilly and cloudy day which took us a bit by surprise because the previous day was hot and sunny.
The bus was comfortably air-conditioned with huge, clean windows that allowed us to take photos easily. Our first stop was going to be Siena which was about an hour or so from Florence. Siena is also at a slight elevation and when we got off the bus near the Fortezza Medicea (the Fortress of the Medici family), there was a slight drizzle and a definite nippiness in the air, especially when we made our way to our first sightseeing spot through a park. Sahana and Sneha were not dressed for the cold temperatures but it was too late to do anything about it. We continued following our guide, hoping that the weather would improve as the day wore on. Our first sightseeing spot was the Palazzo Pubblico which is a square in front of the town hall.
Anyway, the guide led us from Palazzo Pubblico through narrow alleys to our next stop, the Siena Cathedral aka the Duomo.
On the way, she talked about the contrade, which are basically districts or wards in the city of Siena. There are 17 of them and they compete every year in a famous horse race called the Palio. There is a fierce (but friendly) rivalry among the contrade. We had various questions like ‘Can people from different contrade marry each other?” (YES) and “What contrada would a kid belong to?” (Mother’s if a girl, Father’s if a boy), etc.
Another big disappointment (after the one with the Trevi fountain) awaited us because the Siena Duomo was closed for Sunday mass. We had chosen to do this trip on a Sunday and hadn’t thought about this.
Instead, they took us to a really old hospital (Santa Maria della Scala) that was just across the piazza from the Duomo. We had heard a lot about the Duomo and had looked forward to going inside. After the tour, we had some time to explore the town by ourselves but it was still too cold and drizzly. We found another street vendor next to the Duomo who was selling apparel. We bought a fleece pullover for Sahana to keep her warm. We had a choice between one that said ‘Universita Siena’ and another really, really cheesy one that said ‘I 💜 Italia’ and thanks to the cold that had apparently frozen our brains, we bought the cheesy one. Sahana felt warmer (and a bit awkward, I presume) after she wore the pullover and we decided to head back to our meeting point at the Palazzo Pubblico. We only had 10 minutes to go for the scheduled meeting time, but we still decided to have a cup of coffee to warm us up. There was a ristorante at the square where we sat down and placed our order. For some strange reason, Sahana decided to order a Moroccan coffee while the rest of us ordered regular cappuccino. Her coffee arrived in a tiny cup, very similar to an espresso. It was dark with no sugar but Sahana managed to finish it.
We got back on the bus and headed to our next stop, viz. lunch at a farm-cum-winery. The lunch was part of the package and we had given the necessary instructions to ensure that we were all served dishes with no meat. The name of the farm-winery is Fattoria Poggio Alloro. It was still only about 11:30am, so they took us on a short tour of the farm. The farm is almost completely self-sufficient and completely organic. First, we went to the winery where we were shown the large silos where the grapes are crushed and fermented. They also showed us the bottling appliance which did everything after the wine was ready, including slapping on the labels! Next, they showed us the various barrels in which they stored some of the wine. We went back outside and heard a brief description of the various other crops that they grew apart from grapes (olives, saffron, primarily). Finally, we visited the place where the cows were housed. For the purpose of their beef needs, they have reared several unnaturally large white cows / bulls. For their milk needs, they have a couple of regular cows.
By this time, lunch was ready, so we were taken to the dining hall where we sat down at our table along with the other bus mates. We already had bruschetta bread on our plates.The person who had led us through the farm gave us a brief introduction to the wines we would be tasting. She also gave us a quick introduction to the way that we should drink the wine (sniff, swirl, drink). We started with a white wine that was made with locally grown grapes. Both Sahana and Sneha had never tried any alcohol in their lives, so it was something new to them. They thought the taste was bitter but Ashwin and I loved the white wine. We had the bruschetta along with the virgin olive oil (also produced on the farm).
The next course was penne pasta in a tomato sauce which was also enjoyable. We had a red Chianti wine to accompany the pasta which was not as flavorful or tasty as the white wine. The third course was salad for the three of us and an omelette for Ashwin. We had another red wine to accompany this dish which was better than the earlier red wine. The final “course” was a vin santo with a biscotti to dunk it in. Vin Santo is a sweet dessert wine and it was a nice way to finish off a satisfying lunch.
It was a short 10 minute drive to our next stop, the sleepy little town of San Gimignano. We were given a map plus an hour and 15 minutes to go around the town and report back at a common meeting point. We set off along the main road and headed to the main square where there is apparently one of the world’s finest gelato places. The line was long but it moved fast and we got our turn pretty quickly. True to its reputation, the gelato they doled out was really rich and tasty, definitely one of the best we tasted in our entire trip.
After that, we walked to an adjoining square where a medieval festival was just getting started. We stood with our ice creams and watched the show for a while before deciding to do a bit of sightseeing around the town.
We climbed up a slope to a fort (La Rocca, I think) and saw a nice view of the Tuscan countryside from there. After that, we walked slowly back to the meeting point. The bus wasn’t there yet, so we just sat around for a while resting. Next stop, Pisa.
We had been told that the bus would take the scenic route to Pisa instead of the highway. It would take a bit longer but the tour guide told us it would be worth it. But, most of us were feeling extremely drowsy from waking up early and the heavy lunch. The four of us slept most of the way to Pisa although I woke up about 15-20 minutes before to see the countryside. We arrived in Pisa around 5:45pm and were taken from the bus stop to the Leaning Tower complex by a bus-train. We were given about 1 hour to do sightseeing in the area of the Leaning Tower. A few of our fellow travelers had pre-booked tickets to climb to the top of the Leaning Tower. We hadn’t but I decided I would try my luck for the 6:30pm slot. As soon as the tour guide finished giving us the instructions, I sprinted to the ticket booth and stood in line which was strangely short. I found out that there were 11 tickets still remaining for the 6:30pm slot, so I went ahead and bought them although they were quite expensive (16/17 Euros, I think). We still had about 10-15 minutes to while away so we decided to take pictures of the tower and the cathedral / baptistery that was next to it. We tried some typical poses and some not-so-typical poses at the tower but they didn’t really come out very well.
We got in line around 6:20pm and were let in at 6:30pm. We were given a quick briefing inside the tower and then allowed to climb up the roughly 250 steps to the top. I was very surprised to see how eroded / indented the marble steps were. I didn’t know marble was so soft that it would sink in through constant use. Anyway, the view at the top was pretty nice but it felt a bit weird to walk to the “lower” side, viz. the side towards which the tower is leaning. There was one more level to climb to where the bells were, so we climbed up there and got one more view of the town of Pisa.
By then, we were running out of time, so we went back down the steps to the bottom. Next, we got a guided tour of the town of Pisa while we sat in the bus-train.
We headed back to Florence around 7:20pm and it was a smooth ride back to Florence and we arrived at around 8:40pm. A long and tiring but satisfying day had come to an end. We were looking forward to the next day which was going to be relatively less hectic.
Apart from being fleeced by a gelato place (called Very Good) where they gave the kids an 8 Euro cone although we had specifically asked for the 2.50 one, the rest of the evening was uneventful.
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