Tuscany — October 21, 2021
Bright and early Wednesday morning, Artan was right on schedule. We loaded our luggage in the back of his big Mercedes and was on our way. We talked Artan into another ATM stop and finding a coffee shop before we headed for Tuscany, Italy’s fertile farmland and historical cities behind walls.
Today would be a full day of driving and sightseeing. Artan would earn his money today. Debby, Ron and Steve were in the second row behind Artan. The co-pilot’s chair had to remain empty because of COVID restrictions for tour vehicles. Ron was in the middle, apparently comfortable enough that he was napping right away. Me, Rhonda in the middle and Nancy took the back seat because we were young and flexible.
Our first stop, barely 40 miles from Florence, was the ancient walled city of Siena. It is said that this is perhaps the most beautiful medieval cities in Italy. The Duomo di Siena is a beautiful old church built in the 13th century.
The heart of the city is the central piazza known as il Campo. The city hosts the famous Palio run, a bareback horse race, twice around on the huge cobblestone piazza every summer. As one might guess, this dangerous horse race sets a new benchmark for bravery…..or possibly stupidity depending upon how one sees it. At any rate, you can see a rerun of the James Bond thriller, Quantum of Solace to see this event.
A huge clock tower stands at the head of the Piazza. The chimes are loud and the view is said to be amazing.
Along the street to Piazza il Campo we walked by some kind of shop that sported a Boar’s head as a storefront decor. I snapped a picture without stopping as I later look at my photos with a 7 power magnifier. This helps me see what I saw! Hanging on the window in front of the stuffed head was a hand written sign that said, “NO FOTO NO FILM”. Say what??
Next stop down the. Road was San Gimignano. This is one of Debby’s favorites. She loves the square where she remembered a wedding celebration when we were here in 2016. It is a unique walled city on a hill with excellent views of surrounding vineyards.
This city was unique with around 70 high stone towers. Various families had built the towers for protection whenever barbarians threatened the inhabitants or when ruffians came in looting the city.
Apparently when the Florentines took over they made the people dismantle the tall towers. Through negotiations not all towers were destroyed. Today about 30 still stand. It is known as the city of towers. Debby and Nancy know it as the city of chocolate falls!
People have been here since first century BC. The walls were not built until the 6th and 7th centuries. This is a beautiful spot in the world.
From here we continued our ride through manicured farmlands of grape vineyards and olive groves. Our next walled city was Pisa. If one comes near Pisa one must have a photo op with the leaning tower. One cannot look at this tower without wondering how much leaning can a tower do without falling over?
Although the leaning tower of Pisa has been worked on to help stop more leaning, the city fathers would not straighten up the tower even if it was possible. It’s about the only reason tourists, like us, come to push on it.
After the excitement we had a bite of dinner just down the street. He was a friend of Artan.
Debby asked Artan to talk to the landlady at our next stop. She spoke less English than we spoke Italian. We would be coming in an hour or two late and to find out how we get our room keys. The lady was not happy and said we would be charged 25 Euros per hour for each hpur we came in after 5:00. Artan tried to calm her down but there was no calming. He told her that was not good business but she yelled even louder. He even told her it was his fault we were late and that he would pay the extra. She wasn’t any happier but she stopped yelling. Artan told me he thinks he knows why she was yelling at him but said he wouldn’t talk about it in mixed company.
It was after dark when we reache
Mike Thomas
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