Saturday 13 April 2002

After breakfast we head for Siena. The day starts sunny, but after an hour or so the sky becomes overcast. We arrive in Siena around 11. Our simple, but clean guest house - that does honour to its name (Centrale)   - is smack in the middle of central Siena. It is possible to get there by car, ignoring the traffic signs and following the excellent signing through narrow streets with lots of detours, twists and turns. Parking here, however, is not an option. ligt midden in het centrum. Je kunt er met de auto komen   We are stopped by a female police constable when we try to make our way to the parking lot. She points us into the right direction to a free parking area. We find a spot and park the car. Then we go out to explore the city. We start at the San Domenica church. The church belongs to the congregation to which Saint Catherine of Siena belonged to. She is the patron saint of Italy. The church holds a shrine with her head.  Her old house is near the church. We walk from the church to the Campo, the central square of Siena. Maybe the most beautiful, but certainly the most meticulously laid out square in the world.  It is shaped as a semi-circle divided into sectors.I climb the Campanile (bell tower) of the town hall. From here the view over the city and the Campo is magnificent. Meanwhile the rain has started. We have lunch in a tiny trattoria near the Campo,  Guidoriccio (Via Dupre 2). Good food and service, inexpensive.

After that we go out again into the rain. We have a look at the Duomo. It is richly decorated. The church itself is zebra coloured, with alternatining layers of white and black marble. The floor is dotted with marble mosaics, most of which are covered to protect them against wear. A few are visible though. The roof of the duomo is decorated with heads of popes. Everywhere in Siena, the Duomo not excluded, you see the flags and coats of arms of the districts of Siena, the Contrades. The Contrades participate in the most important Siena event, the Palio, the traditional horse race on the Campo in July and August. It is clear to see that Siena wanted to enlarge the Duomo by converting the nave into the transept and building a new nave. The plans were aboned half way through, when money ran out. Rain continues and we go and vistit the Museo Civico. It is housed in a part of the  town hall. It has beautiful frescoes by Martini and Lorenzetti. It is clear to see that Siena was blooming during Italy's renaissance. After the museum we head for an internet café and send some mail to the homefront. 

At night we have a splendid dinner in the Osteria de Logge. Fine food and wine  (Chianti Classico).

Sunday 14 April 2002

Our breakfast is served in our room. After breakfast we take the for a tour through the Sienese hills. The day starts out sunny and our thermometer gets to a 15°C. Our first stop is Monterigioni. A village, completely protected by city walls. A very interesting setting. Two dozens of houses a few bars on a hill and that's it.  We have a coffee and a look round. Then we move on to Colle di Val d'Elsa. The lower town (Colle Basso) is nothing special, but the old upper town (Colle Alto) is worth while visiting. Here we find the old church  (Santa Caterina canonica), the duomo and the town hall. The upper town has a splendid view over the valley. We're told that the best Tuscan ice cream is served here in the main café on Piazza Arnolfo. 

We drive on to San Giminignano. The village famous for its towers. In the 12th  and 13th centuries the prominent families of San Gimignano tried to outbid one another by building high towers on top of their family palaces. The result is quite an unusual skyline. We start here with a fine lunch at  Il Pino accompanied by San Gimignano's famous wine the white Vernacia. It has started raining and it is getting a bit chilly. After lunch we explore the village. It has been well kept and is full of historic housed and palaces. The  piazza del Duomo and the piazza Cisterna are the main drags. The Torre Grossa ot the Palazzo Pubblico (town hall) can be climbed and offers a great view of the surrounding countryside. The Palazzo also house the municipal museum with the sala Dante. This is the room where Dante has made an apearance as ambassador of Florence. The fresco on the wall is the same as the one in Siena's town hall: Madonna with child and saints. The child has a document in its hand, with Siena's motto on it. San Gimignano, too, has many shops with local produce like cheese, saucages, olive oil and various types of pasta. Typical for Tuscany is the  Pecorino cheese ( Pienza), Pinci pasta, Cinghiala sausage (wild boar) and the famous wines.

After an extensive visit of the town we drive on to Volterra. Volterra announces itself from afar with various signs advertising alabaster art and utensils. The scenery is beautiful on our way there. When we finally reach Volterra we have no energy left for yet another visit, so we head on for Siena. At night we have a simple but good meal in  Trattoria Papei. The service is a  bit odd, but that does not matter. We have a drink afterwards (a Brachetto d'Acqui, a sparkling red wine from Piemonte) on the  Campo. Way too expensive (10 euro), but the view of the Campo with its illuminated buildings is priceless. 

Monday 15 April 2002

After breakfast, again served in our room we start our journey to our final stop, Bologna. The weather is fine and the sun is shining. Until Florence we take the small roads through the Chianti region. Winding roads and beatiful scenery full of vinyards. At Florence we continue on the motorway straight to Bologna. The motorway too is kind of winding and heavy with traffic. The access ramps are very short which causes traffic jams and tricky situations.  

We arrive in  Bologna around 1pm. We take a break in the Guercino. After we walk into town for some lunch. We eat an enourmous and delicious pizza in the Osteria Belle Arti. Meanwhile it has started to pour cats and dogs outside. . Optimists as we are, we did not bring our umbrellas this time nor a raincoat. , so we are forced to go back to the hotel. But in this weather it is not easy to get a taxi. Finally we manage to call one, but by then the rain has stopped. We go back anyway. A short break and then into the city again. Bologna has quite a few long shopping streets with collonades and arcades on both sides. This makes it possible to shop shaded from the sun or sheltered against the rain as the case may be.  Around Piazza Magiore lies a collection of worthwhile buildings and of course some side walk café's, with staggering prices. We walk around the city centre. Bologna has many small scale, but trendy and upmarket shops. We also have look at the only gay café we know of,  "Cassablanca". It is very quiet this time of day. .

At night we eat in the restaurant Terisima. Prima, a family restaurant. Fine food, reasonably priced with local specialities. Another evening stroll through the centre concludes our day here. We take the bus back to our hotel.  .

Tuesday 16 April 2002

  After a fine breakfast in the hotel we walk into the city centre for some shopping. We see a lot of people carrying flags and banners on our way into town. It looks like a big demonstration is being held. And the closer we get to the centre the more demonstrators we meet. The demonstration appears to be starting from the Piazza Magiore. We have a coffee, do our shopping (shoes), because the shops are open as usual. The demonstration meanwhile makes its way through the streets with the usual noise.  We eat some Italian rolls and walk back to the hotel (busses are not running). The demonstration seems have ended and most demonstrators walk back to their coaches for the journey home.  We drive the car to the airport. The airport is suspicously quiet. Soon we find out why:    there is a general strike going on in Italy from 10am until 6pm. Many flights have been cancelled, but not ours, but it has been delayed until 7.15pm instead of 3.50pm. Too short to get back to town. We return the car and the waiting begins. At the airport most restaurants and shops are open, but sometime in the afternoon, most run out of food. We are able to check in - KLM has the only check-in counter that is open - , but our luggage can not be handled yet.  At 6pm we can do that and go through the security check.  We still have to wait until 7.15 before we can finally board. The flight itself is smooth and we arrive in Amsterdam around 9pm and the train takes us home, where we arrive around 10.30pm.