Day 8

The first entry in my travel journal for this date says, "Going to Siena today. Hope it's worth it."


It was!

First, we had an hour ride on a double-decker bus through Tuscany. We were technically on a highway most of the way, but we still got some great looks at the hill towns, olive groves, and vineyards. Once in Siena, Nicola set the scene for us. He told us that Siena was the starting point for banking (good or bad, it started here). Over the centuries Siena has been a place where money has been present. This can still be seen today in the athletic teams Siena hosts. Even though it's just a tiny village, it still has highly competitive soccer and basketball teams. Siena is also one of the places in Italy where the most pure form of Italian is spoken. So much so that if you come to Italy and you want to go to school they will send you to Siena to learn Italian. Nicola likened the language here to listening to someone sing a song.


So Siena has some things going for it... great location, beautiful medieval narrow streets, interesting local cuisine, and my personal favorite - the Palio. The Palio (which I knew nothing about prior to coming) is a horse race held in the main piazza in Siena twice a year in July and August. It's not your typical horse race. The jockeys ride bare-back and are dressed in renaissance era clothing. Dirt is brought into the piazza and the entire area except the track is crammed with spectators. Three times around and the race is done. If that's not exciting enough for you, allow me to add another layer to the story.

There are 17 neighborhoods in Siena. Each has thre own flag and distinct boundaries, and they are fiercly competitive. Only 14 neighborhoods get to race in the Palio. We happened to be in Siena the day they were drafting which neighborhoods, horses, and jockeys would be racing. In the middle of our amazing lunch at a little restaurant on the piazza (we had Pici - thick pasta in a meat ragu) we all were surprised to hear an absolute ROAR coming from outside. They were drafting the horses and the place was going nuts. It was really fun to watch. There's a ton more to learn about the history of the race, and there are some good links on YouTube if you want to watch the race.


Several of us in the group picked up some artwork while in Siena, and to finish off the day we stopped by a bakery Nicola knew about. One of their specialties are these little marzipan cookies (ricciarelli) that were better than Nicola advertised. We brought some home and are rationing them out. When the girls walked in the bakery and the smell hit them they were in heaven. I took the picture below right as they walked in.



On our return trip in the bus it hailed so we lucked out not having to deal with that. After a quick dinner, the girls put on a performance in the courtyard of the hotel. It was called, "The Singy Thingy." Mrs. Hampton would have been proud. And yes, video was taken.

** If anyone knows a good place to get almond flour, please let me know. I found it at Meijer but it's $13.99 per pound. It's a main ingredient in ricciarelli.