Siena, Italy, The Hilly Country
A few days of relaxation, wine and good food
05.09.2022 - 10.09.2022
75 °F
For this trip to Italy, we decided to go to the Tuscany wine country for a few days. We chose Siena because the name sounded nice and it was easy to get to by train or bus.
On our way to Siena, we made a stop overnight in Modena in order to buy some balsamic vinegar. Modena vinegar is made from Modena grapes and then aged. We prefer Balsamic Vinegar aged at least 25 years but would love to try the vinegar aged over 100 years. Alas, I don’t want to pay the price.
After Modena we caught a train to Siena. The owner of the Airbnb told us that we probably didn’t want to walk from the train station to the center of town, and she was absolutely right. The center of town was a good 15-20 min drive up and down hills.
Siena reminds me of Dr. Suess books with the steep hills, up and down.
We got to our hotel with a beautiful view of the next hill. Our apartment was on the 3rd floor with no elevator. We didn’t mind the stairs as we’d been sitting for several hours on the train. We found that we could look out the double doors down to the neighbors who would lean out of their windows and talk to each other.
We found a restaurant with lots of gluten free options and only had to walk up and down 2 hills. The hill to the restaurant was so steep in one place that there were stairs. The walk was worth the effort, plus we could eat more food.
Our days were mostly spent walking, exploring little streets, grocery stores and shops. We’d stop for iced coffee at the café associated with the Duomo. We did not go into the Duomo as we’ve been in too many in the last year. We watched the visitors; both individual and tour groups. There was a violinist who came most afternoons but we never determined if she was actually playing the violin or just the recordings.
We’d really planned to do a wine tour with a group but there was nothing available for the time we were there. Instead, we read in Rick Steves, about a wine and food pairing school. We were able to schedule an afternoon.
We walked to the school where everything was set up for 8 of us. We tasted Tuscan wines, a white and a red with a plate of food. Gluten food included bruschetta and a salad with spelt.
After the school our leader took us on a walking tour of the area and gave us some fun information about the neighborhoods.
Siena is divided into neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own flag, name and so on. The neighborhoods are quite competitive. The info was great to know when we found 2 older kids, in their square, one on drums and 1 doing a flag routine. Adults were standing around giving hints.
Siena was a really great place to just forget all of the stressors in our lives. Walking up and down the hills, eating and drinking fun wine, what a life!!!
We are looking forward to Italy again next year!
Posted by Miss Chris 23:30 Archived in Italy Tagged italy tuscany siena international_travel tuscan_wine italy_hills Comments (0)