The Oliphants: September 20th

We took the train to Sienna, had lunch at Mister Pizza (recommended by David!), picked up our rental car and got lost in beautiful Tuscany. We finally arrived at Castello delle Quattro Torra, a beautiful and rustic castle turned into a B&B. After exploring the towers and taking pictures, we went into the charming town of Sienna. After browsing Piazza del Campo, we went up in the tower of the Duomo fo a magnificent view of the Tuscan countryside and sights of Sienna. We even took pics of our castle! Lots of cute shops, including our favorite, a butcher shop called Antica Pizzicheria ("Antonio's"), where we came back later and got a sampler of their wine, cheeses, meats, bread, pestos, olives, dessert breads, and Sienna's specialty, Panforte. Antonio makes everything himself. We met a fun couple from San Francisco and enjoyed visiting with them while sampling everything, and we purchased our favorites for a picnic lunch tomorrow. We had dinner reservations, though we weren't really hungry, so split dinner at La Buca di Porsenna...down three flights of stairs into an old cellar, which housed people to protect them from the wars in th 1500-1600's. Just as we were leaving town, we heard music drawing us back into the city. We followed it and came upon a huge festival, celebrating the victory from the July 2nd horse race, Palio Contrade. The family of Istrice with the porcupine seal won the race and has prepared this 2 week long festival re-enacting the Il Palio days from 1896. We thought it was incredible when we saw the first tables of sudents, dressed in 1896 customes, dining away with a stage, performers, music, etc. As we went along, we found that every corner was filled with a fabulous display, re-enacting the soldiers, taverns, stage plays, orchestras, cinemas, dance, trains, speeches and more. It was amazing!

Our room in one of the four towers

Our sitting area

Piazza del Campo in Sienna

View from our room

view of Sienna from our room

stairs climbing the Duomo's tower

the courtyard of our castle

beautiful Tuscan countryside

Sienna

Piazza del Campo

at the top of the tower

our favorite storefront...so charming we went back!

the Duomo

We enjoyed meeting a couple (Tiffany & Matt) from California at Antonio's (Antica Pizzicheria) and she and I had both just purchased the same jacket in Florence!

The flags of the Il Palio horse races (each neighborhood in Sienna is represented by a different flag)

The chef at Antica Pizzicheria made a sampler platter for us to try outside by candlelight. It was a great marketing tactic, as many people stopped to ask us what we were eating and then went inside.