Biking Under the Tuscan Sun

Biking Under the Tuscan Sun

Today we got up early and were at breakfast by 7:30. We signed up for a day trip to the hill town of San Gimignano, a bike ride from there to the to hill town of Monteriggioni and ending with a late lunch in Siena.

We left by 8:00 to meet our tour guide, Piero Didona at the train station by 8:15. Piero runs Bike Florence & Tuscany with his wife Elena, and they have two modern vans with bike racks and a fleet of bikes. They run a number of small day tours in the Tuscany region.

The tour that we signed up for was San Gimignano to Siena for Weekend Riders which certainly describes us. Our tour had two other couples, in addition to Kathy and I.

San Gimignano

One of the 14 remaining towers in San Gimignano.

Our first stop was San Gimignano, the best preserved Tuscan hill town from the middle ages. Wealthy citizens of these towns built tall defensive towers to which they could repair in times of war. When captured, though, all of the losers' defensive towers were destroyed.

In San Gimignano, the black death of 1348 effectively depopulated the city, and so its towers weren't destroyed in war. Today, 14 of the original 75 towers still stand; more than any other town in Italy.

The Tuscan countryside from San Gimignano

We had about an hour to walk through the town (which is incredibly crowded and commercial, even at 9:30 in the increasingly hot and humid morning). We climbed up behind the church, where you could see out over the Tuscan country side, but we didn't linger.

Once out the village, and on a quiet back road, Piero unloaded our bikes and helmets, gave us some instructions, and off we went. Our first stop was a field filled with wild boars, being raised for market.

A Tuscan farm-raised "wild" boar

Initially, the trip was all down hill. We followed the ancient Francigena pilgrim's route that goes from Canterbury, England to Rome.  (Similar to but not as popular as the Way of St. James in northern Spain.) Portions of the road are graveled and portions are paved. Because of the historical significance, the route is protected as a UN Heritage site and can't be developed.

Taking a break in Tuscany

About half-way through the ride to Monteriggioni, we encountered some uphill sections that were really difficult in the heat. I felt faint and a little nauseous; we pushed through the first few hills, but then several of us decided to ride in the air-conditioned comfort for that last, uphill portion of the trip to Monteriggioni.

Monteriggioni

Monteriggioni central square

After leaving San Gimignano, the next stop for pilgrims traveling to Rome was Monteriggioni, a walled city under the protection of nearby Siena. The town's fortifications were so impressive that they rated a mention in Dante's Divine Comedy.

The Monteriggiano Armor Museum

There is a small armor museum and I was able to take a selfie with one of the exhibits out front. There was also a grape arbor in front of the well-preserved cafe, where I nibbled on some grapes.

Picking grapes in Monteriggioni.

The other couples went wine tasting while Kathy and I visited the local gelateria with Piero our guide. Kathy had mango in a cup and I had a cone with melon. The best thing we found, though, was an ancient fountain where we could refill our water bottles.

Filling a water bottle in Monteriggiono

Now refreshed, we loaded up all of the bikes and set out for Siena.

Siena

The Cathedral in Siena

The two big sites to see in Siena are the Cathedral and the main plaza. It's a very hilly town, though, so getting across town involves a lot of climbing. Since it was now 2:30, and we hadn't yet eaten lunch, we decided to break out our Rick Steves guide and look for a recommendation.

Lunch at La Taverna di Cecco

One of his recommendations was to try the picci, a fat spaghetti, and another was to try La Taverna di Cecco, where "grandma Olga cooks and earnest Gianni and Luca serve a menu of traditional Sienese favorites made with fresh ingredients." Kathy had the cheese picci (which was really delicious), and I had the mushroom. I wasn't brave enough to try the wild boar.

During lunch, Kathy's phone rang. It was our granddaughter Finnley on FaceTime saying, "Grandma, can you come home now?" It was wonderful to hear from her, as well as our daughter-in-law Mari-kristin.

Preparing for the second Palio on August 16.

Having spent most of our two-hours free time in Siena enjoying an Italian lunch, we didn't have a lot of time to visit the central square. By the time we did get there, we found the square fenced off and the dirt track being prepared for the upcoming Palio horse race, a tradition that has run every year for the last 800 years, war or peace or black plague.

We won't be here on the 16th, nor would I think about spending a day in the blazing sun to watch some horses race. However, it is supposed to be very exciting. Here's a picture from Wikipedia.

Back to Florence

The ride back to Florence was in air-conditioned comfort. Almost all of us dozed for a bit. When we got back at 5:30 we stopped for another gelato around the corner, and picked up some snacks at the Carefour Express. Kathy made some coffee, we nibbled, she face-timed her folks and now it's time to turn in. Talk to you tomorrow.