Siena, the heart of Tuscany (Sunday 11th August 2013)

After a great couple of days in Lucca we moved on today to Siena. Once again we walked to the station not wanting to feed the greedy Lucca taxi drivers. We had planned to catch the 10:31 and arrived in plenty of time. The trip cost only 13.30 euros. The journey takes the “scenic” route via Florence and then back through Empoli and Poggibonsi and took just over 3hrs on the “slow” regional train network. That included a 30 minutes change-over at Firenze Rifredi, sort of like Richmond station is to Flinders St, so we never made it into Florence. That will be next week,

The scenery was pretty “standard railway line” for most of the way, untidy railway sidings, manufacturing businesses, houses in need of repair and dusty car-parks. After Poggibonsi we were traveling through fields of green, rolling hills, orange-tiled rooves on white houses on hilltops, framed by pencil-thin cypress pines. Much more like what I had in mind!

We arrived in Siena at about 1:30pm. The day was hot so we sought a place to eat at a nearby shopping mall – the first we have seen in Italy. The handle on Kerry's case became stuck and wouldn't close down. After a bit of percussive maintenance it went down again, but now it won't come up!! A bit more work is required. We found an honest cab driver who took us to the B&B Camollia which just outside the city walls at Porta Camoilla. The B&B is more like a hotel with a motel-sized room and an en-suite shower, bathroom and toilet. It is very modern, clean and comfortable and close to the city. The nearby via Camollia is an short walk along a medieval street to the centre of the city. We ventured some of the way down it thus evening while we consumed our after-dinner gelati. Dinner was at a very close restaurant just inside the city walls. Kerry had a gorgonzola cheese and nuts based penne dish while I enjoyed diced veal with porcini mushrooms in a truffle sauce. Delish! 

Every secondi dish at this restaurant was a veal dish cooked in the Tuscan style. It was my goal on this trip to try the regional authentic dishes in France and Italy rather than the “classic” national dishes. So far I'm doing pretty well.