Les Flâneurs

[17 June 1994, photos with date-stamp courtesy Dick VandenBerg]

Our first visit to Siena provided us with yet another in a long line of learning experiences about how very different things are done in Italy. We found a place to park the car near the Porta Romana, one of several gates to enter the city -- only locals are allowed to drive inside the cit's walls. Anyway, parking the car went off without a hitch. But how to pay for parking took us some time to figure out and involved figuring out the machine which dispensed tickets and how to pay to get the ticket out of the machine.

A parking attendant was nearby and was patient enough with us to walk us through the process. .

porta Romana

Strolling the streets.

Our first walk on to the Piazza del Campo.

first glimpse of the Torre di Mangia

and of the Piazza del Campo

Views from the Torre.

Duomo

The unfinished part of the church (now that's a story):

We then made our way to the fortezza and the enoteca for a wine tasting event. . .

near the fortezza

inside the Enoteca

[16 June 1994, photos with date-stamp courtesy of Dick VandenBerg]

Today was wine exploration day, in a manner of speaking. First up was a short drive to the lovely walled town of Montalcino for a sampling of Brunello. And with a car we were able to leave with more than a few bottles as well.

Next up was Montepulciano and Vino di Nobile.

We ended today's touring with a walking tour of the very quiet hilltop village of Pienza and some scrumptious pecorino cheese.