Montecatini Trip -10 - Siena

Monday 4th July 2005 - Siena

The air-conditioning played up again this morning but we were out at 9 & I drove all the way to Siena by motorway, the bulk being the old & not-very-busy one from Florence, which has attractive views for most of the way & deserves a 'green' line. We parked at the San Marco gate in an underground car park (cool), which turned out to be E4.80 for three hours, not bad. We walked up a hillock, which gave us a view over the roofs to the Duomo but when we got to it, the front was all in scaffolding. However, we had been in on the previous trip.

We walked down & round to the Campo, where steam shovels were still removing the sand they had put down for the Palio last Saturday. Coffee there was a rip-off at E4 a cup but this is I suppose, understandable. The walked to the market area (not done before) & worked our way back, stopping for Avis' essential sandwich & more coffees (E7.60 - more like it!).Then, we drove to Monte Riggioni, a hill-top fortress village with a lot of towers intact. It was not very hot again.

From there, it was a casual 1 1/4 hours back to Montecatini. The tolls were only E2.50 each way. In the evening, I took photos of some of the other guests.

Barry & Frances - hit photo for a bigger version

Günter & Gretchen - hit photo for a bigger version