Travels low cost: Siena and the Crete Senesi

Saturday 4 June 2011

Siena and the Crete Senesi

We spent the day visiting Siena (which I had already visited back in '95, but I couldn't remember anything about) and the surrounding area, one of the most beautiful Italian landscapes I've ever seen.

Under the pretext of having parked far away, outside the walls, we had a ride to the city's most hidden alleys, we visited the Duomo and we finally came out in the crowded and touristic Piazza del Campo with its Torre del Mangia. It is always a good sight.

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Siena? Then click here

Torre del Mangia in Siena.

In the afternoon, we made the same route back, passing by the Crete Senesi, which are simply spectacular. The area has a characteristic hilly landscape, almost bare of vegetation, where biancana badlands and clay gullies alternate in a suggestive way creating, at times, a lunar landscape. I let Sebastian drive (as he did for the whole trip) so I could always get out to shoot pictures in bursts.

In the evening, we decided to eat in the farm’s restaurant. Sebastian wanted to taste the Florentine… they brought us the menu and he read… Florentine € 12.50… mmmm… I got some doubts... but he didn't want to miss anything, so he also got some fries. We ate, and all was good, we drank some good wine (after all, it’s homemade), we laughed and joked, then they brought us the bill… and we didn’t laugh anymore!! Shit, the Florentine alone cost 54 euro!! Sebastian was surprised!! Explanation: on the menu it was written 12 Euro for 50 grams = 450 grams = 54 euro. After the initial discomfort, I started to laugh, and if I think about it, ahahahaha I still laugh!