Wednesday morning, we woke up to to a beautiful sunny morning in Volterra, but it was sooooo cold! From this point on, you will only see Allison in her red sweatshirt. She has a coat underneath and is layered with other clothes. Yes, it was that cold and windy. But at least there was sunshine!
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| First stop was the Roman ruins in Volterra built in the 4th Century! |
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| Incredible views! |
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| The ruins from the street level. |
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| We continued our tour of Volterra. Look at those blue skies! |
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| The town square in Volterra. You'll notice similarities between this clock tower and the one in Montepulciano. Stephanie Meyer used Volterra as the home of the Volturi in her books. But all of the filming was done in Montepulciano. Good thing that city is on the list for this trip! |
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| Our attempt at a family selfie with my wide angle lens. Sorry Chris….you almost didn't make it. |
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| Checking out the amazing views one last time before leaving Volterra. |
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| We love the doors in this part of Italy. |
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| Volterra from down below. |
Time to head to Siena. We would be spending the next two nights in Siena and traveling to different towns from there.
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| Dude! Look out the window or you are going to miss all of the beauty! |
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| Our first view of Siena! |
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| First stop was the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Here you will find the head and thumb of St. Catherine. Her relics have been in this church since 1383! One thing St. Catherine is known for is returning the Papacy to Italy. There is a lot more to her story, but you can feel free to look her up. ;) |
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| Piazza del Campo ~ The main square in Siena |
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| We had a delicious lunch of homemade pasta. The waiter did not speak any English. We could understand drink, spaghetti, and tortellini. So, that is what we ate. |
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| After our carbo load….we decided we would climb the Torre del Mangia or Mangia Tower. |
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| But, we had some time before it was our turn, so we enjoyed the sunshine in Piazza del Campo. |
Time for our climb to the top! There are exactly 400 steps to get you to the top (88 meters high!)
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| Grabbing a pic at the first level. |
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| It was worth every step because the views were amazing! |
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| Making our way back to the bottom. |
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| It is quite a view from the outside of the piazza! |
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| The next stop was the Duomo di Siena. The cathedral was built between 1196 and 1348. |
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| The alternating greenish/black and white marble make this cathedral unique from others we have seen. It was stunning! |
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| There are 172 busts of Popes that line the inside of the cathedral. |
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| We sat in for part of mass. It's all in Italian you know. ;) |
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| Saint Paul by Michelangelo |
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| And of course, after all this sightseeing we had to end the day with a gelato stop and then dinner. We did that in the wrong order a lot. I wonder why they didn't eat their dinner??? |
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| Just chillin' in the piazza eating gelato. |
Arrivederci Siena! You are a beautiful city, and we're lucky to have spent the day with you. More Tuscany to come!
Until next time and Ciao,
Wendy
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