Siena, Tuscany, Italy, Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Giraffe Contrada Boundary Marker

A lazy morning for us as our agenda is pretty open and consists of exploring the city in random fashion. We get out around 1100 and decide to see the Oratory of San Bernadino since it was included in our combo ticket from yesterday. We stroll through an area previously unexplored by us through the Giraffe contrada. Next to the Oratory is the Church of San Francesco and it is open so we head to that. It is on the border of the Giraffe and Caterpillar Contrada duly noted by their ceramic plaques. The church like the Domenican church we saw is a vast space with a limited amount of art and sculpture. It also has the contrada flags in it. The frescoes in the church have seen better days and are in need of restoration. We exit the church and find out that the Oratory does not open until one, so we will have to come back if we want to see it.

Sheep Lamps

Looking at a map, we pick a route that will go by a few churches on our way back towards Il Campo. We walk along a walled street and can see parts of the old wall and one of the ports into the city. The first church takes some meandering to find and is closed. The next one we come upon is open and just a small neighborhood church with the flag of the contrada in it. The third small church is also not open and before we know it we are back in the main square. Only one thing to do here, buy a big jumbo slice of pizza for lunch. Carol gets another sausage and pepperoni while I switch to prosciutto and sausage. We eat standing at a small table inside. From here we head back to the room to relax for a few hours. Well relax is a relative term as Carol does laundry and I work on the blog a bit and look at other exploration options as well as try to find bus information for Chiusi tomorrow.

Santa Maria Del Servi In Background

Around 1430, we decide to see a church that is on the edge of town not too far from our room called Santa Maria del Servi. We walk through the sheep contrada. In front of the church is a wooden statue of the horse race and this neighborhood has flags hanging like the fish neighborhood. We think that they were maybe First and second place, but do not know for sure. The church itself has some nice side chapels and artwork from the thirteenth century on.
We decide to walk back to the Oratory from this morning and pass a market on the way. We check it out and we will come back, buy a few items, and eat in again. It is nice to eat in once in a while and with view we have it is quite wonderful to sit by the balcony eating and sipping wine.
The Oratory has some nice frescoes but overall is nothing special. We meander back to the small supermarket and buy some antipasto to go with our leftovers from yesterday and some fresh ravioli, mushroom, and ricotta, for dinner.

Five Star View

Back in our room, we have early antipasto with Coke, and later ravioli with wine and beer. Siena has a lot of tourists by the Duomo, and on the two main walking streets but once you get off the main shopping paths, it has quite a few nice neighborhoods to walk around in. Ciao.
CNC
“The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The Tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes sight-seeing.”- Daniel J Boorstin

Expenses. Sept 26
5E- 2 big slices of pizza
9.85E- Gorgonzola cheese spread, bread, marinated eggplant, mushroom ravioli, ricotta and spinach ravioli, sauce, from Conad Supermarket
65E- BNB

Miles Walked – 6.5 Miles