Firenze, Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa

Our first day in Florence (Friday the 11th, for those of you keeping track), we were scheduled to take part in a 12 hour bus tour of Tuscany.

Let me repeat that. 12. Hour. Tour.

And it was SO WORTH IT!!!

As a little preview, here's a map of the stops along our way:

We started the tour with a quick history of Florence, and then we were off to Siena. 

Siena is one of those cities that brings you back in time. It's home to the world's oldest still-operating bank, and also home to the second oldest road in the world. The main road through the city was first used for the travelers to get from Northern Italy to Rome. And, fun fact: the architects back then weren't super strong in physics or geometry, so their super tall buildings started to tilt. That's why there are so many arches connecting the buildings.

The narrow streets of Siena

The oldest still-functioning bank

We also learned about this horse race that Siena has twice a year in their main square, The Palio. There are 17 districts in Siena, and twice a year, they compete against each other in this horse race. Apparently it's a pretty big deal... (if you want more information, here's the Wikipedia page for the Palio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena)

Piazza del Campo - where the Palio takes place

Another thing we got to see was the Duomo. It's a church made entirely out of Marble. The outside has stripes of black and white marble. Some say it's gaudy and over-the-top. I thought it was absolutely breathtaking. It also houses the brightest unrestored frescoes in the entire world. It wasn't until about 20 years ago that it was decided to open the room up to the public, and thanks to the north-facing window, the sun hadn't faded the paintings hardly at all. Also, apparently the room was supposed to by used as a library, but they never ended up putting any books in there. Fortunate for us that they didn't, because if they had, the frescos wouldn't be in the condition they're in today. The tour guide warned me that the colors were gonna be bright, but I had no idea how bright she was talking. The artist was NOT afraid of color, that's for sure. I'm having a tough time finding the pictures of the inside of the library, but as soon as I find them, I'll be sure to post them (sorry...)

The Duomo

The next stop on the tour was a Tuscan farm right on the outskirts of San Gimignano. We learned about how the wine was made, I made friends with a white cow, and then we ate some food and drank some wine with one of the most beautiful backdrops I've ever seen. 

I even learned how to properly taste wine:

1. Look at the wine. Is it clear? Opaque? Is it dark? Light?

2. Smell the wine. Try and pick out individual flavors - wood, salt, certain flowers, berries, etc.

3. Swirl the glass and aerate the wine. Examine the "legs" - the oily streams that crawl down the side of the glass.

4. Smell the wine a second time. Aerating it opens up a whole new level of flavor, note how the smell changed.

5. Drink up!!! :)

Vineyards at the farm

My new cow friend

The view of San Gimignano from the farm

Sun, food, and wine - what more could we want?

Full, tipsy, and all-too happy on life, we got back on the bus to head to San Gimignano, where I got to try lavender-flavored gelato! I'll tell ya - it tastes exactly like lavender. Pretty yummy. But not as yummy as the mango and berry :)

Then it was back on the bus to head to Pisa!!!

It was crazy. We turned a corner, and all of a sudden the tower was right there! And it was so much bigger than I expected! And clean! It was pretty cool to see this tower that started being built back in the 1400s. Luckily, a couple on the bus was too happy and tired off the wine, so they decided to not climb to the top and offered me and my mom their spots. So I got to climb all 296 steps to one of the most famous bell towers in the world. 

Epically failing at doing the classis "Pisa" shot

View of the church from the top of the bell tower

After Pisa, it was back to the beautiful city of Florence to prep for our Vespa Tour the next day!!!

À bientôt!