Scenic route to Siena

Lake Bolsena

We left our lakeside campsite Pineta in Bolsena after a relaxed start to the day.  The washblock had those funny toilet seats that are the opposite of our ‘slow-close’ variety we tend to have at home these days..  This type spring back up, after one rises from the bog, and disinfectant gets sprayed all over the seat from which one has just risen.

Just a 2-star site, but pleasant for its location, and also for the friendliness of the owners.  They even gave us a campsite pen as we left!  Always a winner, - that sort of thing.

I opted for the scenic route to Siena, and what a surprise it was!

After just a couple of minutes we reached the village of Bolsena, a rather delightful place, with commanding views over Lake Bolsena.  

from Bolsena overlooking the lake

We did our by now familiar handbrake-turn in the van, and stopped up to have a squint at the place.  We discovered it to be a charming village up on the hills with narrow cobbled alleyways and little  houses rising up towards the sky.

Charming, or what?!

Good parking, or what?!

Apparently a miracle had occurred here a long time ago, so we stopped in the Information Office to see what had happened.  The man told us that the Holy Communion had turned to blood, and that a pope had given it credence by honouring the town, or something like that.  We were pretty sure we had understood what he said.

A cup of cappuccino for me, and a large mug of apple/cinnamon tea for my beloved, the use of their loo, and we were on our way to Siena.

The journey took us through some isolated countryside and rolling hills.  We were glad that we had not gone via the main roads, even though it was longer.  We would have missed some of this beauty.

Ruth got on a phone call during this time and while she was busy talking, I was busy watching the scenery.  I spied a kind of castle tower up on a nearby hillside.  It didn’t look too far away.  Just 8 km on Google Maps, so we thought that lunch there would be a bit different.

Another handbrake turn once we came out of a tunnel, and we were winding our way up, and up, and up, to Radicofani.

Radicofani town centre

A sandwich up there was perfection, and we came back down to the SR2 road to continue on our way to Siena.

We had a campsite in mind, so we headed straight for it.  Camping Colleverde.  A transit camp, in effect, for people who just want to have a look at Siena.  So we dumped ourselves onto one of the pitches for overnight visitors.  

We took the bus into town, and spent the late afternoon and evening in Siena.  An imposing town, with a surfeit of students wandering around.  We felt a bit geriatric in this town.  
One of the worst buskers we have heard was in one of the streets, playing a 32-bass, piano accordion.  I nearly went over to her and said, "Give it here, love.  I'll play an hour for you." She couldn't do the left hand, and was just guessing with the right hand.  Dire!

We went to the Tourist Information office and walked in.  The sign definitely said Information Office over the top of it.  But when we walked in, it was a church, with old ladies praying!   Ooopsie!

The main square was remarkably like St Marks, Venice!

We had our evening meal in town.  Wild boar tagliatelle for me.  Spaghetti of some sort for the missus.

The biggest Lindt shop I've ever seen!  Bucket loads of every flavour under the sun!

Lindt heaven!

As we wandered back through town to catch our return bus, we could hear drumming.  Thinking it was a music school practice, we went to find the source of the drumming.  What a surprise to find a handful of teenagers having drum practice in a rather large triangle shaped courtyard.  

The noise was immense!  We sat watching, as one by one, the novices were coached by the drum major guy. 

A cool way to end the day.

The ringing in our ears continued with us for some time afterwards.

Night was falling and it got chilly as we waited for our bus back to the campsite, Colleverde.