Saturday, September 20th
You would never know by the weather here in Siena that we’re two days away from the autumn equinox. If it didn’t hit 90 degrees today it came awfully close. Most of our day was spent walking on asphalt with very little shade. Thankfully, it was a short day (10 miles) with relatively little elevation gain (450 feet). When we reached our destination in Buonconvento we could still see Siena in the distance.
On our way out of town today we visited the Basilica di San Domenico which contains relics (skull and thumb) from St. Catherine of Siena, patroness saint of Italy. As a cradle Catholic who was immersed as a child in the veneration of saints and their relics, I now find it somewhat gruesome that the Catholic Church has parsed out people’s bones hither and yon. It seems like a desecration rather than a veneration.
We walked from Siena to Grancia di Cuna, where we transferred via taxi to a country hotel/spa high atop a hill outside the town of Buonconvento. Our 14 mile walk tomorrow starts in Buonconvento, but I think we’re at least 3 miles out of town. In addition to the extra mileage we’ll be walking tomorrow, temperatures are forecast to again hit the upper 80’s. It’s amazing to me how sweaty I get every day. By the time we get to our accommodations for the night I’m a soaking mess!
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| Reliquary of St. Catherine of Siena. The box on the right hand side contains her thumb bone. |
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| Also on our way out of Siena, we walked through the Piazza del Campo and snapped this picture of the 14th century Torre delle Mangia |
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| Siena's Porta Romana |
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| View of Siena from a distance |
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| Entrance to the fortified farm La Grancia di Cuna |
Sunday, September 21st
Oh boy! Today was a tough one! A relatively long day of walking (16 miles) with quite a bit of elevation gain (1850 feet). On top of that, temperatures were in the mid-80's by midday. A large percentage of our trek was on dusty gravel roads with little to no shade. We tried to get as far off the road as we could whenever a car passed by because you never knew how much dust they would kick up. Some drivers were very courteous, driving slowly past us and not speeding up until they were well ahead or behind us. Other drivers were either in a hurry or oblivious because they didn’t slow down at all and left us coughing in the dust they kicked up swirling around us.
We started out on a 2-mile downhill walk from our accommodations to where the road intersected the Via Francigena and then soon began a long uphill climb past vineyards of prized Brunello di Montalcino grapes. These wines are considered some of Italy's best and certainly its most expensive wines. The up and down terrain continued the remainder of the day, culminating in a steep climb to the town of San Quirico d'Orcia.
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| Morning sunrise in Buonconvento |
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| Morning view of our hotel/spa |
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| Steep uphill climb toward the Montalcino wineries |
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| Sangiovese grapes being grown for Brunello wines |
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| Picture postcard perfect view |
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| Stopping for a picture with fields of grapes and other freshly plowed fields as a backdrop |
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| As depicted by this photo, we are in wine and cycling country. Saw numerous groups of cyclists pedaling these hills today. |
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| Our first view of San Quirico d'Orcia |
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