Sept. 18, 2008 - Chianti (Tuscany)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Second Day Siena. We needed to meet Roberto Bechi at 9:00am for our tour of Chianti. “Tours with Roberto” is a tour recommended by Rick Steves. In fact Roberto has been on 3 of his episodes (we have seen one of them). It was a great overview for someone who has limited time in the region. And since we chose not to have a car, it seemed like a good way to get around the hill towns of Tuscany. Roberto first took us to an Etruscan archeological site. The Etuscans were the Italian civilization that preceeded the Romans. We then had a scenic drive, a walk through a small castle village, lunch, and finally a tour of a small winery tour called Isodi vineyards. A small family vineyard. The wine was good, we bought 3 bottles. It was a nice tour, Roberto is quite a character. Not sure if he appreciated my questioning. I tend to engage the tour guides. Becky and I were the only ones on the tour, so it was effectively our own personal tour.

Roberto did make a comment about Becky and I. He said we were humble. I was a little surprised, he knew we were Americans so how could he say such a thing. I was glad to have heard that, we try to be good guests in other countries. He did complain about other Americans he had on previous tours, especially a lady from the south who would say "eee-talians" for Italians.

That evening Roberto suggested a restaurant in Siena called Guidoriccio. It was excellent. Given Roberto’s relationship with Rick Steves I was surprised it is not in the guidebooks. Maybe it is above the Rick Steves price range. I had raw marinated pork, thinly sliced over a cheese and surrounded by radicchio. It was great and Becky had strips of steak. One of the owners even took time to help me with my Italian.

We then went to bed so that we could catch our cab at 4:30am to make sure we got to our Uffizzi Museum appointment in Florence at 8:15am.

Impressions

I appreciated Roberto’s tour. But he does come off a bit arrogant and less than open-minded. He contradicted the information we had heard at the museum, so I called him on it. Sorry about that. He didn’t really like my contrasting Italians with the French. I really wasn’t trying to make a judgment, I am just more familiar with the French and was doing a comparison for the sake of my own education. After all, that is what travel is about?

Siena is a nice city, but it was a bit larger than Becky and I were expecting. There are many tour groups there during the day. The evening was much quieter. Mostly English is spoken in the restaurants. Many Americans stay in the town, probably thanks to Rick Steves.

The Siena hotel, Piazzo Ravizza, was nice enough. It definitely had a rustic feel with a large room. Personally I never felt that comfortable except in the rear garden area with my cup of caffe. I slept well but Becky had some problems with the bed. Our view from the window had a more back alley feeling with some street noise and at 230 euro an evening it was a bit expensive.

Visions of Chianti Back Patio of our hotel