RADDA IN CHIANTI & SIENA

We arrived at Radda late in the evening and checked into Palazzo Leopold. Dr. Doolittle worked his charm on a cat that we met in the street -- she reciprocated by sitting outside our restaurant shouting for him throughout our supper. Lovely restaurant Al Chiasso, small and intimate.

More walking around, pretty pretty pretty. Walled town with narrow cobbled streets, lots of visitors and much to see. Thankfully the weather was kind to us and the rain held off.

After Radda, we continued our drive, leaving Tuscany and heading towards Umbria. Before leaving Toscana though, we made our final stop in Siena.

Larger and busier than the previous towns, Siena is a city within a city -- the outskirts are modern and commercial, the interior is medieval and bustling with tourists. The cathedral is stunning -- the interior is different to anything I'd expected,  black and white marble - just stunning visually.





The piazza outside is where every summer they hold the horse races...something G had done when he was last there, some 20 years before. He remembers standing, crushed in the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of the horses racing around the square. Sadly we missed it, but I took a photo of a postcard...

We spent the night in Siena -- we found the hotel last minute (literally) in the Michelin guide. It was good but not that good. Walking around the city, we found so many more places that we would have preferred to spend the night in, smaller/more intimate/quainter but we didn't complain, we were happy to be there.


We ate at a lovely restaurant called Osteria Le Logge on Via del Porrione. The dining room walls are covered in bookcases, it's a quaint and lowkey place.

Siena is home to many delicious foods and we stocked up on panforte for Christmas gifts

Bidding our farewells to Tuscany the next (mist laden) morning, we headed out in our little rental car (little being the operative word) towards Umbria....