{"id":11267,"date":"2012-09-25T20:51:48","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T20:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cncadventures.com\/?p=11267"},"modified":"2020-06-16T21:09:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T21:09:33","slug":"where-can-we-catch-a-bus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cncadventures.com\/?p=11267","title":{"rendered":"Where Can We Catch A Bus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Siena, Tuscany, Italy, Tuesday, September 25, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In the Duomo<\/p><\/div>\n

We sleep in this morning and then head over to the Duomo. We wanted to do this before too many bus tours show up. We buy a combination pass for the Duomo, it’s museum, Baptistry, and crypt as well as another site. The Duomo dates back to 1215 and is a treasure trove of art, sculpture, stained glass, and inlaid floors. Along the top of the nave are the carved heads of 172 Popes who reigned from Peters time to the 12th century. There are large striped columns and the floor was paved with inlaid tiles depicting scenes from the old testament and was worked on for almost two hundred years by over forty artists. There is an alter to Piccolomini designed as a tomb for the then Cardinal of Siena. He became Pope Pius III and was buried in the Vatican so the tomb here was never used. It has a Michelangelo statue of St. Paul. There is a carved pulpit by Nicola Pisano and a stained glass rose window by Duccio.<\/p>\n

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Piccolomini Library<\/p><\/div>\n

The Bernini chapel contains works from this master sculptor and was the last work in the cathedral dating from 1659. Above the alter is the Madonna del Voto painted by Duccio and containing real crowns of gold and jewels. The Piccolomini Library was frescoed by Pinturiccio with scenes from the life of Pope Pius III. There is so much to see and look at that it is pretty overwhelming. We spend well over an hour in the church.
\nNext we stop in the crypt which is really the site of an old 12th century church that was filled in with dirt to provide a foundation for the Duomo. It has been recently excavated and contains the oldest frescoes in town. It is amazing how they had to put new supports for the Duomo in order to excavate this church.
\nThe Baptistry is next and is small but beautiful. The pedestal of the baptismal font is decorated with brass panels by Ghiberti ( whose work we saw last trip in Florence) and Donatello.<\/p>\n

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Stained Glass from the Duomo<\/p><\/div>\n

The Duomo museum is last on our list and contains many of the original statues of the cathedral by Giovanni Pisano. A picture on the wall shows where they were in the church. It also has the original Duccio stained glass window from the cathedral, which was moved here recently. At ground level, you can really appreciate how big it is. We can’t imagine how they removed it and brought it here in one piece.
\nThere is a room which contains panels from the main alterpiece of the Duomo. A professor is here with his class so we sit down and get a free art and history lesson, learning that some pieces were cut out and sold individually and legally at some point to collectors and sit in museums in London and other places.<\/p>\n

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CNC Siena<\/p><\/div>\n

Lastly, we get to climb up spiral stairs to the top of a walled arch that was originally supposed to be the back of the church. Siena wanted to build a bigger cathedral than Florence so in the 1330s started on this extension. The plague hit, killing thousands along with the financial support they would have given and the project was never completed.
\nLeaving the museum, we headed to II Campo for a slice of pizza in the square. For 2.50E each, we get two hugh slices of sausage and pepperoni pizza and sit in the square eating and people watching.
\nWe are done sightseeing for the day but need to find out about buses in two days to our next destination of Montepulciano. We had originally planned on taking a train to a town called Chiusi and then a bus, although I could not find any good timetables or info on bus service from Chiusi to Montepulciano. We asked our landlord who told us to just take a bus from Siena to Montepulciano, it is much better. He said it left from the main terminal where we arrived and there was a ticket information office there. The TI also said it was better to take a bus. So, with our free time we go to find out about the bus. At the Piazza Gramschi bus terminal, we find the ticket place and I ask the lady about the bus to Montepulciano. She tells me it does not leave from here, it leaves from the train station and to buy tickets there.<\/p>\n

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Siena and Tuscany<\/p><\/div>\n

We walk a mile down to the station and there is a TI there so I go in and one person speaks English so I ask about whether it is better to take a train and then bus or a bus. It is easier and better to take bus from Siena to Montepulciano is the reply. Do you have a schedule for Thursday morning? She looks it up on line and says the first bus is at 1315 and leaves from Piazza Gramschi. I tell her we were just there and the bus person said there is no bus from there it is down here. This causes a conversation with another Italian agent, more searching and a response of, it leaves from a totally different bus terminal called Porta Ovile. I ask her what web site she used for schedules, thank her, and as we walk out notice a bus ticket office for Tiemme, the bus company web site she just gave me. Walk in there, little English but ask about bus to Montepulciano Thursday morning. Response is no bus in morning, the bus leaves at 1350. I ask where is the stop and he says right here at the train station. I say not at Piazza Gramschi or Pota Ovile. He says no bus up there just here. Great system, 3 people, 3 answers, 3 different times. We decide to take the train as plan and hope for the best in Chiusi! Mission Impossible will start on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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Antipasto Di Charlie<\/p><\/div>\n

There is a big supermarket across from the station and we have decided to eat in so we go shopping. Walk the 1.6 miles back to the room and relax with our view. Later, I make Antipasto Di Charlie, and we have it and some wine on our balcony. After digesting, we cook our fresh tortellini that we bought, one kind which is stuffed with pumpkin. Dinner is fantastic, we get to watch the sunset and feel like we live in the neighborhood. A nice ending to a great day even with the confusing nobody knows where the bus from Montepulciano leaves Siena from and neither will we, event.
\nCNC
\n“Travel teaches Toleration” – Benjamin Disraeli<\/strong>
\nExpenses
\n24E-Duomo Combination Pass for two
\n5E- 2 jumbo slices pizza from Pizzeria La Trofea , Via Rinaldini 12
\n18.48E- mozzarella, beer, coke, salami, bottle of wine, sauce, tortellini with spinach and ricotta, tortellini with pumpkin, olives, tomatoes, and bread from PAM supermarket by train station
\n65E- BNB<\/p>\n

Miles Walked – 5.7 Miles<\/p>\n\n\t\t