Siena - Day 20 Tour - Palio di Siena

So this morning a bit of a sleep 8n with comfy beds. Kirah went for a walk while I showered and then we got ready for brekky.

Had a yummy brekky and then back to the room. Kirah had a bit of a snooze as she is not feeling great. We then decided to walk over to the pool and spend a couple of hours working on our fans 😁😁😁 just relaxed and the water was a bit chilly but I liked it.

Organised our ride into Siena for the race and went back to our room to get ready. Took some Lucy's and then the taxi arrived to pick us up.

Arrived in Siena and it's crazy, but a good crazy 😁😁😁, the people for each Contrada (district) where out parading the streets with their flags and drummers etc. The out fits were medieval. This is serious business.

So the race goes like this. The horses and jockeys ate kept separate from everyine so that they cannot be tampered with. Each contrado has a stable that the hirse is kept in once it is pickled. There is no betting on the race, however the jockeys vie with each other and officials to get poll position which is the inside track. The jockey that does the best job will be priced and will be the first puck for each Contrado the next year. The prize money is $700,000 euros and the winner (contrado) has to pay for the whole thing, but the honour and prestige of winning is what it is all about.

Thete is about 4 hours of parades around the track before the race culminating in a wagon being pulled by four white bulls, the BIGGEST bulls I have ever seen. The police race their horses around the track with swords drawn. A big day.

The race is set to start at 7 pm, however there is no starting gate and it can take a while to get the horses to line up and be ready. It took so long tonight. Apparently if they can't get them sorted before dark the r save gets held over until the next day.

Anyway we had balcony seats, no way would I have coped not saw anything in the general admission in the middle of the track.

The race took three laps and about 30 - 40 seconds and it was done, but what a race. We were sitting right above a corner that was swuate not circular and as they raced around this cirner a rider clipped the fence with his leg asnd cane off but managed to get out of the way, but it crested another rider to cone off his horse and her was run over by a couple of horses. The ambulance peopke raced ourmt obto the track to get him, they got him onto the stretcher abd started to gwt off the track but dropped him, they only just got him to the fence as the horses came around again. It was intense.

The first rider that came off, his horse went on to win the race as once started they can finish without their rider. CRAZY.

We said our good byes to our host a and had dinner and back to the hotel. An early start in the morning, heading for Cinque Terre in the morning by three trains 😁😁😁

Crazy day that I would not have missed for the world.Read more