Sorano

That was on Sunday, and this post is late. I will claim a medical certificate as I'm nursing a cold. Although it does not slow me during the day, I'm rather unmotivated once back at the apartment. Also, planning for after Rome needed to be done. We are going south to Matera, where the ancient cave dwellings are still occupied, and Naples.

Back to Sunday, and our Choo Choo ride.

It was a chilly minus 5 deg C when we walked through the misty, early morning medieval streets of Siena. The town was yet to wake, the streets were quiet. Emersed in the old grey buildings and cobbled streets of the Middle Ages, we were reminded of modernity only with the tiny garbage trucks, smaller than an average Australian ute, and the 3 sets of escalators that took us from Siena town atop a hill to the train station at the bottom. Led by the stream of smoke that rose from the train tracks, we hurried to catch the train. It was a turn of the century old steam train (literally manufactured in 1900) that would take us through picturesque Val D'Orca to San Quirico d Orcia, a little Tuscan hilltop village with its annual olive festival.

Riding on an original steam train has a charm and thrill that is just indescribable. To be greeted by a 3 men brass band and be surrounded by wildly gesticulating, loud Italians who were all just as excited added to the atmosphere. We saw the engineer manually attach the carriages to the locomotive, then oil and check all the bits that needed oiling and checking. Then it was the actual chug - - chug - - chug - -chug out of the station, slow accelerating chug- chug- chug to chugachugachuga as we passed through the rolling Tuscan countryside. Magical!

And the 3 men brass band were in the train. Going from carriage to carriage, they played Christmas carols and songs we could recognise and sing to in English. We just giggled all journey, stopping only to "ohhhh" wide-eyed at the scenery.

San Quirico de Orcia is just the sweetest little medieval hamlet atop a hill surrounded by the gorgeous Tuscan countryside. The towns people were so welcoming and friendly. Whatever we wanted and wherever we were, they would somehow find someone who spoke a little broken English to help interprete. We saw a flag throwing competition called by the town prier. We ate skewers of barbecued meat, panini rolls with suckling pig, and all sorts of sausages and stuffed meats. We even managed a tour of a micro beer brewery, with an interpreter borrowed from the escargot stand, used their bathroom and had a taste of Tuscan beer. Of course, we tasted lots of olive oil on pieces of bread as big as my palm. Everyone wanted us to taste everything in their range. We were very very well fed. It was altogether a totally
Italian experience. What I found most hilarious was that hardly any one spoke a word of English, but all through the festive town, the Christmas carols blaring through loudspeakers, were all in English.

After 4 hours in town and walking a tiny part of the pilgrim trail outside town, we were chuga-chugged to various stages of sleepiness and sleep on the journey back to Siena.Read more