San Quirico de Orcia Day Off

I absolutely adore this little village that I have a day off in. Yesterday as I was walking I lost my earbuds for my iPod and of course when I wanted some peppy music to get me through the last part of the uphill...they were gone. I couldn't believe it. I searched my stuff over and over and they were gone. When I got into town, I ran into two girls I had seen on the trail, and one of them held out my earbuds. I had dropped them.  I must have looked thrilled because the two of them started laughing. She didn't speak English, and I don't speak German but Thank you Thank you is universal.

There are two churches in town and neither of them seemed to have any services in them even though today is Sunday.  They still had an ancient and holy atmosphere. This on is Pieve dei Santi Quirico e Giulitta.

It had very little decoration except for this center altar.

A view looking through the wall into the town square and clock tower.

The church is Chisea de Santa Maria.  So when I was sitting in this square tonight having a glass of wine, I got caught up in the most interesting spectacle.  I didn't know quite what to make of it but I am sure there is a lesson there somewhere. This poor young man whose legs were frozen from the waist down was using crutches to hoist himself uphill.  He looked like someone in a mid-squat exercise.  All heads were turned on him but thankfully, mostly discreetly.  As he neared the top of the hill and the entrance to the garden, suddenly there was a calamitous noise at the bottom of the hill.  All heads turned.  And a fit, able-bodied, young man fell off his bicycle with a loud crash.  The crippled man sat down on a bench to watch the goings-on, surely he was glad NOT to be the center of attention.  Finally, the bike-man righted himself and then pumped up his bike tire which had flattened. He then walked his bike to the top of the hill and shook hands with the crippled man, both laughing. As the crippled man made his way into the gardens, out walks four drag queens (?).  One was a six-foot-eight man wearing high heels and a crown and not exactly graceful in high heels.  Another one was an average sized woman (if there really is such a thing) topless, and wearing a sumo-wrestler typed diaper, showing full butt-cheeks.  I decided against a second glass of wine.  Just too weird!  

The altar at the church.

This is a pretty serious library.  Clearly, we have devalued books over the years.

The best news of all was this laundromat.  Thank goodness there was an older Italian couple finishing washing a coverlet and the man showed me through many hand motions how it worked.  I have enough clean clothes to last.  YIPPEE!

What a wonderful night.  I ate at this trattoria both nights I was here.  The first night I had a thick spaghetti (imagine spaghetti the size of a straw) with tiny asparagus and fava beans.  Yum! And tonight I have gnocchi with the same sauce.  As much as I like gnocchi, the fat spaghetti was even better. Both nights I sat on the terrace but tonight there was a cool breeze that really felt like fall.  It was magical.  The only thing missing was Dennis.  And the wine here is so very good but I am in the heart of Tuscany!

Buenconvento to San Quirico de Orcia

So today Dennis headed for the train and I headed for the trail.  Although my definite preference is to have Dennis with me there is something meditative about hiking alone.

Today was all about uphill and more uphill and even more uphill (pant,pant! Gasp Gasp!)  I am not sure if Dennis was lucky to have escaped so much uphill or not.  On the one hand, he didn't have thee struggle but on the other hand, he missed the most beautiful day of the hike.

There were beautiful vineyards as far as the eye could see.  And many villas aka mansions with elaborate gates.  Magnifico!

The vines were heavy with fruit and I snuck a couple of grapes...so sweet!

I had a bit of an incident today.  Anyone who really knows me knows that I am nutty afraid of spiders.  It is the only time I truly play the woman card with Dennis. So I think I have a floater and as I peer over my sunglasses, cross-eyed and upward, when I realized there was a spider on the underside of my big brimmed Aussie hat. I would like to tell you that it was the size of a tarantula but only in my fearful imagination.  It was probably quite small.  I yanked that hat off so fast, forgetting that I had the chin strap pulled tight. I darn near pulled my head off.  I threw the hat on the ground and began a Mexican hat dance on top of it.  After I was sure the spider had met his maker, I looked up and there was an elderly Italian man with a cane giving me a wide berth.  I smiled in what I hoped was a friendly manner and he walked past me probably faster than he has moved in a long time.  Somewhere in Italy tonight, he is probably telling his family a story about a crazy woman, stomping her hat and then grinning like some kind fool afterward.

Amazing!

A little different marker and Camino spelling.

More Camino Art!

Got to love the beautiful flowers.  And although these did not smell...all day I had these bushes that smelled like honeysuckle and a million bees on each one.

In the only small town, I went through was this lovely tribute to pilgrims.

At long last and 17.5 arduous miles later., I see the entrance to the old city of San Quirico de Orcia, a charming village on the world heritage list.

Looking ddown the center of town.

This vehicle was even smaller than a smart car!  I have tomorrow off to explore this wonderful town. I think I have a major head cold.  I sneezed all day and used about a hundred kleenexes.  I couldn't find a drug store open so I will just have to fight through it.  I can assure you, head cold or not, I fully intend to not miss a thing!

Good night and sweet dreams.

Lucignano to Buenconvento

Dennis and I had a glass of wine on this beautiful terrace.  It was perfecto, small breeze and the barking of dogs.  Okay, we could have done without the loud symphony of yips and yaps and howls, but otherwise, it was perfect.  Our hotel provided a superb dinner but the highlight was the potatoes...little Yukon Gold Potatoes sliced and deep fried in something gosh awful (but yummy) like lard or duck fat.  We finished those off in a hurry.

This area is very agricultural.  While we are having so much funs, these farmers are working really hard.  They always wave and smile.  I would probably be a little more grumpy.

Loved this tribute.  The footprint was made by someone with much larger feet than I have! 

Camino Art!

More tribute to the pilgrims.

We didn't actually cross this bridge but it was pretty in the distance.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil!

We saw so many beautiful flowers today.  Magnificent brown hawks soared above us while little orange butterflies danced at our feet.  It was glorious!

Some of the lush greenery that surrounded us.

And the distant mountains, looming forbiddingly as I walk long some relatively flat land. I just know I am going to have to cross them.

Look at the sad sunflowers.  They appeared to be hanging their heads in shame.  I guess their season is over.

Have heard the saying but they really mean it in this area.

The faux gate at Buenconvento, our destination for the night.  True to form, the most significant up was at the end of the day. It was an easy day of 8 miles, but by the time we went to bed, we had walked 10.8 miles primarily because our bags didn't come until 6:30.  We sat on the steps, outside in the cool breeze and every vehicle that went by one of said, "This could be it" and the other one would say "or not." They are supposed to be there no later than 4:00.  Bummer!

A view of the quaint street which is the main street in Buenconvento.

There were two cases of this luscious gelato beckoning us.  And with no luggage and nothing to do,, we gave in pretty quickly. Finally, our stuff arrived, and we cleaned up just in time for an excellent dinner.  Today was Dennis last hiking day as he heads back tomorrow. BooHoo!

Siena to Lucignano

Caio!

A beautiful fountain that we passed on the way trying to get out of Siena.  We hated leaving Siena.  It is a fabulous city, full of old buildings, interesting architecture, and beautiful people.  It had such charm and gelato galore.  My new favorite flavor is almond.

We spent our first hour of the day trying to find the trail.  We walked in grand circles for three and a third miles, only to end up back in the same place over and over.  It would have been funny if it had been someone else.  This is where Dennis was going to have to check me in if I had to ask one more person how to get to the Via Francigena.  We actually took our first break still inside the old town because Dennis needed to use the facilities and I wanted a diet coke.  That was a first.  Usually, we at least make it to next town for either of those things.

I finally figured out that we needed to ask for the Roma Porta. And here it is.  FINALLY some trail markers.  

Once we found our way out of the old city, we walked another two miles or so to reach the city limits.

Looking back on Siena. 

I love the old Roman bridges. 

The path, part road, and part trail was very up and down.  At the highest point of the day was this old iron cross.  Just like on my other Caminos, I am carrying a small stone for a friend whose daughter has cancer.  Many prayers at crosses and churches.  For her and for all of you!

It is nice to see the arrow pointing to Roma, my final destination. That is Dennis putting one foot after another.  We took a total of 36,873 steps!

Another view of the scenery.  This is a field that has just been plowed up.  We are in major farming country and reaping the benefits of it with great salads and vegetables.

Another hiker, in the distance.  We came to several crossroads that were not clear so were able to follow her for some distance.  It is not always safe to follow another hiker because sometimes they are just walking with a backpack.  I have ended up headed into some suburb! And I really hate to backtrack!

It is really bad news to get lost at the beginning and the end.  We had a dickens of a time finding our hotel in a town which means old village.  At long last...our hotel. We did find it but we managed to turn a supposed 11.2-day into a 16-mile day!  It is time for wine so Cheers!