Day 34 - Local exploring

There is a never ending supply of neat villages to explore in Chianti country. Today we visited two villages .... Castellina in Chianti and Radda in Chianti and a local monastery know for their wines ( what else would a local monastery be known for???). all were very different but all were interesting in their own light. I liked Castellina better than the other two but all were wonderful. We had a nice lunch in Castellina and then ventured on down or up ( whatever ) to Radda and then to the monastery. Check out the fifth picture. It is so typical of Italy. A Wisteria vine that is in a little clay pot that winds up the wall and eventually covers an entire veranda at this house in Radda. And the ninth picture is of a tree up at the monastery ... who knows how old it is but it is majestic in its size and shape. This is why you come to Italy. We did buy a bottle of Vin Santo at the last place which is the sweet wine of the Chianti region and it was the best of the three/four that we have tasted this trip. Tomorrow we are visiting Sienna which is one of the most historic cities in Tuscany. Sienna fought tooth and nail with Florence over the ages for dominance in the region but was never able to quite stay on top of Florence. ( The Medici had more money and thus power and were based in Florence). The two cities hate each other to this day. It is not known for its art like Florence but it is a walled city with one of the best Piazza's in all of Italy. There is a very tall tower in this Piazza that I promise to climb to get some shot from up very high. I did this in room at the Vatican and it nearly killed me. One of the things that I'm over-doing this trip is the climbing. Up to the top of the mountain in Switzerland ... to the top of the tower in Radicofini ... to the top of the Duomo at the Vatican and now to the top of the tower in Sienna. If I don't make it ... send roses. Ciao.