Wednesday market & vineyard visit

Yesterday we went to visit the "Wednesday market" in Siena, which is one of Italy's most visited tourist attractions and only 101 km from Carmignano in Prato, where we are staying. It might have been the biggest market I have ever seen with endless corridors of maybe hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of stuff from food to cheap clothes and kitchenware. I found a coral-coloured cotton beach shirt I quite liked for only 10€. I don't think it will come out of the washing machine in one piece, but hopefully I'm wrong. 

The place was crowded so I guess the market day is really a big thing here. The Lonely Planet guide says this is the biggest weekly market in Tuscany and so it definitely seemed!

A brief pause at a nice gelateria and we're good to go again! All sorts and tastes, yummy!

We came by this interesting shop that sells local food. We tried freshly-baked focaccia straight from the oven (absolutely delicious) and bought some pastes to be used on bruschetta bread. These products would make great souvenirs as well!

The last stop for yesterday was Monteriggiano, another small (way smaller than Siena!) town in Tuscany. They were getting ready for a medieval festival that starts tomorrow (12th July) and I'm sure the town is well worth visiting during the fiesta. We stopped for a drink at this bar osteria; good service, nice spot and a reeeeally warm weather. Perfect moment. 

For today we had reserved a tour ar the Castello di Verrazzano (http://www.verrazzano.com/en/) vineyard. 

The tour started at 11 AM and the following lunch ended around 1 PM. Our guide was an English-speaking lady, who was fluent and knowledgeable and a lot of fun to listen to. The tour group was quite small and therefore the experience felt pretty intimate. She gave attention to every guest and made sure that everybody enjoyed themselves. Totally a five-star plus experience, highly recommended!! Also the tasting session, followed by lunch, was a success. Their Chianti Classico and Riserva were fantastic and we bought many bottles of them both. 

Tomorrow is the shopping day (!!!) in Firenze and the outlet mall nearby. I'll tell you all about it a bit later!