Flashback: Siena, Italy

Flashing back to our summer vacation last year, it is easy to say that of all the places we visited, Siena was our favorite city to visit.  We loved the various districts that the medieval city is divided into: dragon! porcupine! unicorn! GIRAFFE!

The cathedral with the stripes both inside and out was our favorite as well.  The stories laid out in the floor were much more interesting to look at then the religious portraits in other naves.

Tuscan vineyard on our way to Siena

stopping at a winery for a quick taste!

leaving Florence (finally!) and driving into the Siena area

lunch at an amazing cafe and grocery, Menchetti

never seen (nor tasted) tomatoes as beautiful as these

Siena's Palazzo Pubblico, where the Palio, the horse race, is run yearly

Double Eagle contrada sign

Siena Cathedral

Rhino contrada

picnic outside the cathedral, listening to a choir from University of Manchester

an amazing breakfast danish at Nannini's

Giraffa contrada

Mom and Dad on the wall at Montreggino

Volterra

all of us at Volterra

Montreggino

Siena with the Cathedral on the hill

Croissants

I made these.  I have the recipe.  I had a FRENCH PASTRY CHEF show me how to make them.  Okay, so she isn’t technically a chef… YET.  She is a Pastry Student.  But, she shared all her knowledge and technique with me.  I have to say: these are mind-glowingly good.  I will have to make more to perfect the shape and the roll.  So, if you are coming to visit anytime soon, you may be subjected to homemade croissants.  Can you handle that? 

Dumplings and Buns

We must have eaten our weight in buns and dumplings while in Hong Kong.  We found a vendor near our hotel and more often than not, her buns & dumplings were our breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We did mange to get to a 3-starred Michelin dumpling restaurant— it was also dim sum.  We were adventurous there: we ordered the chicken feet.  I thought that they would come in bun form….  

They did not.  They looked like chicken feet.  I managed to eat one, barely.  Will ate the other three.  At one point, he spat out a toe bone and/or toe nail.  The flavor was good, don’t get me wrong, it was just the look of the things.  For the rest of the day, Will has chicken feet jiggling in his belly….

I was happy just sticking to the standard dumplings we found on the street and washing them down with Mango Juice— why isn’t that available here??  It is so good!!  Sticks for forks, mini packets of soy sauce, meat and veg buns: delicious!

Macau

our ferry boat

on the ferry 

One day we took the ferry over to Macau, a 45 minute-ride across the bay.  Macau is another SAR and was a Portuguese colony until 1999.  It has lovely Mediterranean-styled buildings in the main area and then you stumble onto the “Vegas of the East,” gaudy, glitzy buildings full of gamblers, mainly coming from mainland China. 

apartment building in a non-tourist area. 

The main site to see is the ruins of Church of St. Paul.  Once a Jesuit Church, all that remains of it is the front facade.  It was built in 1602 by Japanese Christian exiles, it also served as a military battalion.  It burned 1835, with the fire starting in the kitchen barracks.  All that is left is the facade.  

We were really unimpressed with the ruins and a bit shocked at the throngs of people teeming at the base. It is a UNSECO site, so we can tick one more box on that list.

We went to the Macau Museum that was once a fort.  It details the history of Macau, recreating a firework factory and the recordings of street-sellers in their local dialect.

 Another gray, misty day, the tall Golden Lotus Casino was shrouded in rain clouds.

various kinds of pork jerky for sampling and sale 

The casinos are rather strange because they are really just for gambling.  Vegas has evolved into more than just slot machines and blackjack tables; there are lots of musical acts and culinary places to visits.  In Macau, the sole focus is baccarat.  There really isn’t much in way of high-end restaurants or  famous singers in concert.  The casinos are oddly quiet, with people concentrating on winning big. Also, slot-machines aren’t really popular, so it is mainly table after table after table of baccarat or black jack.

Wynn Casino and the MGM gold-silver-bronze casino

 In the southern peninsula, more of the Portuguese influence still remains.  The A-Ma Temple is dedicated to the Tin Hau, the goddess of the sea, and is from where the Portuguese settlers derived Macau’s name.

Further in on Barra Hill are the Moorish Barracks that housed about 200 Muslim Indian policemen from Goa, another Portuguese colony.  Built in 1874, it is now the headquarters for Macau’s Harbour Authority.

Macau-Taipei Bridge

 We had dinner on Macau and had a lovely beer, Portuguese fried rice, Portuguese chicken, and Portuguese duck.