Pistoia’s Saturday Market

A sand sculpture at the market

July 15: We didn't rush off to the market, but Gianna had told us that we shouldn't miss this, so we did bestir ourselves to finish breakfast in a timely manner so we could get going. We called for a taxi, waited at the drive for quite a while, and finally here came the car. This driver was really pleasant, and he knew English pretty well. We had asked him to take us to the Piazza del Duomo--and he did, despite the market stalls all around. Oh, and it was already hot (of course).

What a market! Blocks and blocks of goods, mostly clothing, but also toys, used goods, gifts, and food (fresh and prepared). All three of us had some possible goals for this adventure.

For instance, both Cindy and I were thinking it would be nice to have some cooler clothes. When we packed our suitcases back in May, we weren't considering really hot weather. Also, we were trying hard to pack clothes that wouldn't give us away as American tourists, so we especially avoided shorts, thinking we wouldn't have reason to wear them (since shorts were sort of frowned upon in churches and restaurants, etc.). With only a carry-on suitcase and a backpack each, we had to pack sparingly.

The result: Cindy and I both found and purchased shorts (that, of course, have gone deep into the closets now that we're back in the Bay Area) that were so much more comfortable for hanging out at the farmhouse. Whew!

Terrie was looking for gifts for her granddaughters. That was much more difficult, and I honestly don't recall whether she found anything there.

We wandered through many streets of stalls. After the big shorts purchases, our attention shortly went to finding the food stalls, which I figured might be in the Piazza della Sala (that's where I had seen them during our morning wanderings a couple of days before). Sure enough, we found many stands overflowing with fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. Oh, and there was a small meat shop we went into because Terrie wanted to get some chicken for dinner that night. That particular meat shop sold only horse meat. We passed.

For some reason, I took not one photograph of that market. Maybe I was too hot to get my phone out.

Once we had made our food purchases, it was time for a little break, so we found a lovely tiny bakery just off the piazza. Their baked specialty was cookies of many kinds. There was no seating inside, so we planted ourselves on the steps and enjoyed our late morning coffee.

Then it was on to the grocery store, which we found pretty easily. I have a pretty decent photographic memory, so once I've been to a place I can usually navigate easily back to it. We got the chicken and a couple of other items we hadn't picked up at the market, and then we called for a taxi (by this time, I was using an app on my phone to do this). It's almost the same system as Uber or Lyft; I would be given the taxi number and its license plate number so I'd know what to look for--and how many minutes it would be before arrival.

We were thrilled to see that the same taxi driver from earlier in the day was coming to pick us up. We now had a friend... And when we got back to the house, I asked him if we could call directly for him when we needed a ride. He gave me his card, and I assured him he would be hearing from us again.

R&R time...we went off to our bedrooms. Cindy slept and I worked on a blog post. And then it was dinner time. Terrie was making a special chicken dish that evening, and it was the most exciting event of the day (even more exciting than buying the shorts--which we were now wearing). We did capture the chef in her kitchen:

In fact, we caught her in action:

And then Cindy took a video of not just Terrie prepping dinner but also included a short tour of the entire ground floor and east patio (be sure to unmute the sound);:

It occurred to us that the lower apartment of this house was unoccupied that day, as it was between renters, so it was a good time to get some shots of that part of the house.

The view from the lower apartment:

And some olives (proof of where we were):

Waiting for dinner to cook:

Approaching the east patio and our front door:

Dinner that evening was delicious!

And that, dear reader, was the end of another low-key day in Pistoia--which was a heck of a lot more exciting than the following two days.

On the 16th and 17th, we stayed home. We sat through looooong breakfasts, then went inside and amused ourselves until lunchtime, did R&R in the afternoon, then gathered for dinner and long evenings on the patio. Lovely times.

We had planned other excursions, including a day in Rome, but it was too hot. The high in Rome that week was around 107' and a lot of tourists were suffering. We decided we just didn't need to do that to ourselves.

We did make the decision that we would go to Pisa on the 18th. That's the next post, so come back soon.