Day in Siena

Siena


I think the first thing I want to say about Siena is that we should have stayed longer. What a beautiful city and very easy to get around. We checked into our hotel, which was Albergo Chiusarelli. Susie, the hotel snob didn’t like our first room, which we had six steps up, then down a hall and six steps back down. She didn’t like the room because it was to close to the city bus stop. She then requested another room. This room was on the third or forth floor. Oh, did I tell you there was no elevator. Only 40 steps with the luggage this time. Finally settled.

It was Wednesday and they have this street market every Wednesday. Very large. Oh, more shopping and those bags are getting heavier and heavier. Got some great buys at the market.

They were also having this NBA Jam in this square by the market. This will be great I thought I can buy Nick a great t-shirt. They’re were some Italian basketball players there who play for the Siena team. Of course they are from the US. Nick if you spoke Italian maybe, you could get a job here. Anyway they wouldn’t let me just buy a t-shirt, I had to join something to get it. So I put down some fake info and paid the fee to get the shirt.

Back to the hotel to drop our purchases off. Started back out and did more shopping. It was starting to rain a little and we decided we were hungry. We found this great place that was tented and had this great statue beside it.

We had an antipasto first. Susie and I decided to have wine and so the waiter brought us a bottle of house wine. Guess we might be here awhile. There is always bread on the table. Did I mention in Italy you really don’t have to tip. Maura also told us that the first night. Anyway, we also had salami and cheese. All of a sudden it started to down pour and I mean downpour. They even put the sides of the tent down and you see it really raining. Wow, how long was this going to last and I didn’t bring my raincoat because it didn’t look like rain. Oh well back to eating, drinking and visiting the couple at the table next to us. They were from Germany and had been traveling in Northern Italy hiking. He shared video clips of their journey. Great way to spend a rainy afternoon. Ok, now back to the food; I ordered gnocchi again and Susie had some pasta with mushrooms and cream sauce. They use mushrooms a lot here and they are delicious. We had tiramisu again. I am never having tiramisu again when I get home because it will never taste like this. After a couple of hours sitting, eating and drinking we decide we better get a move on.

Jean at Il Campo

They have very beautiful boutiques here. So many interesting and fascinating things. Lot’s of pottery here also. I made one contact that I will follow up on when I get home. The name of the road that we continued to shop on was di Sopra and di Catta. These two roads led us to the big square called Il Campo. This is where they have a horse racing event, called Palio and it is held on July 2 and August 16. The seventeen city neighborhoods challenge each other in this historical race. The neighborhood that wins get honored for the year by flying their flag.

Can’t visit a town without visiting a church. So we went to Bacilica St. Govanii. Spectacular! This was built with all white and black stone. They are all so unusual and full of much art.








We then went to dinner at a little place across from St. Catherine’s Cathedral. We decided this would have been a good place to spend more time. We decided to take a later bus to Florence so we could have a few more hours here.

After checking out and carrying our luggage down all those steps again. We did a little more exploring. We had lunch at this great little outdoor café that overlooked the town and across to the Basilica. Great food and a great view. Walked with the luggage to the bus station, more cobblestones. Which bus to get on and in which area. Gotta get there fast because they always leave on time and do we have to validate this ticket? On the bus or in the bus? All these decisions. There is outside validation so let’s do it outside and hope we are right. Finally on the bus and heading to Florence. Now we can relax for 2 hours.

Stay tune……..