The best way to get to Siena is by bus, otherwise you have to change trains somewhere obscure, as Siena is off the main line.

The bus trip was good, only took about an hour and a half, with beautiful Italian countryside scenery all the way. We arrived outside the city walls, got off at the wrong stop and proceeded up the very steep streets wheeling our suitcases behind us….honestly! a taxi would have taken five minutes but Stephen insisted we could walk it in 10. Half an hour later (of which 10 minutes were used for walking and the rest for stopping and bickering about not getting a taxi) a not very happy, hot and sweaty Karen arrived at the B and B. O yes, and Stephen was there too.

Our room here is lovely…large and airy, and in an 800 year old building, just around the corner from the main square of Siena, which is HUGE and surrounded by towering and majestic old buildings. How did they build them so high….they must’ve had some pretty effective engineering skills – o and a disposable workforce of peasants probably helped.

We are on the third floor of our building and there are about 80 steps up to our room…my leg muscles are getting seriously toned. We have our own toilet and sink in a wee tasteful cubby hole bathroom. There is a huge white tiled bathroom with the shower across the hall. This bathroom is shared, but so far we haven’t seen anyone else. (no, not because we haven’t had showers Dan).

Siena has banned traffic banned from the main centre, except for residents, service vehicles and buses. Scooters and pushbikes are allowed up to a certain level, just outside the main square.

On our first day, after wandering around for a bit to get an overview of where we were, we decided to hire bikes for the next day. Not such a great idea it turned out, as it was a scorcher of a day, the streets were a bit too steep for me to handle, and outside the city walls where it wasn’t so steep, there was heaps of traffic and I was a bit freaked out!! Persevered, but ended up pushing my bike quite a lot.
Amazing views of the countryside tho’. Because the towns and cities here are built on hills, the views from the high spots are endless, countryside fading off into a ‘distance haze’ rather than obstructed by suburban sprawl.

The next day I insisted that we act like proper tourists, cruise around some galleries, churches and shops, and enjoy lunch and a glass of wine sheltered from the midday heat under an umbrella belonging to one of the many cafes.

This we did and it was very relaxing and enjoyable. Bought a 10 euro ticket for ‘Siena’s treasures’ which got us into 5 different places: Duomo (cathedral) Battisterro, (baptismal church), Museo Dell Opera and Cripto. All UTTERLY amazing, as you can see below. We also took a wander around the university grounds, where there was a very pleasant garden, and we sprawled in the shade of a tree for half an hour.

We finished the day with a picnic atop the castle walls. The walkway around these walls is probably one of the flattest parts of Siena – hence it seems to be a bit of a ‘jogger’s track’, but we sat on a stone seat and enjoyed our deli food, including strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. As always our feet by this time of day were sore but it was worth pushing ourselves to get there and see the famous golden Tuscan sunset glowing off the terracotta walls of the city below us.

So, Siena is beautiful, but a bit tricky to get around. There are lots of tourists and we’ve heard English spoken more here than anywhere else so far on our travels.
Because of the number of tourists, it’s also a bit more expensive than elsewhere. I’ve tried very hard to be sensible and not do too much shopping here!

Tomorrow we catch a bus to Firenze (Florence). Everyone says it’s fantastic so looking forward to that!!

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