Cheesy grinner that often wears jumpers that match the sky!!!
Cheesy grinner that often wears jumpers that match the sky!!!
Member since:19.02.2004
Reviews:7
Members who trust:1
I travelled across Italy for 4 weeks in summer 2002 and had no intention of going to Sienna until me being the nosey person that I am eavesdropped on people chatting on the train. After which we immediatedly changed trains and arrived in Sienna very late in the afternoon. After the initial difficulty of finding the right bus to the town centre from the train station, we went the wrong way and ended up in a housing estate! - beware on Sundays some buses may travel in one direction, i.e. a circular route meaning some bustops are not used on certain days, if you're lucky a very kind Italian lady will gesture to you that you are waiting for the bus on the wrong side of the road.
Finally reaching the town, my friend and I were gobsmacked for want of a better word at its beauty. A fantastic medieaval city of many meandering streets that glow a fantastic red due to the building materials. All except the duomo that is. A cathedral that can only be desribed as a Zebra of churches. It's all black and white horizontal stripes. Inside this has the most amazing inlaid marble floor that for most of the year is covered over, but in August is reavealed for all to see.
A stones throw from the duomo is the main square or the Il Campo, the focus point of the town. This is a pentagon shaped enclosed area that slopes towards the clock towered town hall, surrounded by many eating places. The main point here is to go when the Palio is on ( August I think). This is when the town is taken over by the bareback horse riders and race them in the il Campo. The town is divided into 17 regions called contrade, each contrade race a horse and dress in their costume for the contrade and wave their flags and parade the town for the weeks surrounding the Palio. This really is worth seeing, words cannot descibe. The regions of the town are easily identifiable, the streets will have beautiful street lights that signify that region.
We were backpacking with the intention of staying in the youth hostel. Beware, August is busy in Sienna. If youth hostelling book in advance, we did not get in for the first night. Finding accomodation last minute was difficult, but there is an agency that is based in a hut like building in the town (most guide books mention it). Here you pay a small fee, a few Euros and they will ring round the hotels etc for you). We eventually found somewhere and were told to meet a man on one of the streets and he will take us to the appartment the agency had found. We did so and he took us down a dark alley and up about 20 flights of stairs, it seemed very sinister and we wondered what we had let ourselves in for. But I'm glad we didn't run , the apartment we had was shared with another couple...2 bed one kitchen , one bathroom, but it was fantastic, high up in overlooking the town in an old building with wonderful rooms. It was suberb. The point here, is don't be put off by first impressions, what may look seedy from the outside can often be wonderful inside, I discovered this across much of Italy. Admittedly it cost us 75 Euros for the 2 of us, which is more than our backpacking budget allowed, but it was well worth it.
The second night we stayed in the youth hostel. Very pleasant, clean, but nothing special (Not like the YH at Florence or Verona). Again, be aware the YH is not close to the town, it is a good walk or bus ride. But for cheap accomodation in a beautiful place you can hardly complain, we certainly didn't.
Sienna for me is magical, it even meant that because we never planned to go there I never got to Venice, but I think I may have found the better place! I can't wait to go back.
Pictures of Siena (Italy)
IL Campo
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Would be nice to go to Italy sometime - and see all the creative areas where all the famous artists worked and all the exotic archetecture - .................................................................................................... ~ ♥ ~ jes ≈≈≈≈{; -)-{{::::: |||||< ♥♥
drewboy 09.06.2004 00:41
great review, I LOVE italy, hve been to venice (ok, lido de jeselo) five times. great country! drew x
Zoe 29.05.2004 17:31
Sounds lovely. I'm hoping to visit Rome on a city break in July. Not quite the same as a summer's backpacking I know, but it will be my first visit to Italy. An engaging review Zx
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![Global Treasures Siena Tuscany, Italy [DVD] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/83348508.jpg "Global Treasures Siena Tuscany, Italy [DVD] [NTSC]")
Feb 19th, 2004
(May 26th, 2004)
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