Beautiful Tuscany: An Evening in Siena

August 4, 2010

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After an amazing afternoon in Florence (here and here), we started our drive back to Ansedonia. But since Siena was practically on the way, we decided to stop there for a little sightseeing and dinner. By now you must think we are completely food-oriented

But who wouldn’t be when touring Tuscany?

This is a sign we saw between Florence and Siena. Cute and shocking at the same time! Makes me wonder how many people are cruel enough to dump their pets somewhere before going on vacation…

il bastardo sei tu

After a good hour, we arrived in Siena and had a little trouble finding a parking spot. I later realized that Siena was just not built for cars and we were actually lucky to find a parking spot at all! Marco had been there before with his parents, but I had ever been to Siena. So we spent some time just walking around. Since it was a more or less unscheduled trip we didn’t look up any information on it either. I was so positively surprised by Siena! It is such a beautiful city and I hope to spend more time there in the future. The streets are tiny and there is no space for cars, yet there are so many beautiful sights! We walked up the hill to the Duomo di Siena and it is amazing! We never even made it inside the upper cathedral because it was so late in the day, but they still let us in the Baptistry right below and all the black-and-white marble everywhere is quite a sight! We walked around the cathedral and then headed to the Piazza del Campo. This is where they hold medevial horse races twice a year, the Palio di Siena. I can only imagine how crazy that must be!

Siena

inside the baptistry

cathedral

more cathedral

one of the many tiny streets in Siena

Piazza del Campo

view from the middle

On our way back to the car we discovered the cutest little restaurant with beautiful views of Siena: Il Ristorante Di Nonno Mede. It was a lucky find! We had a really good dinner there with beautiful views and we didn’t even pay too much for it. Only wish we could have shared a bottle of red wine and stayed the night Instead we headed back to Ansedonia after dinner. But if and when we go back to Siena, we’ll definitely come here again!