April 11th-13th – Siena

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Check-out was at 10am and there was a queue waiting to leave. It was another beautiful day and we were on the road again without too much delay heading south to Siena. It was only about 80km, so we thought we would take a short detour to a little town called SanGimignano with it’s ‘14 grey stone towers set on a hilltop and surrounded by an outer wall’. Unfortunately a few thousand other tourists thought they would do the same on a fine Easter weekend so parking was at a premium and we ended up driving straight through. We stopped just outside the town to take a couple of photos and then carried on to Siena, arriving early in the afternoon. We set up camp in a really nice spot overlooking the rest of the grounds and across the valley to the old town. Once again, it wasn’t the cheapest campsite but it was the only one in Siena, we could catch a bus at the gate and we got a 10% discount with a voucher from the Pisa campsite. I went for a walk that afternoon down the hill and up the other side and found out exactly how near the old part of town was.
We caught the bus the next morning - it was packed and it took the long way around the winding streets. I reckon I could have walked there faster! Never mind, we got there in the end and started finding our way around. There are a lot of similarities between old, walled medieval towns like Pisa, Lucca and Siena - walls, Churches, piazzas, palazzos and narrow cobbled streets - but it’s their differences that set them apart. With Siena it was it’s famous Piazza del Campo at the heart of the city which is shaped like a scallop and slopes down to the façade of the Palazzo Pubblicco (Town Hall). Eight white lines radiate outwards dividing the area into nine segments each symbolising one of the forms of government that ruled Siena during the 13th and 14th centuries, and twice a year they host a medieval festival which includes a dangerous bareback horse race around the Piazza. (Apparently the only rule of the three lap race is that jockeys are not allowed to pull on the reins of other horses) The Palazzo Pubblico also had an 88m tower which I climbed to the top of for some great views of the town and surrounding countryside, and by reaching out over the edge the Campo itself with the aid of the camera. The rest of the town was also very interesting even if it was more Churches and narrow cobbled streets; the Duomo was as impressive as any but Siena, more than the previous cities, seemed real and authentic and the inhabitants were proud of their heritage - as evidenced by the bi-annual festival and the supporter’s flags for sale in the shops. We enjoyed walking around Siena and were going to catch the bus back but unfortunately not all of them were running so we ended up with a walk back to the campsite to finish off a tiring day.
Next morning we were off again for a couple of rest days at Lake Trasimeno near Passignano.

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Photos

Siena
Not so narrow street with San Francesco Church

Siena
Duomo from the tower, complete with cover over it's dome for restoration

Siena
View from the tower lookin east over the Tuscan countryside

Siena
Piazza del Campo from the tower

Siena
Narrow streets

Siena
The Duomo with facade begun by Giovanni Pisano.

Siena
Duomo belltower with its green and white marble candystripes

Siena
Palazzo Pubblico and the tower - Torre del Mangia.

Siena
Dobbie at the campsite complete with awning.