March 7, 2023 - Siena

Another great day. We left the apartment earlier than planned so we were able to take an earlier bus to Siena. We took the regular bus rather than the rapido because it still brought us earlier to Siena by a few minutes than the direct bus. This bus stopped in a few little towns to pick up passengers but there was not much to see.

After spending a day in the steep narrow streets of Siena, Lisbon (city of 7 hills) is now definitely out of the running for next year. We did a lot of up and down hills, of course if we hadn’t been caching maybe there might have been a few less. We found Siena beautiful with its narrow streets and alleys. There are lots of little covered bridges above the streets connecting to each other as well as a lot of arches. At the end of the day, my fitbit showed 58 flights of stairs.

Juliette as in Romeo and Juliette.

Always hills to climb.

Jacques found another geocache.

Still more steps.

Some sort of rest area.

We spent quite a bit of time in the main square called piazza del campo going from one corner to the next. It is the shape of a shell. Piazza del campo. This is where the famous bareback horse-riding event takes place twice a year in July and in august. It is known as Palio di Siena. The bell tower is 97 meters high.

After a bit of walking around the streets we finally found the cathedral. It is magnificent and very detailed. The cathedral or duomo as they are called in Italy is just as impressive as the one in Florence.

Detailed floor in front of the cathedral.

There were a lot less people here than in Florence. We heard a  few tourist speak French in Siena.

On the way back to Florence we took the rapid bus which was direct. We actually saw more from the highway on this bus than on the one going in the towns. There were lots of farms or maybe they were wineries because they had lots of vineyards around them. Some of the houses had parts added on over the years. Some as many as 7 or 8 sections. The nicest houses, always seem to be on top of a hill overlooking the town below.