We thought we should go and see some sights, as it was a Thursday after all. Originally Florence was on the cards, then Assisi, but once we had a look on a map it looked like a 4 hour drive, so we settled on the wonderful medieval town of Siena, about an hour south of Florence, so about 2 hours from us. The weather had other ideas. We were all set to go when a storm came rumbling down the valley. Rain drops the size of basketballs (at least in my memory) hurtled towards the house, exploding on impact. The fog drew near, at one point we couldn't even see our neighbours down the road.
But all storms must pass. And this one did, but the rain hung around. Undeterred we headed down the autostrade for Siena. A note to future travellers, August isn't a great time to visit Siena. As its reputation grows on the tourist trail, the visitors surge especially for this month and while they do provide quite a lot of parking, it fills up fast. We hovered around a car park in the rain waiting for someone to leave so we could take their place. After a while, and a tight squeeze we got out, put on our hats and headed into the walled city.
Thankfully the rain stopped on our arrival. We headed for il campo, the memorable heart of Siena, a piazza where the Palio, a horse race between city teams, is held twice a year. I've been to Siena a few times, but on every occasion I emerge from the narrow street, down the steps into Il Campo I feel a sense of wonder at the size of the natural amphitheatre and the scale of the palace at the other side.
We replenished ourselves with some pizza in a bustling cafe and dad nestled down with Mitchener to let Heather and I tire ourselves out by running around to see the sights. Our first stop was to climb all 102m of the tower of the Palazzo Publico. We bought our tickets, handed in our bags and huffed and puffed our way to the top. The view from the top was breathtaking. 'You all look like ants from up here' heather exclaimed. It's not a good place to be claustrophobic, and thankfully neither of us are, but the final sets of stairs to the top are pretty tiny. The wind cooled us down and we tried to pick out the figure of dad engrossed in a book.
From there we went to the zebra-striped duomo. It's a huge cathedral, and was set to be the biggest in the world. The started building a giant nave, to rival the basillica in Rome, only just like the Wembley stadium, they went over-budget and ran out of money. So there is a half completed bit of church lying there. Inside, the cathedral is beautiful. Every inch is decorated. The highlight for me is the library, with ornate frescoes by Piccolomini. They depict the life of Pope Pius II. By the time we had marvelled at the marble floor and the paintings it was time to leave and meet dad.
We headed home and stopped in a local pizzeria in Ponte a Moriano. Here we were greated by a large smiling woman like an Asterix character. I went for the meatiest pizza I could find and added extra sausage, for what was a delight to weary travellers. Dad had pasta and then some pork, and heather had an onion and sausage pizza. We even managed some homemade ice cream with forest fruits afterwards. Sleepy, happy and replenished we slinked home to bed.
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