Friday, March 23, 2018

A Round Trip through Tuscany and Umbria: First Stop Siena

WRITING AND PHOTOS BY MONIKA CSAPO






When talking about Tuscany many people think instanly of Florence- it was the same in my case as well. Thanks to a random travel plan from the internet and my favorite book I got the inspiration to visit an other famous city in Tuscany I had not seen yet: Siena.

I was not disappointed, I liked Siena from the minute on I arrived. Because lack of information I chose unintentionally the longer way to get to the old town. Usually you can get easily to old town by three different bus lines from the train station. I went from the third floor of Porta Siena through the escalators to the city centre. Then my phone's battery died and I started to walk to the wrong direction. This way I ended up at a residential area which looked very nice with its old villa-style houses and meanwhile I could enjoy a great view of the old town build on the hillside in the other side of the city.


Piccolomini Library

The beautiful ceiling of Piccolomini Library

Street view at night in Siena old town

A sandwich from the deli

Stationery store

The entrance hall of Civic Museum

Beautiful renessaince art at Civic Museum, Palazzo Publico

Civic Museum, Palazzo Publico

Civic Museum, Palazzo Publico



Old town Siena


Nannini


Breakfast at Nannini

The inner yard of a historical building


The next day I started with a breakfast at Nannini and went to see the main sights afterwards. The center of Siena is full of nice little squares and side alleys and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site because of its historical value. The main sights of the center are the Siena Duomo (Santa Maria Assunta Cathedral), Palazzo Publico, Torre del Mangia and Civic Museum on Piazza del Campo and Basilica of San Domenico. But you will see many beautiful things also just by simply walking around in the old town.

The city is full of wolf statues referring to the old Roman myth of Romolus and Remus and the other local specialty is the ice cream and chocolate shops, the stationery shops with beautiful papercuts and postcards and the little trattorias and delis. It is an experience in itself to try one of these little delis. You can get a sandwich here, taste the local pastries, cheese or sweets and all this does not even cost that much at all. 

Siena looks beautiful at night as well. It is worth to take a random walk, follow the streets and see where they take you.

The biggest part of your travel budget will go for entrance tickets here. But if you have to choose I rather recommend you to cut from your restaurant or shopping budget if needed because those museum tickets in Siena will be worth the money. I did not go up to Torre del Mangia because it was closed because of the snow situation but there was an excellent view from the tower of Museo dell'Opera on Santa Maria Assunta Cathedral and Piazza del Campo. My favorites were the interior of Siena Cathedral, Civic Museum, Piccolomini Library and the view on Siena from the tower of Museo dell'Opera.

I could not see everything I planned but I heard that there are some other beautiful fountains in Siena besides the one I saw and there were really good reviews on Museo dell'Aqua.



Estimated budget for a day trip to Siena:

Train from Pisa: 10.8 -14.8 eur (one direction)
you can buy them on Trenitalia and GoEuro homepages online

Bus tickets for Siena local busses: 1,2 eur

All inclusive "Opa Si" Pass at the Cathedral: 15 eur

Entrance fee to Palazzo Publico and Civic Museum (tower not included): 9 eur

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