Category: Siena

Since I didn’t feel well I took an extra day to have a low key pack up day on the 5th. I did laundry and packed most of my things. Did the last thing I needed to do in Siena: go to the best Gelateria. Koko kabana gelato was recommended to me by Fabio, like everything else. It was pretty amazing!

On my way back from enjoying said gelato, I heard some drums. Then coming at me in the narrow street was basically a parade. Young men were all dressed up in medieval garb with either flags or drums. And on the sides were women with scarves matching the flags. The procession goes by for quite a while and there were more people with scarves at the back. I asked a group of young girls what that was all about. Side note, young girls speak quickly and are hard to understand in any language. The gist that I got was that they are all from neighborhood [animal we don’t know the word for] and they are visiting all the other neighborhoods today with their drums and flags. What I couldn’t figure out, was if it was friendly or taunting. Either way, quite the sight!

Monday morning I packed up, sent a small package home to lighten my load, and hit the road. I walked about 10 minutes. Took a bus to Colle. A shuttle to another bus stop in Colle. A bus to Volterra. And then walked about 20 minutes to my hostel. I’m glad I am not trying to fit these towns into a 2 week trip and I can stay put after all the effort to get to these obscure places.

Volterra looks pretty small, but I still think any place is worth a few days. Also I don’t feel well, I have work to do, so I might as well stay here where there is a 17 euro hostel! My hostel is a converted monastery. It is about a 10 minute walk outside of town, but it is really nice!

[Edit] Link to Siena Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20100902Siena#

When I first arrived in Siena I just crashed. I then took two full days to explore the city and it’s sights. The first day I got one of the tourist packages and did the Church, the Panorama, and a museum. The church was really quite something, all white and black marble. There is stone artwork in the floors. They keep them covered most of the year to preserve it, so I was there at a good time when it was uncovered. I also walked around getting a feel for the city. Checked out the center square: Il Campo or “the field” called so because it was once the field right outside the original walls.

Siena is divided into regions. Each one has a flag, with two colors and a mascot animal. The one you are born is is the one you belong to forever. Then twice a year there is a great horse race where each region has one rider. It’s a really big deal. My hostel is already booked for it next August. As you walk around, you know which area you are in because there are flags and pained lanterns along the street.

My second day I took a walk around the old fort. You can walk around the walls. I then went to one of the churches. They have a relic of Saint Caterina da Siena, her head. Her actual head in a little glass box. In the afternoon I made plans for the next few days. In the evening I went to this awesome bar, Key Largo, right on il Campo. They sell beers for a normal price, like 3 euro, and you can drink them on the balcony and watch everyone in the square drinking for way too much. It wasn’t even crowed. Tourists must not know about it, and the students were still away for summer.

[Edit] Link to Siena Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20100902Siena#