Day 83 - Siena
Saturday, September 23, 2018.
Today we got up at 9:00am without any rush. Andrea took us to the bus station to take the 11:00am bus. We had to run and buy the tickets in a rush but we made it! Just before we arrived in Sienna, the conductor came through the packed bus to check tickets. Not only did you need to buy a ticket, you needed to validate it in the machine onboard! The Italians may have known that, but most tourists didn't and we saw several, all who had paid for their tickets, being fined 64 euros per person for not stamping their tickets. We gave a couple of American girls the advice to flirt with the controller or cry, which usually works here.
We thought it was really unfair to punish people who had bought their tickets when most locals never buy a ticket. We have not seen the Italians paying fines, mostly foreigners. Anyway, I guess the law is for everyone and Italians need to start enforcing it because their country is going bankrupt from all the cheating.
We walked to the historical downtown and admired this beautiful city. According to local legend, Sienna was founded by two sons of Remus, nephew of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. After their father's murder by Romulus, they fled Rome and took the statue of the wolf and infants suckling and it became the symbol of the town.
The first thing we found was a Conad, a supermarket and went to grab lunch. This is a good tip for budget travel. Well, you make a lot of meals at home or grab sandwiches and salads at the grocery store, which is less than half the cost of a restaurant.
Sienna is distinguished by her medieval brick buildings and its Piazza del Campo which is shaped like a fan. We ate here. At some point, Gregory and Daniel got up because they thought the police were going to come and fine us -- eating in the Piazza is actually illegal, just like it is in Venice and Florence (even though no one paid attention in any of those places) -- they were worried that it's one more way the Italians are out to make money off of tourists.
After eating, we walked to the cathedral, Santa Maria della Scala, which kind of reminds me of the cathedral in Firenze. Believe it or not, I didn't want to pay to go in. The cathedral has a beautiful dome, more paintings, a museum, a crypt, and many other treasures. We have seen so many churches, frescos, and museums that at this point we just sat there and admire the outside and save the 15 euros per person to see another. We had our famous two cappuccinos in the Cafe de la Opera, across the cathedral and then we went to the bookstore of the Libreria Piccolomini.
After that, we walked some more and looked for a nice gelateria for the kids. Of course, we found several. The kids had their dessert and then we walked to the bus back to Florence. We were a little concerned because the screen didn't show a bus leaving, but we poked around and sure enough, we found it, parked away from the others.
After two weeks in Florence, we are familiar with the train station. Gregory ran and got the tickets and this time we did not forget to validate them! The train left -- and arrived! -- on time. Andrea had warned us that we had to be on time to eat the boar that he had hunted days before! The kids and I were not looking forward to this!
When we got home, Ciniza was cooking and everyone getting ready for dinner. At 8:30 their friends Ilaria, Stefano, and kids arrived. We had a lovely time talking in English and Italian with them. Dinner finished almost at midnight, just like in Mexico. Gregory and I stayed up trying to figure out where to stay in Croatia!
Today we got up at 9:00am without any rush. Andrea took us to the bus station to take the 11:00am bus. We had to run and buy the tickets in a rush but we made it! Just before we arrived in Sienna, the conductor came through the packed bus to check tickets. Not only did you need to buy a ticket, you needed to validate it in the machine onboard! The Italians may have known that, but most tourists didn't and we saw several, all who had paid for their tickets, being fined 64 euros per person for not stamping their tickets. We gave a couple of American girls the advice to flirt with the controller or cry, which usually works here.
We thought it was really unfair to punish people who had bought their tickets when most locals never buy a ticket. We have not seen the Italians paying fines, mostly foreigners. Anyway, I guess the law is for everyone and Italians need to start enforcing it because their country is going bankrupt from all the cheating.
We walked to the historical downtown and admired this beautiful city. According to local legend, Sienna was founded by two sons of Remus, nephew of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. After their father's murder by Romulus, they fled Rome and took the statue of the wolf and infants suckling and it became the symbol of the town.
The first thing we found was a Conad, a supermarket and went to grab lunch. This is a good tip for budget travel. Well, you make a lot of meals at home or grab sandwiches and salads at the grocery store, which is less than half the cost of a restaurant.
Sienna is distinguished by her medieval brick buildings and its Piazza del Campo which is shaped like a fan. We ate here. At some point, Gregory and Daniel got up because they thought the police were going to come and fine us -- eating in the Piazza is actually illegal, just like it is in Venice and Florence (even though no one paid attention in any of those places) -- they were worried that it's one more way the Italians are out to make money off of tourists.
After eating, we walked to the cathedral, Santa Maria della Scala, which kind of reminds me of the cathedral in Firenze. Believe it or not, I didn't want to pay to go in. The cathedral has a beautiful dome, more paintings, a museum, a crypt, and many other treasures. We have seen so many churches, frescos, and museums that at this point we just sat there and admire the outside and save the 15 euros per person to see another. We had our famous two cappuccinos in the Cafe de la Opera, across the cathedral and then we went to the bookstore of the Libreria Piccolomini.
After that, we walked some more and looked for a nice gelateria for the kids. Of course, we found several. The kids had their dessert and then we walked to the bus back to Florence. We were a little concerned because the screen didn't show a bus leaving, but we poked around and sure enough, we found it, parked away from the others.
After two weeks in Florence, we are familiar with the train station. Gregory ran and got the tickets and this time we did not forget to validate them! The train left -- and arrived! -- on time. Andrea had warned us that we had to be on time to eat the boar that he had hunted days before! The kids and I were not looking forward to this!
When we got home, Ciniza was cooking and everyone getting ready for dinner. At 8:30 their friends Ilaria, Stefano, and kids arrived. We had a lovely time talking in English and Italian with them. Dinner finished almost at midnight, just like in Mexico. Gregory and I stayed up trying to figure out where to stay in Croatia!
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| Piazza del Campo and Torre del Mangia |
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| Music Museum |
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| Santa Maria della Scala |
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| Two cappuccinos in Italy |
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| Gelatto time! |
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| Proud hosts |
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| Boar and potatoes for dinner! |
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| The girls |
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| Sunshine, Hilaria, Stefano, Andrea, Cinzia and Lili chewing! |
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