After leaving Assisi, I took the longest way possible to get to Siena. I detoured up to Bologna, through Florence, to meet a family member who was nice enough to deliver a package to me that arrived at their house in Vasto about a month after my Mom sent it (gotta love the Italian postal service). I then headed down to Siena, through Florence again for the 3rd time in 3 days, arriving just after the last bit of light from the sun disappeared. Luckily I met some Germans who were studying abroad in Siena, who were nice enough to show me the buses I needed to get to the main square.
Once I arrived in the center of town, there was one thing I was still missing: a bed for the night. Me being me, I assumed things would fall together at the last minute, which they somehow did. During my one night stay in Florence, I befriended two girls in my hostel that were planning on going to Siena next. Since there weren’t really any good hostels in Siena, I suggested that we split a hotel room to save on money. Due to the consistent lack of internet connection in Italy, I was only able to send an email to them that morning from Assisi, suggesting some hotels/guesthouses from my trusty guidebook, completely expecting to be finding my own place for the night seeing as how I didn’t know when I would have access to internet again. So, as I arrived in Siena, I walked around aimlessly looking for internet before stopping at the only affordable hotel in my book, which was of course full. At this point, I started to think that my luck actually ran out, and that I would be spending the night in Siena broke and with no friends. Until…I found a rogue WiFi connection that actually worked, right in the middle of the street (no cars, don’t worry). An email popped up from my new friends saying they had a room right off the main square and that the owner was waiting for me to show up. HottDog! That worked out pretty well.
Siena sits on the rolling hills of Tuscany, with narrow, traffic free streets that all seem to lead to the main square, Il Campo, shown in the photo. The square is huge, and is buzzing throughout the day and night with people having a drink, laying in the sun, eating their pizza, and enjoying their gelatos. The town itself, in my opinion, epitomizes Italy. Big piazza, narrow streets, beautiful cathedral, window shoppers in full force, gelato at every corner, scooters weaving through pedestrians, fresh made pasta at mom and pop restaurants, and grapevines stretching across fields as far as the eye can see.
Somehow, someway, it just keeps getting better…