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Siena, Florence & Pisa - Saturday, August 26, 2000
I arrived in Siena via a bus from Rome and I think my biggest tip comes right at the start - its almost impossible to get a taxi! The centre of Siena is very restricted to vehicles which means that taxis can't wait anywhere even at the bus station. I was staying in a hotel a little out of the centre of town and really didn't want to walk all the way. Luckily I had my mobile phone with me and there was another English girl waiting at the bus stop who spoke a bit of Italian. She had a number for a local taxi firm and called up for me and an elderly lady who had also got off my bus.The hotel I chose (Hotel Garden) was about 20minutes walk from the old centre or a quick bus ride right to the door. I would definitely recommend the hotel. It had really nice big rooms, big gardens and a nice swimming pool. Plus the restauraunt was pretty nice and had an amazing view of Siena at night.
Siena itself is a nice town. Its not too big so really easy to walk around all the winding narrow streets. You can climb to the top of the tower in the main square to get an amazing view of the town and surrounding countryside.
I was only in Sienna for a couple of days but it was a really nice relaxing break after hectic Rome.
Next I was onto Florence - just a fairly short bus ride away. This time the bus was much nicer and stopped right outside my hotel.
Florence is a really nice city. I wanted to stay in the Youth Hostel which looked very historic and nice, buy it was booked up when I tried to book a bed a few weeks before my trip.
Florence is really easy to wander around and see the sites. Lots of nice museums and art. I queued up for about 3 hours to get into the Uffize - there are a limited number allowed in at once so if you don't get in the first batch your waiting for others to leave before the queue shortens. If you're with someone else its not so bad because you can take it in turns to queue but if you're on your own its a bit of a long wait. By the time I got in I was kind of fed up and didn't really spend too much time wandering around. It was good to see some of the famous artworks though.
Another day I went to a much smaller museum that was dedicated to more of the applied arts - clothing, jewelry etc. It was much quieter and nice and cool inside! I really like this museum but it might not be to everyone's interest. I also went to the museum that has the original David statue (the one in the square is a copy).
The best thing about Florence? The Ice cream (gelato). They have loads of shops with a very large selectin of flavours - my favourite was buying a tub of mint chop chip and going to sit on the steps of the Cathedral in the early evening watching everyone go by.
Like in almost every town in Italy it seems there is a tower to climb - this time by the Cathedral. Again it gives you a great view of the city and countryside. It can be quite tiring getting all the way to the top though. I believe you can also walk up around the famous dome on the cathedral but I couldn't see where you went in. I wish I could have done that though as the building of the dome is quite interesting. After getting back I read Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King which is a really interesting (and entertaining) account of the building of the Dome and generally life in Renaissance Florence.
From Florence I got a quick train ride to Pisa for the day. its a bit of a walk from the train station to the leaning tower but not too bad. One thing to be aware of is that you have to pay a small fee to get into the cathedral and other buildings around the leaning tower. By this point I was kind of fed up of churches so I gave it a miss. I was probably being super lazy but I didn't find much to do in Pisa apart from look at the tower which didn't keep me interested for that long so it was back to Florence for my evening Gelato!
- Created:
- Friday, October 22, 2004 at 3:08 PM
- Last Modified:
- Friday, October 22, 2004 at 3:13 PM