Siena: City of Surprises

It's a rainy day here, which is perfect for a story about Siena! I admit that I'm enjoying watching the rain make rivers down the driveways out the window, rather than having to step in all the puddles. Not up to my usual adventurous self today...the rain is being very nap-inducing.

So, let's have a story about an adventure! On long weekends at the beginning of the Rome semester, my classmates went as far as England and Germany, but I ventured a little closer to home. Jamie, Deborah, and I joined Claire on her trip to Siena, a small medieval city north of Rome. Siena was one of my favorite trips that I made without the school, and this lovely city was full of surprises.

Early Friday morning we walked across campus, heading for the bus stop. We met Dr. Lowery just before the large gated entrance to campus, and he wished us well and encouraged us to visit St. Catherine.

We rode the Metro to Tiburtina station, where the ticket office is for the buses that run between Siena and Rome. After wandering around the train station for a few minutes, Claire's Italian skills got us across the street, where the bus station was. My first surprise of the trip was that I ignored the fact that Italians hate credit cards. I figured for a bigger purchase like a bus ticket, I could use a credit card. Then I would use the euros I had brought with me to buy food, postcards, etc. But no, the ticket counter only took cash! So I was down to ten euro for the weekend before the trip began.

Although it was a gray morning in Rome, the weather we saw on the bus ride varied. Sometimes it was foggy among the pine trees on the hills, and at others rolling hills of grape vines had the sun sparkling on them. The golden fields and green pines had that glow that the movies always emphasize with Tuscany. Moreover, there were fields full of nothing but large sunflowers, and fields with sheep guarded by cloaked shepherds. There were even a few castles nestled in the hills!

It's even better than this, I swear.

The bus dropped us off in town, and we walked off through the sunny streets, looking for the city bus that would take us up to our hostel. We stayed in some small cabins high on the hillside, which required a very winding bus ride. The rest of the area was a campsite.

Jamie and I shared one cabin, and Claire and Deborah the other. They were perfectly clean and modern, and I thought the bedspreads were so cute.

My tiny backpack, windbreaker, Rick Steves guidebook, and passport.

After getting our keys and exploring the cabins, we walked back to the "lobby"--really just a tarp-covered area with a small bar. Soft rain started to fall as we munched on cookies and sipped orange Fanta. For surprise number 2, drizzle turned into a deluge, before it finally started to hail. Small white balls pelted the roof and the ground around the bar. We were pretty shocked, since it was only the first week in September and Rome was still very warm.

Golf ball size, I'd say.

Luckily, it only lasted a few minutes and we were able to catch the bus back into the city, although did we have to wait quite a while by the side of the country lane, leaning against fenceposts.

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Siena is wonderful. It is a quaint medieval town, every surface made out of red bricks. Our first stop on our tour was Il Campo, the main square of the city. Unlike Rome's public squares, Il Campo is shaped like a baseball field and very large. The floor slants slightly downward toward the Civic Hall and its clock tower.

You'd need a wide angle to capture the whole thing...

...but you get the idea.

Fancy shops and cafes line the perimeter, and children chase pigeons across the piazza. A girl in her wedding dress posed in front of the tower. We trekked the quiet streets towards the Duomo (Cathedral), admiring casas with their shutters thrown open in the mild afternoon, tiny iron animals on walls, and colorful flags for the Contrade of Siena.

Rick Steves had told me a bit about the Contrade, or neighborhoods organized in the Middle Ages, but Jamie pointed out just how awesome their history is last week. Seriously, read it, all their mottoes, stories, rivalries, and infamies are hilarious. Each neighborhood has an animal, a patron saint, and a colored flag that distinguishes them. More on that in a minute!

Uh...not sure what animal that is.

Incidentally, see that large "T" sign in the background? It stands for Tabacchi, a place where you can buy tobacco. Like our convenience stores, you can buy snacks, drinks, and lottery tickets. These were essential for our semester, because when you're on a student budget, you never know when your next meal will be.

Moving on, we came to the Duomo, which stands out from every other building in Siena. Its facade is made of white and black striped marble, which really stands out from the brick and tile around it.

I love the gold mosaics in the triangles.

The stripes.

This model of church is much more delicate than in Rome, where almost every church is Renaissance/Baroque, with grand round arches.

We meandered further up into the city, coming out near a small church and piazza. We ate pizza on the steps, while Claire looked for a gift for her mother. I SWEAR that they eat gelato in that same courtyard in Letters to Juliet. The movie has great vistas of Siena; it's worth seeing for that alone.

No, you can't see the church, but this is the scene.

Back at Il Campo, we ate fresh fruit and stretched out on the ground. It began to sprinkle again, so we packed up to go to our hostel. Turning away from Il Campo, we heard drums and singing from the other end of the piazza. Looking back we witnessed the last surprise of the day: a parade of waving flags, and citizens marching and smiling. I realized that these must be the winners of Il Palio, the horse race held every August in Il Campo. If you've seen the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, you know what I'm talking about.

Surprise adventures are the best.

That year the winners were the contrada of Bruco--the Caterpillar neighborhood! The long train of green and yellow swirled in front of us, and we saw the banner of their patron saint, the Madonna.

The image of the Madonna and Child is in the Duomo.

I love how this standard shows the horse superimposed over Il Campo full of people to see the race. I also love that the Sienese don't let a little rain stop them from celebrating their wonderful city.

That's the end of Day 1 in Siena, I'll finish up our trip tomorrow!