My last day in Tuscany I headed out for a day trip to Siena, about an hour and a half south by train. The old town is set up on the hill, and moves with the landscape, with cobbled streets rolling up and down. It was like stepping back in time. The main streets wind you along heading towards the central piazza. In this case rather than your usual piazza Siena has the Piazza de Campo, a circular angled area (much like a velodrome) which is used for its famous horse race the Palio. The back drop of the piazza is an impressive castle.
But the main draw card to Siena is its magnificent cathedral. As you walk up the winding street to the entrance you only catch a glimpse of its stone work, and then the courtyard moves round to its front wall. The front facade is white and pinky stone, carved into statues and patterns and with a circular stained glass window in the front. Inside the church was simply breathtaking. Not like any other cathedral I'd been in the wall's were stripped white and black, with adorning paintings, and stone carvings in the floor. I could have sat there for hours and still been amazed. The full ticket also got me entrance to the baptistery below, where more beautiful frescos covered the walls in bright colours. And the crypt, with some much older frescos. Through the museum you had entry to a panorama view, up through some spiral stairs, to the top of the wall. You could see out to the cathedral in front, over the Piazza del Campo, across the red roofs of the city, and out into the green rolling hills of the Tuscan landscape. Absolutely beautiful.
After the cathedral it was time to find some lunch. Enjoyed some pasta and wine while overlooking the Campo, and saw a wedding party having their photos done. Then walked to another large church the Chisa San Dominico, very tall in its structure, but simple inside with gorgeous windows looking back. Then across the other side of the town to the Chisa St Francesco, another impressively tall building, this one with alcoves at the either side of the alter with little chapels. Found some gelato to refresh me before walking out of the older part of town to the fortress, now a park along its rampant's. It has gorgeous views back over the old town, with the massive churches visible over the roof tops. And then it was time to head home again. Arrived into Florence just as the sun was setting to have a gorgeous view across the bridges.
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