Siena, Italy

We decided to spend 3 nights in the city of Siena, Italy. Siena is a beautiful town in the Tuscany region, but not as big as Florence. Siena has about 60,000 people (depending on what you count as 'the city'.) There is an old city center that doesn't (well, not really) have cars and is surrounded by walls. 

We rented an apartment in the old center with some views of the main piazza and tower.

Activities:

1) Climb the 347 steps to the top of the tower to see the two bells and the beautiful views of the city. This was really fun and we all enjoyed it. It was beautiful and sunny and a great start to have us understand the layout and the different sights of the city. The bells at the top were beautiful, but my favorite was the narrow and short openings for the staircase that we navigated while trying not to bump our heads. Great job to those in our family who did it while carrying our little neice on them!

2) Enjoy the Piazza del Campo and the cafes (or gelaterias) surrounding it.

3) Visit the Zebra Church. The real name of this church is the Duomo di Siena / Battiestero di San Giovanni Battista and it's gorgeous and interesting inside and out. The black and white stone striping is really unique and I was fascinated with the amount of stripes everywhere. The organ music, all the decorated columns and the detailed front doors were really cool.

4) Poke around in the little shops of the old center. While we don't tend to do much shopping, even window shopping in this town was cool. There are fancy Italian fashion stores, cafes, bars, wine shops, souvenir shops, candy stores, and gelaterias to enjoy. Walking or running around the unexpectedly hilly stone streets and navigating the turns and alleys and delivery trucks was an adventure.

5) The Fortezza Medicea

We enjoyed walking to the fortress, and playing in the playground and open space nearby. I think in the summer there might be a carnival atmosphere here, but during our visit there was a little kiddo carousel and even my big kids still enjoyed it. 

6) The museum of natural history

This is a small but, in my opinion, solid museum that had a little something for everyone in the group. It's by donation only and not overwhelming or amazing, but we had fun looking at the stuffed animals, the skeletons, and the gemstones. I especially loved the huge fin whale skeleton. Each of my kids picked a favorite rock.

Unfortunately, the sickness that started in San Marino has been making its way through the group. So as the younger family members continued to cough but were feeling better and could do more, a couple of the adults in the group went downhill. That contributed to some overall fatigue in the group so we had a little more downtime here, but we still really loved this city.

I think my favorite food in the town were the donut holes (struffoli) Jason made friends with a seller in the main square and bought 10 little round dough balls for about 3 euro and they were warm and fresh and yummy!

Thanks, Siena!