Piazza del Campo: Where the horse races occur |
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The town is super hilly and really cramped but in a cute way not a crowded way |
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One Contrada ready to show their pride and celebrate! |
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Siena Cathedral |
Monday, June 30, 2014
Siena: Almost time for the Palio!
Yesterday my roommates Anna and Felicity, as well as our friend Alston, decided to take a day trip to Siena. Getting there was a pain in the bootAAAA, but once there we did enjoy the city. And the weather was perfect which was a day brightener for sure:) Why was getting there such a struggle? Because we were told the best way to get there was by bus. And bus timetables are not online, so you just show up. Which would normally be fine, but apparently because it was a Sunday the buses were a lot less frequent. Lets just say we arrived at the bus station at 10:15.. we did not leave for Siena until almost 12:50. That was frustrating, but life happens and you just gotta roll with it. We made it there and just explored around. No map needed, the town is fairly small and somewhat a circle. We saw all the sites that Siena is known for (one being the place where the Palio- horse race- is held). I thought it was a cute little town. Last night there was a practice race at 7pm so the town was prepping for that which made our visit a whole lot more fun. There are a bunch of different contrado in Siena (they are pretty much like neighborhoods). Each contrada has its own area and own flag, so the horses in the race run for each of the contrada. All the locals were wearing their flags and singing and drinking and being wild, it was great fun to get to witness that. After all our exploring we ended up at Nannini (a famous cafe in Siena) where we tasted their Ricciarelli cookies. Ricciarelli cookies are almond cookies, they kind of taste like short bread cookies. You know, those yummy crumbly cookies covered in powdered sugar? Anyways, Siena is known for them and so we had to stop in and try one. I really enjoyed mine, probably because I was real hungry but regardless. Then we finally got lucky with the buses, and when we arrived at the bus station in Siena our bus to Florence was leaving in 5 minutes. Praise the Lord! We were stoked about that. After our day trip, Alston came over and we fixed dinner together because he is a six weeker so he actually flew home this morning. It was a really good day followed by a chill evening and finishing with a good-bye.
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Wow, Kels...you are a master at packing in tons of adventure and fun into a super short timeframe!! I loved this post and hearing about the rich culture and traditions of Siena. Did y'all cheer with one of the contradas? Those cookies sound amazing!
ReplyDeleteYou know I like to make the most of my time:) And yes!! We actually got caught up in one of the contradas parade thing. All these people were drinking and singing and there was a video camera!! And they could tell we were tourists so they grabbed us and started making a ruckus and singing with/to us haha. It was kind of a whirlwind and we tried to walk through. One guy took my roomies hat and put it on him and got a picture with her while he was wearing her hat then gave it back. All the while, everyone around us is either singing or dying laughing. It was hilarious! And I could have eaten 10 of those cookies, soooo yum!
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