Gorgeous Siena

Today we spent the whole day in Siena - a truly magnificent city, full of character, history and gorgeous art. We did Rick Steves tour of the city including its striking cathedral with the most amazing marble mosaics. The cathedral also hosts a medieval library with old theology books and the wall frescoes depicting the life of one of the Popes. But every corner of this city hold some special character and magic. One of my best memories was walking into a courtyard of one of the palaces, discovering a quiet coffee shop there and stopping to sip on a slow cappuccino, just chatting and soaking in the many centuries absorbed in the surrounding stone, colorful frescoes and airy marble water well in the middle of the courtyard. We absolutely loved Siena - it was fairly crowded with tourists but never overwhelmingly. Most importantly, unlike other medieval cities that have become just a collection of narrow winding streets filled with endless souvenir shops, Siena feels alive and breathing with the life of today. It has a university and there are many students whose presence is felt in hip small restaurants throughout the city. Siena is not a time capsule, it feels like the essence of change and evolution, where the old and the new are coexisting in harmony. In the evening we drive 15 minutes to a cultural center in the nearby countryside for a local milonga, with the Italian DJ that we knew from Slovenia. It was some lovely, if not exceptional, dancing.Les mer