As the week
in Tuscany rapidly comes to an end, I am so happy that we had our last day
spent in Siena. This week was a whirlwind of beautiful cathedrals, streets, and
cities, but I would say Siena as a city collectively took the cake for my
favorite views and experience. I will be back to Florence and other places in
Italy with my family later this summer so the verdict is still out with more
time to be spent in other places to get the full experience, considering a
brief hour of free time in Florence didn’t allow for me to set out on my own.
We had a solid amount of time in the afternoon to wander around Siena and take
in the city, which was awesome. In the morning, we toured the cathedral of
Siena, which was again, breathtaking. The size was not comparable to that of
Florence’s duomo, but the detail and extravagance of it was incredible. On the
inside it had every aspect that could possibly make a cathedral beautiful:
stain glass windows, mosaics, columns, vibrant colors. One of my favorite parts
of Siena was the different flag that belonged to each district (contrada).
These flags lined the cathedral on the inside, which was where I first got to
see all of the different flags together. I got a flag for me and each of my
siblings, because they were all so unique and cool looking even separately.
We climbed
another tower at the piazza del campo, which had the best view yet and was also
taller than the tower of Pisa. When you looked down you could see every angle
of Siena, as well as the square where the annual horse race (two races each
summer) was being prepared- the palio di Siena. These races started in the 14th
century and still happen today, which is just amazing. I love that the
tradition is alive and well and still brings all of the contrades together.
No comments:
Post a Comment