travelogue ~ siena, italy.

Siena. Siena. Siena. I loved Siena. It was about a 2 hour drive from Pietrasanta, but it was well worth the drive. Ben and I went with his parents for the day and it turned out to be one of our favorite days of the trip. The city is beautiful - perched up on a hill with views of Tuscany and the rolling hills and the city center square is the perfect spot to camp out and watch people. In fact, the Palio di Siena, the famous horse race, happens here every year in the square and the city center has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We got to Siena in the late morning, walked our way up into the city and headed straight to the center for some lunch. We ended up getting paninis at Il Cencio - which was a great little panini shop on the east corner. With sandwiches in hand, we ended up just setting up a quick picnic on the ground - perfect way to take it all in.

Having fueled up, we then made our way up to the Duomo. The Duomo was, in my opinion, the most beautiful we saw in Italy. I loved it. The black and white marble, the detail, the inside is just stunning, and the views from the top were beautiful. I'm also a sucker for stripes, so the cathedral just hit the spot! First we decided to climb the tower since we were afraid it might rain later. We waited in line for about 20 minutes and headed on up to these views...

And with that, we went into the cathedral next.

The inside and the detail is just astounding. How did they build it?! Even the floors and tiling - the inside was split up into sections with unique patterns and tiles...I was loving it...

And obviously, the ceilings, oh the ceilings...

We spent a while, sitting, walking through and just marveling at it...and after we made our way through the winding streets. We stopped for gelato and this might well be my favorite picture of the whole trip, Ben and his dad could not be more alike if they tried...just look at this!

The streets are picturesque...

 And this old couple just melted my heart when they passed by...he is carrying her bag - so sweet!

After stopping in some shops and working our way back to the center of town, we bid the city farewell and headed back to the car. From Siena, we headed north back up toward Pietrasanta and stopped for dinner in San Donato. This little town was straight out of a movie. It is tiny and we got there just as the sun was going down. The paths and streets through the town are all cobblestone and stones and there were flowers and boxes everywhere. We had made a reservation at Il Ristorante Palazzo Pretorio and we feasted on pasta and pizzas. It was a great meal...from here we trekked back up to Pietrasanta...