Siena

We started busabout by getting the bus from Rome to Siena, i have been looking forward to Busabout since June last year when i first discovered it. i couldn't enjoy my first day though because i got food poisoning (the real king, not what dad gets occasionally on a Sunday morning) i slept for most of the bus trip. Our bus made a stop in Orvieto where we all got on a different bus and went to the top of a hill to have a look at a very picturesque town. It had a stunning cathedral and lots of cobble stoned alleyways. Ewen ran around taking photos while i sat in a cafe. i did walk around a little but was feeling pretty sick.

When we got to Siena at about 1pm i went straight to bed and slept for the rest of the day.
We are staying in a cabin in a caravan park, it is full of trees and from just outside our room we have a view right to Siena and can see the cathedral where they keep Catherine's head. We have even seen lots of squirrels running around our caravan park, jumping from tree to tree.
We spent our full day in Siena sightseeing.

one of the streets in Siena

The town is gorgeous, full of alley ways and cathedrals and their were so many people around because in a couple of days they are having a horse race that is the biggest event for the whole year in Siena.

getting the track ready for the horse race

We were lucky enought to see some marches and performances.


We went to a the Museo Dell'Opera Del Duomo which was a bit of a museum/art gallery. They had a section where you could climb to the top of the building and get the best views of Siena.

we could see the parade form the top of the tower

a view out over Siena

they had a sign telling you to watch your head

i didn't have that problem

Then we went to a Cript full of tombs and very ornately decorated boxes of various human bones.
We went to Santa Maria Della Scala which was an art exhibition and then across to the Duomo which is the largest cathedral in Siena.
It had black and white stripy pillars inside it giving you the impression of been inside a zebras belly.

We had some lunch and then went to the Battistero which was attached to the back of the cathedral and is where they used to baptise all the babies.
Last thing we did in town was walk to the Chiesa di San Domenico which is a church where St Catherines head is currently living. I'm a bit skeptical if it is really her head, they keep it in a glass box and you can only really get to within 5m of it and it still looked in pretty dam good condition for a head that is a couple of hundred years old.

this is the cathedral holding Catherine's head

We got the bus back to the hostel and while Ewen did some drawing i caught up on my blog posts and then we had some dinner at the hostel restaurant.
tomorrow we are leaving for Florence to go check out David and line up at a lot of art galleries.