Siena, Italy
Siena is a small medieval town in the heart of Tuscany. The city center is maintained to look the way it did in the 1300’s. It’s very picturesque (or, it would be, if seen on a sunny day. It was rainy and overcast for us.)
The piazza and the town hall tower are the center of the action. Everything sits on steep hills. Can you tell how steep this street is, plunging way down over the course of one building?
The streets are very narrow, with no sidewalks. There’s just room for one way traffic and vehicular access to the city center is tightly restricted. When a vehicle comes pedestrians just ease over to the side and no one gets excited.
A Gothic church sits at the highest point in the city, made from white and dark green marble.
Traveling along the right side of the church and around to the back we encountered “the steps of death.” Or, that’s what we called them. Marble steps, wet with rain, and no handrail. Eep!
They didn’t look as scary when viewed from the bottom, but I can tell you they were pretty tricky!
Nearby we found a small grocery store. Don’t you love the way they leave the leaves on the lemons? I thought they were so pretty.
Even in the rain, it was fun to explore.
Ellen Lindner
