Florence and Siena. The end of the tour.

quote:

Originally posted by luvtotravel:
Florence and Siena. The end of the tour.

Oh, they're gorgeous and oddly enough some of the same things that caught our eye but we weren't as lucky as you to be in Siena during a parade. Florence and Siena are two of my all-time favourites (is there anyone here who didn't already know that). I think I could settle down quite happily in either of those cities. Did you get inside their magnificent duomo in Siena and were the floors covered as they usually are or were the boards taken up so you could see the "paintings" in different colours of marble beneath your feet. Amazing, ltt, it's silly feeling homesick for a place that isn't your home but I know how Caitie feels about France because I feel the same way about Italy.

Thanks, Brenda

Thanks luvtotravel, great photos. Will be doing the Best of Itlay in December and looking forward to seeing some new parts of Italy and some 'old' friends :-D

luvtotravel ~ Your photo's are beautiful, thank you I have never been to Siena, but my daughter brought me home a wonderful paining from there. I hope to get there on day.

Thanks for sharing your lovey pics. Love your sense of humour

Brenda, we did not get to see inside the Duomo. Actually by the time I got to the square, all I wanted to do was sit and watch the people.

quote:

Originally posted by luvtotravel:
Brenda, we did not get to see inside the Duomo. Actually by the time I got to the square, all I wanted to do was sit and watch the people.

That's what happened to Frank the first time, and he sat and had a very expensive coffee with our tour guide while the rest of us went off to the duomo with the city guide. Once a year in October I think they remove the covers off the marble floors and we were lucky enough to be there at that time. I've never seen anything quite like those floors. It's not like mosaics but huge pieces of different coloured marble and for a moment, you think, it can't be marble, it must be painted, they're so lifelike. I did buy a book so that F could see what he missed--nice of me, wasn't it?

So, the next time, I said, you have to see this, and guess what, there was a service going on and we'd have to wait, but then we bought tickets for the Baptistery. What a pleasant surprise. It is absolutely breath-taking. I tell you, LTT, they could have converted and sprinkled me on the spot, I was so struck by its beauty,

Brenda

Brenda - I'm not sure how long we were in Siena, but we didn't have a city guide. Our TD directed us to the piazza and I think did mention the Duomo and maybe gave directions to some. By that time all I was interested in was sitting down. When it was time to go, he gave directions (not that it was that difficult) and said if we wanted to we could start back to the bus early so that we could go a bit slower. We did this and met several others doing the same thing. He had allowed the 94-year old man on our tour to stay on the bus. This was our last day on the way back to Rome.

LTT, should have made it clearer. It was on our first trip there that we had almost a full day in Siena complete with city guide, not TT. It was wonderful. The second time was with TT and we only had a few hours on our way back to Rome with a stop at a castle for lunch. The TD didn't even mention the Duomo until I pressed her for directions--we didn't have a very good TD--and she was more anxious to get us to the castle and lunch before we drove back to Rome. It was too bad because most were very tired by then and several found themselves the Aussie pub and spent the time in there, a few on the campo and that was that. You need to go back to Siena LTT when you're not so tired although its hilly streets are a challenge. But that duomo is well worth the visit and rivals anything in Florence or Rome.

Brenda

quote:

Originally posted by BrendaC:
LTT, should have made it clearer. It was on our first trip there that we had almost a full day in Siena complete with city guide, not TT. It was wonderful. The second time was with TT and we only had a few hours on our way back to Rome with a stop at a castle for lunch. The TD didn't even mention the Duomo until I pressed her for directions--we didn't have a very good TD--and she was more anxious to get us to the castle and lunch before we drove back to Rome. It was too bad because most were very tired by then and several found themselves the Aussie pub and spent the time in there, a few on the campo and that was that. You need to go back to Siena LTT when you're not so tired although its hilly streets are a challenge. But that duomo is well worth the visit and rivals anything in Florence or Rome.

Brenda

BOI wasmy first TT and I Liked Siena.. on my last trip to Italy had 10 days travelling on my own and ended spending one day in Siena was there just before the Palio (a horse race) and spent a lovely evening sitting in the Piazza watching the sunset and drinking wine .

The Duomo floor is amazing and the small library off to the side has the most beautiful Raphael fresco.. not to be missed

I almost missed these photos. How lovely.

I also missed these photos. Thank you - lovely!!!!

Glad you enjoyed them. Hope you got to see the other parts as well. Italy is extremely photogenic.