On Friday night before we departed, we went to this outdoor club called Central Park with a bunch of other Elon students. This place closes in the winter time because it is completely outdoors. It was a pretty cool experience and I had a good time with the 8 of us .. as usual! On our way home we decided to make our way to the 'Secret Bakery.' This is a hole in the wall bakery that cooks baked goods for cafes around the city that don't make their own food. There is no sign on the door or anything, you just have to know its there. And when I say secret, I mean secret! You have to knock quietly on the door and you cannot talk to loud. There is also no menu, you just have to know what you want, order it quickly, and get out of there! When the chef comes to the door, he only opens it a crack and he hardly speaks. This place opens at 2am, which is the best time to go because the pastries are still warm. This older man, who works for the Italian equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, showed us how to get there, told us what to order (cornettas filled with cream), and explained the whole concept to us. People like him restore my faith in the Italian male gender, especially after our beach experience. The 'secret bakery' is my FAVORITE find so far, and I can't wait to make another late night trip there, since it is right around the corner (bad news for the waistline).
The one thing I find hilarious about the trips we take is that we always somehow find our way. We weren't sure where to buy tickets, or where the buses even came, but we started walking towards the train station and miraculously made it to Siena. We then circled around trying to find our hostel, and realized we passed it a few times. The place was called Residence Paradiso, which completely erased any preconceptions I had about hostels. The place was basically like a hotel. The rooms were large and clean, and right in the center of the city. It couldn't have been more perfect! The owners even gave us a map complete with recommendations for anything we wanted to do that day. It could not have been any easier!
I really feel as if I got the most I could out of Siena. We climed the Torre del Mangia, which is in the Piazza del Campo. This tower is the tallest tower in the city and the views at the top could not be beat. It was difficult to climb, but completely worth it at the end, even with the tiny passageways and narrow stairs. My claustrophobic father would never have made it to the top! You could see further than the city and into the hills of the countryside. It was absolutely breathtaking. We also visited the Duomo there, and climbed to the top of that tower as well.
The thing I liked most about the city was that it is separated into 17 sections. Each section has extreme pride, complete with flags, which are very apparent as you walk through the city, and songs and ceremonies which we witnessed throughout the day. This is especially apparent during the horse races that take place in the city, which were not going on this weekend, unfortunately. When wandering through the city, you really feel as if you are back in time. It just has this medieval feel, and Siena is completely walled in.
For dinner, we went to this place called the Bagoga. This was a very authentic family-owned Italian restaurant. It was down the beaten path and was recommended by the guys at the hostel. We had great red wine, homemade pasta with tomatoes and garlic, and panna cotta for dessert. It was all just SO incredible. The homemade pasta was like no pasta I had ever tasted before, it was thicker and much more flavorful. It was a great experience! We ended the night lying in the Piazza with a bottle of wine, looking at the stars. A very cliche moment, but it was nice to just talk and reflect on the trip so far. It is moments like that I will remember years down the road. I then enjoyed the best sleep of the trip so far at the hostel because it was MUCH cooler in Siena. I finally slept through the night. The next day we went to a few more museums, and the headed back to Florence! It was a great trip, but I definitely was happy to be back in "our city."
Sunday night we cooked dinner for the boys, which we decided would be a tradition from now on. Now for another week of school....
No comments:
Post a Comment