On to Siena-in the Heart of Tuscany: The magic of Italy is back - we love it here
We checked out of Camping Smeraldo and connected with the 9 am train to Rome. As planned, we went directly to Rome's Tiburtina Bus station via the metro to take the 2.5 hour bus trip to Siena. The trip was delightful as we got to see more of the rolling Tuscan countryside. Our arrival in Siena lived up to our expectations. This is indeed a special place. The beauty of this medieval hill town is immediately apparent as well as the grace and charm that it weaves. We are glad that we will be staying here for 3 nights as we can't wait to start walking and exploring this place. Courtesy of Rick Steve's guidebook and Booking.com, we discovered a great place to stay: Casa Laura. Laura is a multi generation Sienese and she has carefully restored two floors of her family's 15th century building and has opened these floors to tourists. The rest of her family live in flats on other floors. We were lucky enough to be offered a studio apartment with a kitchen, seating area and oodles of charm. We could stay longer if we had the time. The location is perfectly situated in the old section of Siena and is just a few minutes walking to all the important sites. As a long time resident of Siena, she is full of tips and information about the area. After the less than positive experience we had in Rome, Siena is a breath of fresh air. No touts, a beautiful historic town, great restaurants, important historic sites - and all accessible by foot. We had considered that we would take a day trip to Florence while we are here - but it is clear to us that we won't want to leave here until we have to leave for our next booked stop in Pisa on Saturday. Laura had told us about a superb Allimentari a few doors down where we can get freshly prepared food for dinner. An Allimentari is a small grocery store with a deli and fresh entrees, desserts, etc. Mama does the cooking in the back and her children Francesca and Carlo run the front of the business. You never know what will be on offer for dinner, as each day, there will be new offerings. You simply bring the food home and heat it up. For dinner we had eggplant parmiagiana, carmellized ciopillini, roast vegetables and local red wine - delicious. We can't buy groceries, cook for ourselves and eat so well for such a reasonable price. I have a feeling that we'll be coming back here while we stay in Siena. We went for a long walk in the evening and fell in love with the magic of Siena by the light of lanterns.
This was our mobile home at Camping Smeraldo on Lake Bracciano on the outskirts of Rome. Affordable and in a great location. We have had some challenging weather days here and we have enjoyed having shelter and self sufficient accommodation. We leave here feeling a little strange as we are travelling without our bike and trailer. They are being shipped back via Soetens Fietsvervoer to our friends' house in Germany.
Waiting for the bus which will take us to the train to Rome and then on to Siena. It is nice to travel so light. We each have only 1 pannier and 1 backpack.
