Tea Time: Day Trip From Florence: Siena

On our second-to-last day in Tuscany, we decided to head out for Siena, a lovely little medieval town about an hour away from Florence.
It's fairly easy to grab a bus from the SITA terminal near Florence's train station; the ride is only about an hour long. I've heard that this is one of the rare cases in Italy where the bus may be preferable to the train, since the bus will drop you off quite close to the city center in Siena, whereas the train depot is a ways away from the main part of town.
If you do decide to take the bus, make sure that you get to the SITA terminal at least 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time: we barely made the 9-something bus, and we were about 5 minutes early. Apparently the bus will just leave if it's full, plus Yuki and I weren't able to get seats together since we'd arrived a bit too close to departure.
I won't go into the history of Siena, mainly due to lack of time, but if you get the chance do look it up a bit. It's quite an interesting town.
My personal favorites of this beautiful UNESCO site include: Siena's Duomo (cathedral), the Piazza del Campo (town square), the Museo dell'Opera dell Duomo, and of course, the food!
First off, if you see only one thing in Siena, then make it the Duomo. We saw quite a few cathedrals on our trip, but there wasn't one that inspired as much awe as Siena's did. Simply amazing, both inside and out! I'll post a few pictures of it below, but they honestly won't do it a bit of justice. It is rather overwhelming inside when one is confronted with the sheer amount of frescoes, carvings, etc; I guess that this abundance would make sense seeing as the cathedral was originally intended to be the largest in the world (money unfortunately ran out, go figure).
The Museo dell'Opera dell Duomo, located right next to the cathdral, is pretty cool too. Remember that this statement is coming from someone who doesn't last very long in museums. There are lots and lots of beautiful works that used to be in the cathedral itself. But, the great thing about this museum is.....drumroll.....from here, you can climb up to the top of what would have been the facade of the new nave of the cathedral! Yep, poor Yuki got roped into another climb, this one unexpectedly. We both had no idea that you could climb up to roof, but when we got to the top floor of the museum and saw a bunch of people waiting in line in the 'Hall of Vestments', we simply joined them. Assuming that there must be something worth waiting for if there's a line, right? We did ask the 2 guys in front of us if they knew that it was, but they'd had the same idea as us. Smart Americans.
It was quite a pleasant surprise to find out from a museum guard that we could climb up and get a great view of Siena. The reason for the line was that only about 20 people at a time are allowed up, since the walkways and staircases are so narrow.
Once our time to climb arrived, we went up the spiral staircase (claustrophobics beware) to the first walkway. From there, you could continue up another even narrower staircase to the very top, which of course we did. The view was well worth battling my fear of heights for. Although I did feel like hugging the walkway once or twice! Tip: Never look straight down. I'm telling you this from experience.
Quick aside: You can also climb the Torre del Mangia in the Piazza del Campo, but we refrained due to lack of time. Plus, while I can't remember the price offhand, it seemed a bit steep compared to the combined Duomo and Museo dell'Opera ticket (12 euros). I'm pretty sure that either climb would suffice if you want a great view, although if you're only in Siena for the day then go for the facade climb so you can fit the museum in too.
In between visiting the Duomo and touring the Museo dell'Opera, we took a lunch break at a great family-run restaurant near the Piazza del Campo. (The Piazza itself is great for pictures and as a reference point. Also, be sure to buy a tourist map of Siena from the tourist information center located on the Piazza. It's 50 cents and will save you a lot of trouble).
Anyway, back to lunch. In this case, we took a tip from Rick Steves and headed down Via Giovani Dupre, just off the Campo. Locanda Garibaldi Restaurant is located at number 18, quite close to the Campo but far enough away that one won't confuse with the over-priced tasteless tourist traps directly on the square.
Locanda Garibaldi is a family-run restaurant that serves incredibly tasty and very reasonably priced food. We were the first ones in for lunch on that day, but it started to fill up after about a half hour. The menu is all in Italian, but our server (I'm guessing the son) of course spoke English and was able to answer any questions we had. We also asked him for his recommendations; he's got excellent taste.
I think we paid cash for our meal, and I'm pretty sure that credit cards aren't accepted. While we were eating, several locals dropped by for a quick lunch, and we also chatted with a couple who were bringing their children to eat; they had originally visited Locanda Garibaldi years ago while traveling Italy as a couple. Obviously the place had made quite an impression!
If you're looking for romance and high-class dining, then this probably isn't your restaurant. But if you want good, authentic Tuscan food in a semi-rustic setting, then this is the place to go. Only drawback in my book was the lack of a high chair, but familes are very obviously welcome and thankfully we had no problem holding Keila.
I'd love to write more about Siena but have promised myself that I'll wrap up Italy by the end of this month. So enjoy the pics, and the next post will be back in Florence!

Torre del Mangia in Piazza del Campo, Siena