Bordeaux and Palmiers

Siena is generally seen as one of the more touristy Italian cities. Up there with Venice, it’s not a place people go to discover the “real” Italy. It’s a gorgeous city that is wonderful for pedestrians, but where Naples and Florence retain the charm of encountering true locals on your travels, Siena is so overrun with tourists that it’s difficult to see anything aside from the postcards and snowglobes sold on every street corner.

But I was in Siena alone for several days, and I somehow managed to find the same charm in Siena that I was able to find in other cities I love so much. Somehow, being alone in a city so filled with people made it easier to find places that were untouched by the tourism that had so invaded the city.

It wasn’t whole piazzas or restaurants: it was little things. Courtyards, piazzettas, tiny little streets that were somehow unknown to the rest of the city. I found a tiny hotel on a little street, somehow close to the Piazza del Campo but still reasonably priced and filled with students like me who were looking, not for tourism or museums, but just to see an Italian city for a little while.

Siena is not my favorite city in Italy. Not even close. But the few days I spent there in the summer of 2007 were eye-opening: when it comes to travel alone, sometimes the best places to discover true culture and things you wouldn’t have seen if you were traveling with a group are the places you wouldn’t expect.