Entries about sunflowers

Our farewell to Tuscany included a stop in Siena. Despite many visits to Italy and it's proximity to Florence (just 1.5 hours drive at most), I have sadly never visited Siena. I can see my dear friend, Anna, shaking her head in disbelief. Anna has spent a lot of time in Siena, and her PhD thesis focused on St. Catherine of Siena, one of the two patron saints of Italy (the other is Francis of Assisi, in case you were wondering!). We could only stay for a few hours as we needed to be in Orvieto that evening, but it was fantastic and their duomo is gothic and amazing. Really different from Florence's, better one might say!

We explored many of Siena's streets and the Piazza del Campo, which is most famous for the Palio, a traditional medieval horse race run around the piazza twice each year.

Relaxing in Piazza del Campo

We also visited the Sanctuary of Santa Caterina.

Siena was gorgeous, and like many Italian towns, is not without many hills to give you a good workout. Oh my goodness. These streets were steep! Here I am huffing and puffing trying to push Zavian in the stroller. And also Naim!

We left Siena, but were really happy we stopped in briefly. Off to Orvieto now! We drove along the A2 , which has the biggest, and most stunning sunflower fields we had ever seen. Umbria produces a lot of sunflower oil, and one can see why. Zavian was asleep, so didn't get to participate in the pics, but Naim and I had fun!

Where's Waldo?