Siena cathedral

Just as, if there is one hill town in Tuscany to visit it should San Gim, if there is one cathedral it should be Siena. We had wandered around the day before, but were too late to enter it and associated buildings (museum, tower, baptistery), so we got back from San Gim in time to spend our late afternoon in Siena in the cathedral. Even Thibault was impressed. And he takes a heck of a lot of impressing!

The interior mirrors the design of the exterior in terms of horizontal stripes of white and black marble.

It is difficult to give an impression of the quality of the marble floors too, not least as they are roped off.

And if all that doesn't impress, just off the nave you go through a door into the Liberia Piccolomini. Just stunning.And quite a contrast to the cathedral.

The baptistry is much heralded, mostly for the marble font with bronze panels.

You can also climb up through the museum/gallery to get views across the cathedral at roof level.

Catholicism can just be characterized as death cult....

And finally let me say that wandering around Siena after dark is none too shabby either. There are worse ways of spending an evening sat in a wine bar ordering cold plates of meat and seafood with your best mate and a few glasses of wine. There really are. Especially if fortified by a large gelato on your way back to your hotel....