Let’s be honest. Our day trip to Siena didn’t get off to the best start.

After catching a regional train, we struggled to find our way… out of the train station. Running out of time, we caught a cab to the other side of this historic walled city, ready for our tour.

This was a tour with a difference. This was our tour vehicle.

The tour wasn’t great, as we soon realised that most cars, including our little three wheeled lawnmower, are banned from the city centre. We couldn’t even get close to the main sites in the city, despite being in such a small vehicle.

We bailed on the tour early, and walked to the centre of the city.

Siena has incredibly steep streets but lurking below the surface is a network of escalators, zipping you up the hills.

It was an incredibly hot day and the sun was baking us in the historic Piazza del Campo.

This where the famous Palio horse race is run. The square is filled with around 100,000 people, and the party lasts for about a week. We had looked at reorganising our travel plans to make it but thanks to my birthday being pre-planned we missed it by only a few days.

We managed to get in to a great little restaurant called La Taverna di San Giuseppe. It is in a ‘cave’ that was originally dug out in about 1100AD. Today, there is a long wait to get in to taste the traditional Tuscan food.

I had the bruschetta to start then we went for the special, after seeing someone at the next table with it. As we shared it, everyone in the restaurant paused and watched the theatrics of it being prepared at our table.

First, carving through the beef – so quick it was like slicing through butter. Then serving it up on our plates, and shaving white and black truffle on top. And not just a little. A mother truffle load.

The food was devine. May just be the best I’ve had here so far.

After an hour long ride on a bus, we finally visited San Gimignano, the town we’ve seen from our room for the last few days. A beautiful little medieval town, again surrounded by a wall.