Breakfast was included with the room, so I got up bright and early - because the concept of serving breakfast at anything resembling a reasonable time seems alien to most hotels around the world and any staff member who hasn't cleaned everything away by 8.30 is severely reprimanded. Do it yourself summed up the experience perfectly: the tables were laid out nicely and there was a breakfast buffet along one wall of the delightful underground room, the roof of whi...

Siena is quite a two-faced city. Not the people, you understand, I'm talking about the city itself. If you arrive at night, as I did, Siena does not make a good first impression - in fact, I would go so far as to say that, if I hadn't already had a room booked, I may have simply turned around and got straight back on the train.Everywhere seemed dark and dingy, the roads were wide and congested with traffic beeping at other traffic, and the train station was just ...