First Day in Florence
For our last morning in Rome, we visited the same coffee bar near our hotel for breakfast. We slowly sipped our coffees and ate our croissants as we watched the madness of Rome's workforce dash in for a shot of espresso before quickly continuing on to wherever they worked. With the last flakes of our croissants gone, it was back to our hotel to finish packing for our late morning train ride to Florence.
We made sure to get one last glimpse of the Colosseum and Forum during our 15 minute walk to the train station. Thankfully, it was still early in the day and the Roman sun wasn't yet high enough to make this an uncomfortable hike with our luggage. The train ride itself was uneventful but pleasant (in first class thanks to our EuroPass), so we'll skip to arriving in Florence.
It's only a 5 minute walk from the Florence train station to the historic center with the Baptistery and Duomo (Dome). The crowds became more noticeable the further we got from the train station until we finally stepped into the Piazza del Duomo, where the Renaissance began.
This was as far as we had to walk with our luggage, because our room was located right in the Piazza. In fact, after check-in, Ashley raced to the window for this view of the Baptistery and Duomo. Epic.
After overcoming the initial shock of the sheer awesomeness of our view, we rushed down the three flights of stairs to get a closer look. Why such a hurry? Ashley had been anticipating this stop of our vacation for five years (maybe more) after getting robbed of a chance to visit during a prior trip to Italy. To celebrate graduating from college, Ashley's family went on a Mediterranean Cruise and were most looking forward to visiting the art museums in Florence. However, the ship was unable to dock in the morning due to
Once in the Piazza, we waited our turn to view the replicas of the bronze doors of the Baptistery sculpted in the Renaissance. (We later saw the original versions in a small museum near the Duomo...see below). It's hard to get an up close look due to the popularity of the attraction. The doors feature multiple relief panels depicting biblical scenes. Fun facts: The Baptistery, which is older than the Cathedral, is a separate building because non-Catholics could not enter the Cathedral (Duomo) until after their baptism.
We arrived in Florence on St. John the Baptist Day, which is a pretty big holiday in Florence because he is the patron saint of the city. We weren't really sure what festivities to expect, but on our way to another square (Piazza della Signoria) to view a replica of The David, we stumbled upon what appeared to be a random parade...One minute tourists were taking pictures of The David copy and another minute the police were moving the tourists aside in order to make room for men in period costumes. Living so close to Disney, we're used to a little more order before parades...where were the ropes?!
We soon learned that the parade introduced the neighborhood Calcio teams that would play in the evening's match. What, you don't know what Calcio is? Well, it is a form of football dating back to 1500s that combines rugby, soccer, and football...with more violence. While the rules allow for elbowing, headbutting, and most other MMA tactics, it thankfully does not allow kicks to the head or sucker punches. The red team (seen below) had some of the scarier looking players of the day. As the teams passed, their entourage of fans would run right up to the parade route to cheer and even join in the march to the stadium. We were advised not to attend the evening's match due to the rowdiness.
Following the scary looking teams, more men in period costumes twirled their flags like batons. Quite the contrast.
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We continued our walk towards the Arno River, passed the Uffizi Gallery (which we would visit later on), stopped for gelato, and ended in front of the Ponte Vecchio bridge. The shops that hang off of the bridge over the river seem to defy gravity and are especially impressive considering how long ago they were built.
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We finished our loop back to our hotel in Piazza de Duomo, but stopped to enjoy the view of the cathedral and it's impressive dome from various angles.
After dinner that evening, we would return to the Arno to watch a display of fireworks and Japanese lanterns light up the sky in further celebration of the holiday. Listening to the Italians watch this event may have been more entertaining than the actual fireworks. Lots of oohs, ahhs, bravos, bellas, and demands for encores.
Grand Tour of Tuscany
While we traveled on our own for most of this trip, today we would embark on an organized group tour called "Best of Tuscany." We really wanted to spend some time in Tuscany and it was easiest to take a day trip out of Florence through a tour company. After a quick breakfast in our room (while still gazing out at the Duomo), we walked to the train station to meet our tour guide.
First stop of the day: Sienna. Once off the bus, and several escalators (Sienna is very hilly!), we met up with a local guide who explained the history of this small Tuscan city with a passion that only a native can possess. Fun fact: Siena is home to the world's oldest bank, which is seen below.
It was fascinating to learn about the 17 Contrade in Siena. The city is broken into 17 different districts or neighborhoods called Contrade. Each contrada has is own's mascot and colors. You can tell you've entered a new neighborhood because the light posts change colors and the plaques show the local mascot (like the intimidating Caterpillar shown below). People are incredibly loyal to the neighborhood they are born in...with a fervor similar to SEC football. Even spouses go to their separate home neighborhoods during big events like the Palio horserace...house divided.
Speaking of the Palio, we were in Siena the week leading up to one of the famous biannual horse races that the city is known for. They lay a dirt track around Piazza del Campo, the main square in the city center. 10 contrada participate, with each selecting a horse and jockey and then each hosts a huge party the night before the race. The following day, il Campo is packed with supporters to watch a race that lasts no more than 2 minutes. The winning contrada (and jockey) celebrate, with bragging rights for a year.
With dirt being laid and other preparations underway, our group was soon on our way to the Siena Cathedral. Though smaller than the Duomo in Florence, the unique white facade provides an interesting contrast.
Stepping into the cathedral, our eyes immediately were drawn to the black and white columns leading to the altar. The floor consisted of many beautiful mosaics depicting biblical scenes. Focused on the sculptures and art inside, we were suddenly interrupted by people beating drums and waving orange and blue flags at the entrance. Apparently the Unicorn contrada was participating in the July Palio and were seeking a blessing as they were preparing to select their jockey. Definitely not your typical Church experience, but it was certainly fun to witness the festivities surrounding Palio.
After touring the Cathedral, we had few minutes of free time wander back towards the Piazza. So, we window shopped and purchased some sweet treats that Siena is known for. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit the other well-known church in town which pays tribute to Siena's most famous daughter - St. Catherine. In case you have not figured it out by now, Italian churches pride themselves on relics (which is a nice way to say body parts from the corpses of Saints). This particular church has St. Catherine's head and one finger on display. We didn't have a chance to visit, but I suppose it is just one more thing we'll have to head back to Siena to see.
Saying "Ciao" to Siena, we were soon on our to lunch at an organic farm in the Tuscan countryside.
Fattoria Poggio Alloro was located on a hillside in Tuscany surrounded by vineyards and hill towns. Shortly after our arrival, we were greeted by one of the young family members who led us on a tour of the working farm. It was difficult to focus on the information because of the distracting views. d
After the tour, we sat down for a multi-course meal ( and it's only lunch!) with wine "tasting." While we have toured vineyards and visited cellar doors at home, receiving full bottles of wine in a "help yourself" policy was a new yet pleasantly dangerous surprise. Each course came with a new bottle of wine for us to share with our table mates.
While the food and wine were magnifico, they were nearly outdone by the views of the surrounding hill towns. While munching on bruschetta and sipping our vino, we gazed towards the medieval towers of our next destination - San Gimignano.
Once was the bus was loaded with full and giddy tourists, we drove to San Gimignano. On the way, our tour guide highly recommended a gelateria located just inside the city walls. She explained that it had won awards at the World Cup of Gelato. Considering ourselves gelato connoisseurs and never turning down good gelato (even if still full from the above mentioned multi-course lunch), we knew we would make a pitstop on our walk through the town. Approaching the storefront, we were slightly concerned that a place with a neon sign with self-proclaimed accolades would not live up to the hype. But, oh did it...and beyond! So good, in fact, that we stopped again on the way back to the bus. Yes, that's two gelato stops in a one hour time frame. Out of the wide variety of flavors, our favorite was mint. But rather than tasting like mint flavoring, it tasted exactly like spearmint leaves, which really indicates the fresh ingredients (and lack of artificial flavors) that go into it.
After Gelato stop #1, we strolled uphill to get a panoramic view of the medieval skyscrapers that dominate this "skyline." In Medieval times, the wealthy families built towers that provided a security during raids from neighboring villages. Our guide explained that wealthy families would build taller and taller towers in a continuous competition to prove who in the city was richest. San Gimignano is one of the only remaining towns with intact towers.
In one of the courtyards, we met a local woman painting watercolor Tuscan scenes. Ashley collects artwork from our travels and stopped to browse. Since she was having trouble deciding between two options, the absurdly nice lady offered to paint a combination of the two while we continued our walk. On our way back (just 20 minutes later!), our fresh and customized watercolor was waiting for us. Talk about service! Happy with our art purchase, we hurried downhill for Gelato stop #2 before heading to the bus. Our tour guide was really impressed with our gelato eating abilities.
Nope, our tour wasn't over yet. We had one last stop, which should be obvious based on the picture below.
Our visit to Pisa consisted of walking around the grounds surrounding the Cathedral and Leaning Tower. It was a beautiful day so we preferred to stay outside exploring the views from different angles rather than going inside the buildings. Pisa also provides A-Mazing people watching as basically every single tourist attempts to hold up the tower for a classic photo op. We, of course, just had to participate. It was only fair to provide others with people watching opportunities. After our fill of people watching and souvenir shops, we made our way back to the bus for our return trip to Florence.
Although we do not typically seek out group big bus tours, this one was particularly enjoyable yet exhausting because it covered so much in just one day. If you only have time for a daytrip, it would be next to impossible to complete this itinerary independently. It's a perfect taste (sometimes quite literally) of Tuscany and definitely left us longing for more time there. We hope to spend some days in the Tuscan countryside on future trips.
And finally our most important day in Florence - the one Ashley had been waiting for for years.
Before getting into our experiences, we wanted to highlight some planning tips to help make the most of your time in Florence. First, the various sites, including the well known museums and the Duomo, are closed on certain days of the week. For example, the Accademia and Uffizi are closed on Mondays, meaning you'll want to plan other site seeing or tours. Second, we would recommend reserving tickets for the Uffizi and Accademia in advance to avoid the long lines outside. When we went, the internet sites were imperfect and some had pretty high fees, so we e-mailed the hosts of our bed and breakfast who happily reserved our tickets for us. It was much less stressful to just pick up our ticket with our confirmation number (Cash Only) than stand in line and possibly miss the museums yet again.
With that said, we made our reservations several months in advance for the Uffizi in the morning and Accademia in the afternoon. This gave us plenty of time to spend at each without feeling rushed.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos of the artwork inside either museum, so we'll have to use extra descriptive language to give you a "picture." However, we did take some photos of Florence from some of the viewpoints within the Uffizi. In the photo of the Ponte Vecchio, you can see the enclosed walkway that the Medici family built above the bridge so they would not have to rub elbows with the peasants.
As we did in just about every other Italian city, we relied on a Rick Steves' Audio Tour that we downloaded to our smartphones prior to leaving the States. By this point, we were on a first name basis with good old Rick. He led us on an approximately two hour tour of all the Uffizi highlights, which included an all-star Italian lineup that only the Ninja Turtles could rival. Although the gallery is rather small in size, it is packed with Italian masterpieces such as Holy Family, Birth of Venus, and Allegory of Spring. After an almost six year wait, Ashley still thought it lived up to the hype.
After completing our tour of the Uffizi, we stopped for a lunch break before continuing on our Art Walk. I Fratellini, which is literally a hole in the wall, is located on a side street in the center of historic Florence. From behind a very narrow counter, they sell simple sandwiches and wine by the glass. Sometimes, the simplest meals are the most delicious. This was no exception. We joined the line to order our sandwiches (Salami and Wild Boar) and lunch-appropriate-sized glasses of wine. You order the sandwich by it's corresponding number (like a value menu), but Ashley had a momentary crisis when she could not remember how to say "fifteen" in Italian, so she blurted out "Quince" instead. Thankfully, she still ended up with the correct sandwich. Maybe we should visit Spain next. After paying for your lunch, you can sit on the curb in a makeshift picnic and then simply replace your empty glass on one of the shelves located on either side of the stall.
With our curbside picnic completed, we continued northward. Since we had some spare time before our scheduled reservation at Academia, we decided to stop inside the Baptistery since we had only previously admired it from the outside. Unlike the art galleries, we were allowed to take photos inside...so enjoy the gold mosaics depicting Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down Jesus (Saints and Angels on His right and the condemned on His left). Also, check out His toes.
Surrounding Judgement Jesus, the intricate golden mosaics, which looked like paintings from below, depicted the Biblical history of the world. The gold was rather impressive. Heck with the Renaissance, bring back the bling!
After departing The Baptistery, we continued our journey north of the Duomo to finally see The David (not the replica) at the Academia. We knew were getting close when we started to see the line of people stretching down the street. Fortunately, they were in the ticket line so we bypassed with our pre-booked reservation.
Once inside, we almost immediately paraded down the hallway towards The David. However, before reaching The David, we passed numerous other Michelangelo statues called the Prisoners. They are seemingly incomplete sculptures of man who appear half trapped in the stone. We could really get a better understanding of Michelangelo's genius while admiring these, but unfortunately we don't have any pictures to share. Soon, we made it to the very tall statue of The David...if that's David then a statue of Goliath would definitely not fit in the building. It was entertaining to watch the
After a brief rest at our hotel, we set out to discover the quintessential view of the Florence skyline from Piazza del Michelangelo, which is located across the Arno and up a hill. We could have taken a bus, but we preferred to soak in the Dolce Vita atmosphere on our stroll and see the less touristy side of Florence where the real people lived (not the hoards of American college girls studying abroad). The sunset made the awesome view even more magical and we highly recommend going up in the early evening so you can witness it. Although, if you have evening plans, it is worth going over in the daytime just for the view alone. Many other people, locals and tourists alike, sat on the steps and stood along the railing watching the sun slowly sink behind the Tuscan hills. Once the sun disappeared for the night, the crowd applauded...it was that cool.
Following the same path back down the hill towards the Arno, we admired the glowing colors of the twilight sky and stopped to take photos of the bridges (mainly the Ponte Vecchio) as they lit up. What a memorable way to spend our last night in Florence.
After our sunset adventure, we had a late dinner at Aqua al Due, which was recommended by a friend from home. If you couldn't decide what to order, this restaurant had sampler options of salads, pastas, meats, and even desserts. So, of course, we needed to sample all four courses. The waiter offered to have the chef select all the samples, which was more than fine with us. It was the perfect way to try a variety of dishes including some we wouldn't have ordered on our own. The "samples" were more than adequate portions for two people. Other tables watched the procession of dishes coming to our table and soon followed suit. We loved this meal and were thrilled to find out that the restaurant had recently expanded to D.C. and California.
Today lived up to Ashley's expectations, even with six years of anticipation. The art, the sunset, the food...everything about Florence ensured that we'll have to make a return visit.
Next Stop: Venice
Today lived up to Ashley's expectations, even with six years of anticipation. The art, the sunset, the food...everything about Florence ensured that we'll have to make a return visit.
Next Stop: Venice
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