On Monday morning, we made the trek from our less than ideal tent hostel to the train station, walking that 20 minutes to the same bus stop, getting wholly confused by the "festa" that was going on, thankfully being able to buy bus tickets on the bus, and finally getting onto a train. We managed to be sitting in first class... which was pretty wonderful. Not only was it spacious and comfortable, but a dude came by offering drinks and such... and when we asked how much it cost, it was FREE. FREE! It was great. So we sipped concentrated apricot juice as the Tuscan countryside rolled by. It was gorgeous.
Once we made it to Florence, we spent a good amount of time feeling lost before we managed to find the tourist information office and buy our Firenze card. After that, we spent a good more amount of time feeling lost before we managed to find the correct bus stop. Unfortunately the only times that our Airbnb host was able to meet us so that we could drop off our things were at 10:40am and 12:45pm... and we arrived squarely at 10:35am. Needless to say, after floundering around for so long we only really had to wait awkwardly in front of her apartment for about an hour... but it was a moderately awkward hour. :P At least she didn't live on a terribly busy street so the number of people walking past us and our innumerable number of bags was minimal.
After we made it into our Airbnb, we quickly got changes and made up and headed out into the city. We very quickly discovered that Florence was not a very large city. Our first stop was a piazza near our apartment, the Piazza Santa Croce where we saw this church by the same name
Of course, after an early morning train and an hour or so of waiting for our Airbnb host, the most important thing on our mind... was GELATO (and coffee). We got some, on the recommendation of our host, in the same square as the church above.
YUM!
After we went on a (very short) walk towards the center of town, and more importantly, towards the Duomo (Italian for Cathedral... this one is literally referred to as "Il Duomo di Firenze" normally or the "Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore" officially). It took about 5 minutes from the Piazza St. Croce, and after we turned the final corner, we were greeted with this view rising over the buildings. It was stunning!
After we passed the actual dome (the "Copula"), we took some photos outside of the rest of the church. Here is one with the Campanile (the bell tower right next to the church).
Here is one of the front of the church. Again, gorgeous.
After we went through the inside of the church (beautiful frescos, statues, etc.), we decided to climb the copula, which was... exhausting. But REWARDING. The views of Florence were absolutely fantastic.
Afterwards, we were desperately trying to see more sights before everything closed (given that we had gone out at 1pm or so). BUT we also always get hungry right about the time that museums are about to close. So that's problematic. Our next stop as then... not a museum... not a church or a palace, BUT FOOD.
It was tasty, and I would have been happy... IF IT HAD COST LESS. Damn open-air cafes in tourist squares. Angela's seafood risotto was tasty... but full of sand/shells/something crunch and not edible. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure my salmon tagliatelle was made from canned salmon. STILL GOOD THOUGH.
After our meal on the square, we had intended to go to the Galileo Museum, but alas, it was closed already, so instead we went to the Palazzo Vecchio. Rick Steves describes it as "(fairly) lavish." ...You can judge for yourself exactly how lavish it is. :|
Afterwards... we had our fourth gelato in three days (oops) and promptly went back to the Airbnb and crashed.
More on Florence tomorrow!
Love always,
Maja
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