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Published: October 20th 2007
Florence - 8/9-12/9/07
We arrived in Florence from Venice by train late Sunday night where we checked into the Archi Rossi Hostel not far from the train station. We went for a wander through the streets around 10 o' clock at night and were surprised by the lack of activity. It almost felt a bit dodgy walking round, street cleaners out in force. My first thoughts of Florence were not great.
The next morning I woke with anticipation of the amazing breakfast I kept hearing about at this hostel. Its included in the room price and definitely lives up to its name as having one of the best breakfasts ever in any hostel I have ever stayed at. Firstly you have an option of a cooked breakfast, scrambled eggs and bacon, then you get another plate to load up with bread, fruit salad, pasta, salads. OMG it was sooooo good. I love this hostel! Is it wrong to stay here just for the accommodation?
It was a beautiful day in Florence and the hostel ran a free walking tour which we happily obliged to. We got a great overview of the city and a bit of its history
with the Medicini family back in the days of the power.
We spent the rest of the day wandering round and decided to visit the famous Florence cathedral. The exterior is truly breathtaking, with its white, green and pink marble facades and the carved detail of sculptures. It made todays buildings look rubbish! The queue wasn't too bad for this one and it was free which we love so had a looksee. They had removed all the pews and the interior floor was very cool. A massive floor space, it is apparently the third largest church in Europe behind St Peters at the Vatican and St Pauls in London.
The next day we got up extra early (7am... haha!) to queue up to see the famous Michaelangelos ‘David’. Would you believe there was a queue at 8 in the morning half an hour before opening. Crazy. We paid our 10 euro and headed straight to the statue which was very impressive. The rest of the academy wasn’t anything special apart from other statues carved by Michaelangelo. I spent a good 20 minutes checking out Davids butt!! Hard to imagine how a slab of marble could be carved into
something so beautiful and accurate. We then headed over to the Uffizi Gallery which is famous for having a large collection of priceless paintings. The queue was so long, we took the sensible option and prebooked tickets for later that evening. We then headed to Fiesole which gives great views of Florence and was good to get away from the crowds. So many tourists in Florence. We then caught up with Pauls old/new boss Ann and her family who just happened to be in Florence at the same time. What are the chances?
We headed to the Uffizi Gallery with great anticipation which was quickly exhausted. The priceless paintings were overwhelming and after about half an hour I found them to become a little meaningless (too much!). This sort of gallery deserves a special guide and/or plenty of time to really appreciate it. to be honest, it wasn’t really my scene as it focussed mainly on paintings of Jesus and Virgin Mary but it was good to see The Birth of Venus and Spring.
The next day we decided to head out of Florence to the small town of San Gimignano which is perched on top of a
hill where it use to have 72 towers overlooking the Tuscan countryside. Only 7 remain and the village is a gorgeous old settelment. Another gorgeous day in Tuscany, we wandered round the old town and I really wished I hadn't filled my pack to the brim with clothes. So many things I could of bought! Its not fair!
Back to Florence for the night where we caught up with Ann & family for dinner before heading to Pisa the next day.
Pisa 13 Sept 07
We jumped on a train Thursday morning from Florence to Pisa to take a look at the one and only attraction in Pisa (so I’m told). Well it is still leaning and very impressive. After about 100 various shots and poses we chilled out on the grass and admired the Leaning Tower of Pisa before heading off to Cinque Terre in the avo.
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Florence Cathedral
