first day in Florence

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We roll into Florence by midday, and relaxedly wander through town. We have lunch at a nearby vegetarian cafe, bveg, and head to the Duomo via a high end shopping district. We grab gelato at the first gelato shop we see, where the servers wear little sailor hats, and the cones are stacked into cone trees. The fruit sorbet looks enticingly icy. We encounter over ten more gelato vendors in our walk; there are gelato shops every other corner in the center of town.

The streets are narrow but the traffic is not as chaotic as in Naples. Blond buildings uniformly have dark green or brown shutters as we walk from the area southwest of the train station eastward. Suddenly the Duomo looms ahead above the buildings, a terracotta dome on a basilica with dramatic white and green geometric patterns. When the Duomo is finally seen in its full glory, it takes the breath away. The intricate detail on the facade sucks you in. Each statue (saints, or angels, or popes?) stands in an alcove topped with a lapis lazuli blue background with golden stars - beautiful. The green and white marble pattern continues from ground to top. We join the throngs entering the cathedral. It is a statuesque and surprisingly understated interior, with simple unpainted stone walls and stained glass windows, until the interior of the dome emerges. Such detail and and flawless execution.

We wander to the Mercato Centrale, a food market which itself is closed, hitting upon endless stalls of leather goods, scarves, and pottery. We simply walk around and don't enter anything with a fee. We meander to Santa Croce and then back along the river. For dinner we try Il Vegetariano, which is a great homey vegetarian restaurant with large portions of tasty casseroles, pastas, salad, and desserts.

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Photos

Street market
around the Mercato Centrale

Dinner
at Il Vegetariano