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May 8, 9, 10, 2008
FLORENCE, Italy
Thursday morning we left Milan for the ½ day drive to Florence. ( Firenze ). Again a great, easy drive on a good highway through the beautiful Italian countryside. As this is a main road in Italy there is a lot of traffic but for the most part civilized drivers and an easy trip. We stopped along the way for lunch and to visit another “ Outlet Shopping Center” a short distance from Florence. They don't seem to get the concept yet as the pricing is not great and selection isn't much better.
Our very good hotel in Florence ( The A.C. Firenze, with free mini bar. That's a new one !! Great idea !!! ) is on a new road and that caused some frustration as it is not on the maps and / or GPS and / or Mapquest. We eventually found the place and took a late afternoon walk to check out the local sights. It looks like that within 20 minutes walk from our hotel we can get to almost everyplace we want to visit. We don't get the mentality of these hotel operators. Free mini bar
-- and 22 Euros a day for internet ( 10 Euros for 1 hour ).
Friday we took the usual City Tour Bus and enjoyed a few hours of sightseeing. (with someone else driving.) Florence is as beautiful as we remembered. The city is in a hilly area with a river through the middle of town. This was and still is a very important cultural center in Italy ( and Europe ) and there are too many museums, art galleries and statues. We did visit the gallery that houses the statue of David and a few more by Michelangelo. It really is amazing work in all the sculptures we saw.
The architecture is varied and some of the buildings are very old. The very large and very elaborate Duomo and the Basilica Di San Lorenzo is an amazing place and we took up the challenge to walk up the stairs to the top of the main dome of the Basilica. Not a great idea !! We made it about 2/3 of the way ( 286 steps )and checked out with about 180 more, very steep, steps to get to the very top. Damn near killed us !! From
where we got to you see the frescoes etc. Up close inside the cupola. From the top you see a panorama of Florence.
There are some very beautiful ( and expensive ) Villas in the hillsides around the city and the City Tour trip takes you to some good views of these properties. Not a bad place to live !! Florence has been an important place for a couple of thousand years or so. We spent he rest of the day walking the city and taking in the sights.
Saturday was an uneventful day visiting some more of the more interesting sights in the city and some shopping in the center of town. Lots of tourists here as for all the tours to Italy Florence is a must.
We enjoyed our short time in Florence and will leave tomorrow for Sardinia, by ferry from Livorno.
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Mike
non-member comment
Visited Florence
I just returned from a trip to Italy and visited Florence. Too bad that you did not make it to the top of the Duomo. It is a great view. However you can also get a great view from the Tower next to the church and it is easier to climb. Check out my blog for some more information on the places I visited in Italy including Florence, the Chianti Region, Luca and Pisa.