Tourist Mecca

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If you come to Italy, Florence is usually near the top of the list for cities to visit. So today we went to try and see what the fuss is about. We drove to Scanducci, a suburb of Florence, to catch the tram into the city. There is also a big shopping mall here which is handy for a toilet stop or to get some lunch for later.

When we arrived, we stopped for lunch at a large church building with steps all around two sides. We had almost finished lunch when some officious-looking person in uniform, hurried us off the steps telling us we could sit but not eat on the steps. This despite the throng doing the same… and hiding their food while the officer went past.

One of the big attractions is the Florence cathedral, the largest cathedral in Europe. When we managed to get through the crowds, the line to enter the cathedral was the full length of the piazza and up the road too, about 300 metres long so that was never going to happen with a 3 year old… The outside however is amazing. All white and green stone, there is so much ornate carving that it is difficult to focus on any one part. The building itself is enormous and there is also a separate baptistery (which was all wrapped in scaffold for maintenance) and a stand-alone bell tower, all decorated in the same renaissance fashion.

Then we walked through city, which is not very attractive but we found the statue of David which is located near a collection of other sculptues. These have been found all over Italy and relocated to the open air piazza for display.

The other major tourist attraction is the Ponte Vecchio – one of the last bridges with houses and shops built along the bridge itself. It is completely choked with tourists and lined with nothing but jewellery stores. There are much better views up and down the river of the bridge itself but it is really quite ugly, just the back sides of the shops. The other bridges, however are much more beautiful.

We walked on to the Pitti Palace which it is a museum now and showing all modern stuff. The gardens are once again paid entry so we tried to find some other gardens for Em to play. Apparently only the special few are allowed to have lawn and trees in Florence as every green spot on the map had walls and gates around it! We eventually found a playground and Em had a good play while we had afternoon tea.

We wandered back to the tram through the back streets which were far nicer and far less crowded. I think we got a bit of a poor picture of Florence. The experience is obviously very different for others as there is still an enormous international attraction to the city.

Back at the large shopping mall for groceries and dinner, we braved the self-scanners and they were easier than the normal checkouts! We also discovered that pizza is good even when it’s from the supermarket!! It is made fresh and bought by the slice hot. We ate in the car as Em was very tired and she fell asleep on the ride home. It is heavy traffic but we’re getting used to the Italian way of driving now so it’s not too bad. ?

All in all Florence is not one of our favourite stops. It is just overrun by tourists and there does not seem to be enough to see that is worth pushing through the crowd unless you want to say that you went there and did that.

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