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Published: June 21st 2017
Duomo of Florence
Duomo of Florence 09-10-14Geo: 43.7793, 11.2463
Our day started with the included Italian style breakfast. Lots of very sweet food – cakes, cereal with chocolate, sweet pastries, sugared croissants and so on. Fortunately there were delicious hams and cheeses as well as very good cappuccino.
We then set out to Piazza del Duomo. We decided not to climb the dome of the cathedral itself, but rather to climb Giotto's Campanile. It wasn't a too difficult climb, there were spots to rest along the way, and the view from the top was worth any effort that we expended.
Next we visited the Duomo itself and the Baptistery. Unfortunately we could only see the copies of the Gates of Paradise as the originals are kept in the Opera del Duomo which was under renovation.
After the Duomo area we headed to the Museo Bargello as we both enjoy looking at sculptures. This was a small easy to manage museum which we both enjoyed.
Finally we walked across the Ponte Vecchio. I must say the bridge, and the Arno itself were fairly disappointing. The bridge was ridiculously crowded and the Arno river banks were weedy and scruffy. Nothing like rivers we have seen in other countries.
We wandered along the other side of
the river and stopped for a club sandwich at Hotel Lugano, from where we could see the Ponte Vecchio. The famous view of the bridge was far more enjoyable than actually being on it
After lunch we headed to the beautiful Santa Croce church and the Leather School to continue our search for leather jackets. It was incredibly expensive and there was really nothing much that we liked anyway. We ended up returning to the shop we visited the previous day and buying our jackets there as well as collecting our laundry from the day before.
On our way back to the hotel we popped in the Mercato Nuovo where we purchased a purse for me and a wallet for G. Obviously we rubbed the boar's nose to ensure a return to Florence.
Our evening ended with Happy Hour at the Davanzati followed by dinner just over the street at La Bussola. The evening was lovely so again we were able to eat outside – Spaghetti Carbonara with Chianti Sauce which was delicious followed by Potato Topped Seabass which was very nice, but nowhere near as good as the potato topped fish we had eaten on our first night in Bellagio.
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