15.06.18

So we rocked it out last night and so both were feeling a wee dusty this morning as we again got up early to head into Florence. The boat docked at the port of Livorno about 90mins west of Rome and so again we sat on the bus and headed into the city. Unlike the day previously we had a tour guide that actually gave us some direction as we headed into the city.. plenty of tips about Tuscany and interestingly about local rivalries.

Livorno as a port city was founded by the Pisarians way back and so people who live in Livorno do not like people living in Pisa and vise versa.. A bit like the Irish and the English.. plenty of old rivalries that go back hundreds if not thousands of years that even today cause issues! The city though was really happening when Florence annexed Livorno in the 1500s and began constructing a fully fledged port city. This was the time of the Medici’s and of the renaissance so not only was the port city built but it is also the time when Florence was fully overhauled and turned into THE city to be in, in Europe.

Far prettier drive into Florence than our day previous into Rome, plenty of hills dotted with sheep, olive groves and vineyards and of course the all important orange, red and yellow Tuscan buildings. The bus pulled up outside of Florence and we all got off the bus and jumped on a tram to take us into the heart of Florence. It seemed like this was the tourist thing to do as the parking lot for the tram stop was full of campers, cars and big buses so it is clearly the way to get into Florence. Twenty minutes or so later and we finally got off the stuffy and stifling tram and into downtown Florence. Florence is a city to be seen.. We started our day (which btw is a “do it yourself” adventure—we just caught the shuttle bus in and out of the city from the boat) by heading straight for the Duomo.. the cathedral of Florence. The façade was overhauled by the Medici’s in the 1500s and it is seriously mind blowing.. I’ve seen some pretty ornate cathedrals in my time but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a façade to rival the Duomo.. It is friggin’ impressive!

We decided to indulge in a beverage whilst admiring the ornateness before we started our stroll down towards the Ponte Vecchio. Our stroll took us via the Uffizi and the hoards of tourists lining up to get their glimpse inside. We weren’t as organised as we were for Rome so after taking one look at the tix line up we decided that the Uffizi wasn’t for us this trip to Florence and that we would just enjoy our afternoon wandering around. The obligatory photo of the David replica taken and the ogling at other statues in the square and it was time to follow the crowd to the Ponte Vecchio (PV)… Another slight disappointment for me.. For some reason I had always thought that the PV was a covered in bridge built in the middle ages lined with gold stores.. It is lined with gold stores and it was originally built in the middle ages but it isn’t covered and isn’t really that impressive! The gold shops rather than being really high end whizz bang diamond/ ruby/ sapphire specials reminded me of tacky junk jewellery shops—lots of bling and razzle dazzle—zero understated-ness.. I guess the jewellery caters to someone but certainly not to me, so another disappointment in Italy!

Anyway, after ditching the PV we headed back towards the Uffizi to find some lunch. Last day in Italy and we hadn’t consumed pasta so it was high time to get our butts into a ristorante and eat some of Italy’s finest… Italy’s finest it was not but the view was pretty impressive.. David in the background of my pasta + coke consumption.

Lunch eaten and we decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon at the Santa Croce church. It is fairly ornate on the outside and super impressive on the inside. It is the church were many of the very wealthy renaissance people are buried—names such as Galileo, Michaelangelo, Raphael. The church is up there with impressiveness~ plenty of amazing artwork on display and a very peaceful interlude in the busyness of Florence.

By the time we had really enjoyed a look at the Santa Croce it was time for us to get ourselves back to the mtg point for the tour group to head back to the boat… Our last stop was for gelato.. So far on the trip we had refrained from consuming but at our last opportunity we indulged~~ coffee flavoured for me and caramel for S. YUM!!!

No artwork purchased (knew I should have bought it on the way when I saw a great pickie) but a really great afternoon in Renaissance Italy.. Will definitely be back again some time soon!