Heading north out of Rome, our next destination was Florence, another "must-see" city in Italy. If you appreciate art, you'd be crazy to miss it. Florence is considered to be the "cradle of the Italian Renaissance", as confirmed by all of the beautiful monuments, churches and buildings, as well as the commissioned works of Leonardo DaVinci, Michaelangelo and Botticelli originating in the area.
We stayed in a small hotel right in the center of town, within walking distance to many of the sights in the city. And again, we purchased tickets for the hop-on/hop-off bus tour which we consider to be one of the best ways to see the city.
One of the first stops for us was at Michaelangelo's Square, which is located high on the hill overlooking Florence, resulting in a spectacular panoramic view.
After taking in the gorgeous views and letting the girls run around and burn off some energy, we hopped back on the bus to see the rest of the city.
For dinner, we found our way to a local restauarant called La Casalinga, which literally means "The Housewife". This restaurant was recommended by a nice family from New Jersey (JOIZEY, they said) whom we met earlier during our trip to Bellagio. It was a good thing we had our hotel make reservations for us, because it turned out to be a very popular restaurant.
Afterwards, we walked back to our hotel and enjoyed the lovely views of the river and the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge, just as the city lights started to come alive...
The next morning, after having breakfast in the charming courtyard of our hotel, we hopped on the bus to take us to the Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts), the home of Michaelangelo's David. When your make reservations, you can walk in the "fast track" lane without having to wait in a queue, as we had done. Without reservations, you have to wait in the "slow lane", which can often result in a 2+ hour wait (no thanks!).
In addition to David, there were other beautiful paintings and artwork that we were able to enjoy. DS and I browsed through the entire museum to take in all of the beautiful artwork. Thankfully, the Accademia is not that large, so we were able to appreciate all that it had to offer.
Michaelangelo's David -- what a masterpiece! It is so mind-boggling to think that this sculpture was created from a single block of marble, took 3 years to complete and was created by Michelangelo at the young age of only 29! DS was very interested in viewing the sculpture, so we made sure to take it in from all different angles.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the city sights, such as the Duomo, and St. Giotto's Tower.
We walked over to Piazza Vecchio to see the town hall, and had an impromptou picnic lunch of panini sandwiches, while being entertained by street performers.
We made our way back on the bus, and while PS napped, we travelled to Fiesole, up in the hills NE of Florence. The skies had cleared which made for a beautiful ride through some scenic areas. After a pretty full day of sightseeing, we headed back to the hotel (just after stopping for a snack of some McDonald's french fries!)
The hotel recommended a restaurant close by called Osteria Centopoveri, which turned out to be excellent. The best restaurants that we have experienced tend to be the ones recommended by the locals, and this was no exception. Ray ordered a hearty Tuscan soup, that was made from local bread, and had a very thick consistency. It was shared amongst the four of us and we all thought it to be very good!
After dinner, the girls and I went out for an evening walk through the town, while Ray went back to the hotel, still nursing his cough.
During our walk, the girls and I walked over the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and made our way to Palazzo Vecchio (or Palazzo della Signoria). There we sat on the steps to take in the beautiful town hall along with the magnificent outdoor statues within the square. It was simply beautiful when illuminated at night. We made sure to stop and have some gelato and didn't make it back to the hotel until after 10pm!
The girls are sure enjoying vacation, because of the late hours they get to keep! However, they still seem to wake up early in the morning, though...
Although we enjoyed the beauty of Florence, we were all looking forward to making our way to Venice, our last stop in Italy before heading back to Belgium. So, after another lovely breakfast in the courtyard, we checked out and headed out towards some ominous-looking dark rain clouds, in the direction of Venice.
We hear that the weather was turning nasty, but are hoping we get lucky for a few more days of sun!
More to follow...
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