Firenze

Florence was the most welcome break from the hustle bustle of Rome.  We were welcomed after a short walk by the Duomo in the middle of the city.  It had an amazing design on the outside of the building, and the architecture was substantial.

I wish I could take a picture of the atmosphere and feel of Florence.  It is majestic, peaceful, ornate, enticing, authentic, relaxing and exciting.  If there were more time I would have loved to go on a tour of the Duomo, and I would have also gone to see the College of Leather.  (I also would have gone to see the David, but I am embarrassed to say I went to Florence and didn’t see the David…)  I just fell in love with Florence from the minute we got off the train!

We walked through the streets and were greeted by Renaissance figures like Donatello

And the street vendors had the most amazing paintings!  I am regretting not buying more (except I still came back with a MUCH lighter wallet…)  And gelato!  Oh the gelato was nothing like it is here!  It is perfect and creamy and thick and cold and savory and sweet all at the same time!  The best part is that it was piled high and waiting to be consumed!

I can see how people who have ample money would want to come to Florence and spend money on the fine Italian leather purses and shoes, and the expensive clothes, and the jewelry.  There were so many specialty shops to walk by and find whatever you wanted.  Here is an example of what you might see:

We walked to this row of jewelry shops that were along a bridge over the canal.  It looked like this on the outside:

And this on the inside:

I couldn’t find anything under 200 euro, so we moved on to an open air market where they had leather galore!  It even smelled good to be standing in the middle of all that leather!

On the way back to the cruise ship, we decided to go to the leaning tower of Pisa.

(DID I MENTION HOW BEAUTIFUL THE WEATHER WAS?!)  I can’t count how many times I’ve heard and learned about this building, and when I actually got there I didn’t remember most of what I knew!  Either way it was amazing to be in the courtyard looking at the tower and think of how amazing it is that this building is still standing with all of its flaws.  I found lots of things to take home from Pisa and Florence like a cute little blue bow tie purse and some artisan jewelry made from FORKS!  It was a dream to be in Florence/Pisa, and left reminiscing taste of gelato!

This was the end of the highlights in destinations.  But I will wrap up the trip with a post about Corsica and Spain!

Advertisement