Florence…as Mark Twain said, “a city of dreams”

September 23rd to 27th

Our stay in Lucca has been wonderful but now it is time now to visit one of the crown jewels of Italy, Florence. It is a short drive and on the hill above Florence there is a good overlook of what is awaiting us:

In Florence it gets a little tense even though we have studied and restudied the map, GPS, etc. nevertheless with several re-dos we arrive at the Centrico Historico and enter the ZTL, head down what is generously called a street and reach 11 Via Pepe …no host, several cars are behind us and no way for them to get around, no worries I head into an adjacent even quieter (narrower street)…Louisa arrives and instructs me to take the car to a nearby garage to get “registered”, of course, I cannot simply give them the plate number but have to descend into a mini parking garage before backing out of it…however, that is the game you play to be excused from the ZTL trap…then back to  Louisa’s garage …back into same > a youtube of this performance would have been hilarious….in any event with the car parked all is good and, we all head to the apartment…Louisa mentions that if we want to take the car out it is ok but we need to get it registered again at the same garage…NOT A CHANCE!

The weather is nice although the forecast is rather meager for the next few days so we head out to see some of the major sites in case we will be shut down. No point messing around as we head for the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo) and the Baptistry of St. John, an inspiring sight that dominates the skyline…

We are up early and even though the weather is so so, we are keen for our 1st major museum visit….our tickets in hand we are 7th in line for the 08:30 opening of Uffizi Gallery (skip-the-line tickets are a marvelous invention). 

As this is one of the top museums in the world (20th by the number of visitors per annum, with the Louvre #1 at almost 3 million visitors per year)  it is chock full of paintings from the 14th-century and Renaissance periods. Our goal is simply to savor the moment and get a sense of the enduring skill of these artists….a tiny sample is included below…click on the images to enlarge…

While in the museum there was a beautiful view of the Ponte Vecchio and the Arun River…also clearly showing the Vasari Corridor commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo I in 1564. The passageway (the part below the roof) goes from the palazzo Vecchio through the Uffizi Gallery, over the Ponte Vecchio, over the front of a church, and finally into the Pitti Palace where the Duke lived…it is nice to be the Boss. For readers of Dan Brown, the Corridor is featured in his novel: Inferno. 

The town is vibrant and besides the historical/cultural sites, there is a lot going on such as markets, etc. We visited the …Central Market and the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio… click on the pics to enlarge…

… if you are in need of leather goods you have arrived at the right place…below are some pics of  a leather craft school we happened on during our walkabout:

Our AIRBNB apartment (ground floor) dating back to the 1500’s,  is in a great location, literally  100 meters from the Piazza Santa Croce which takes its name from the Basilica of Santa Croce that overlooks the square. 

A …nice dinner at a nearby resto which was full inside… so we ended up sitting on the patio (streetside) and decided to let our server order for us …the result was two absolutely delicious dishes: grilled sirloin steak for Annie, and pasta with fresh porcini mushrooms for me:

 

 

 

 

…then a super short walk back to the apartment >>> an excellent day!

The next morning was the same process as yesterday as we headed to the Academia Gallery to see the famous statue of David…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon we took in the Piti Palace and Boboli Gardens, the palace was interesting but the gardens were a bit underwhelming, although the setting and views over the city were superb…click images to enlarge…

After lunch and a bit of a siesta, it was time to check out the iconic Ponte Vecchio…

And so it went so many things to see and experience! What we love about these types of towns is that they are so walkable and maybe what you bump into is not iconic but makes for interesting day-to-day vignettes of ongoing Florentine life: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our time in Florence is up and it is time to say Ciao!!