Day 23 & 24 - Florence

DAY 23 -
Suitcases and bags packed we checked out of the apartment and get a taxi ride to the train station to hop on board the fast train. 

The countryside is very hilly here in Italy with the train tunnelling through many of them, the pressure on our ears a little uncomfortable at times. Lots of farmland, vegetable farms, vineyards, villages right on the tops of hills and cliff edges. 1 hour 55 mins later we arrive in Florence, this time heading straight for the taxi bay and 4 mins later arriving

View from our bedroom window

at our accommodation. We check in and are shown our apartment admiring the lovely views from windows and then finding out our apartment has a terrace with a FABULOUS view.

It's lunch time when we arrive so we set off after offloading our cases and bags to find food. Afterwards we walk to the main area of Florence and were absolutely floored when we reach Duomo Square. The beauty of the

Florence Cathedral

Florence Cathedral & Baptistry is very unique and I loved the colourful exterior of these buildings. It is also massive. Having visited inside a lot of cathedrals on our trip, I didn't plan to go inside anymore, but I do just wonder what  this one is like inside. If we get time perhaps we will visit one more.


View from terrace

What we noticed about Florence really early is that it's so clean, no graffiti, the driving not so crazy and just feeling a bit safer here than in Rome. Things seem easier to get to too. The day is finished off by doing general stuff like washing, drying, shopping for food and planning our next couple of days here. (Oh and admiring the night views from our apartment.)

DAY 24 -
A lazy morning in store and not a lot planned apart from a walk alongside the river and up to the viewpoint from Piazzale Michelangelo. The steep walk to the top was SO worth it. The views were astonishing with the Florence Cathedral and other cathedrals rising above all the other buildings. There was a bit of fog still around when we started out this morning but as we were admiring the views, the sun started to break out...perfect!  There were a few little markets on top of the hill too, so it was nice to wander around in between the views of Florence.

Florence Cathedral rising above the city

Our walk continued down to the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge, across it to find a lunch destination and then Mark and Toby going off to the Uffizi Gallery of paintings and 

Ponte Vecchio

sculptures whilst Ana and I happily wandered the narrow shopping lanes of Florence. After meeting up again, we wandered back down the other side of the river back to our apartment. Time for some home cooking and a glass of wine and suddenly I come to the realization that we have an extra night here than I thought. We leave Florence on Tuesday, not Monday. I am sort of relieved at this as, although I miss the cats & home, this city is lovely and another day to relax here would be nice.