Travel July 24, 2019

EUROPE: Florence

Day 12

Florence

Today we left Venice and made a trip to Florence. It was a one day adventure, and we didn’t get to our hotel till around 10pm since we went straight to the city of Florence to explore and stayed in a hotel a few hours away, still in the Tuscany region (as I write this I may have just bought Under the Tuscan Sun on Amazon so I can reminisce about the region — seriously so beautiful). We had a bit of free time before our guided tour so we went to a local market (I didn’t find anything to eat — but I luckily had Rx bars with me). We started our guided tour in a piazza near the Florence Cathedral.

Piazza del Duomo

We walked past a bronze fountain of a boar (Porcellino), where individuals “put a coin into the boar’s gaping jaws, with the intent to let it fall through the underlying grating for good luck, and they rub the boar’s snout to ensure a return to Florence, a tradition that the Scottish literary traveller Tobias Smollett already noted in 1766,^[4] which has kept the snout in a state of polished sheen while the rest of the boar’s body has patinated to a dull brownish-green.”

Porcellino

We then walked to the Piazza Della Signoria where a replica of the David statue is (it is the original spot where it stood), Palazzo Vecchio. I did not see the original David which is in the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, mostly because we decided to walk around the city.

Piazza Della Signoria

We walked through the city more checking out the views and our tour guide giving us gelato recommendations.

Florence

We then ended our guided tour at the Florence Cathedral, which is beyond beautiful. You have to pay to go in, and that was not included in our tour, but the view from the outside is breathtaking (and it is huge — there is no good way to get the entire Cathedral in one shot).

Florence Cathedral

A group of us roamed the city to find the gelato shop (it was not dairy free). There was an entirely gluten free bakery, Starbene, that was right next door to the gelato shop! I got some bread and dessert (in two separate tripis) and wish I had gotten more — it was SO good. We then walked more, found a set of steps and climbed the roads (which provided a great backdrop for some photos) to the birth place of Galileo. Eventually got an Aperol Spritz (how could I not get one in Italy) with a few before going to a scenic view over Florence at the Piazzale Michaelangelo.