Though Iain and I stayed in Florence for four nights (I'd thoroughly recommend our bed and breakfast!), we only spent one evening and one full day checking out Florence itself. I had been previously in 2008 with Barrage (and Iain had been a few times as well), so we used our room as a base for day trips that we took elsewhere in Italy.
Because we only had a very limited amount of time, however, we made sure to include things neither of us had seen! (Florence is, after all, filled with all sorts of things to do and see.) When we arrived on Friday night, we had pizza at Pizzeria Vico del Carmine. I have no idea why the rating for this place on Google has only 3 stars: it was the best pizza I've had in Florence, the second best I've had in Italy, and Iain, who is Italian, agreed that it was stellar. We went to one of the top rated pizza restaurants the following night (one where they have pictures of the famous people who have eaten there), and it was not nearly as good...so then we returned to Vico del Carmine the third night, and were once again blown away. If you make it Florence, make sure to include this pizzeria.
 |
| The view along the Arno River as we headed into Florence. |
 |
| The front of the Basilica di Santa Maria at night. |
 |
| The Duomo. |
 |
| Ponte Vecchio at night. |
The following day, we made time to go visit the David at the Galleria dell'Accademia, because I'm pretty sure it's one of the most inspirational things you could ever see. We also went to the Archaeological Museum, which we initially thought was a great bargain at only €2 a person...until we got inside and spent the first 3-4 minutes walking down hallways with nothing in them. After wondering, "Is there anything in this museum?" we arrived at the back portion, which was filled with all sorts of unlabeled things. However, the €2 was definitely worth something we saw toward the very end in the Egyptian collection: a decayed mummy that had been removed from its sarcophagus. Portions of wrapping had disintegrated to reveal some of the bones underneath. Utterly fascinating.
We spent our afternoon at the immaculately maintained Boboli Gardens:
 |
| Palazzo Pitti--home of the Medicis in Florence, and also of the Boboli Gardens. |
 |
| Poseidon. |
 |
| Behind the Boboli Gardens. |
 |
| Just west of the Boboli Gardens. |
 |
| Looking out at Florence from the Boboli Gardens. |
And, to finish this post, I'll leave you with this absurd picture from the Boboli Gardens:
 |
| ...really?! Why was this sculpture necessary?! |
No comments:
Post a Comment