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| Sunset over the River Arno |
Our host mothers waved us off at the platform in Cremona
after a week teaching at summer camp, and Louise and I headed to Florence to
fill the four-day gap we had before meeting my parents in Le Marche. I was very
ill-informed about Florence and wasn't that keen on going at first- simply
because I wanted to go to Rome more! However, we had an incredible time and I
felt very safe walking alone or just with Louise through this Italian city,
which is always an important factor when travelling in a new place.
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| Beautiful Ponte Vecchio. Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Vecchio |
On our first day in Florence, we were happily re-united with
Greg, a friend from camp training at Blue Beach (read about that here). We spent most of our time in Florence with
him and had a blast! I instantly fell in love with Florence's enchanting tiny
back roads, and soon realised that at any point, you can turn a corner and find
an amazing attraction. Admittedly, I did not know much about Florence before
going there. There’d be occasions where I'd be admiring Florence’s
architecture, thinking how cool it was, oblivious to the fact that I was
actually appreciating extremely famous monuments. The Ponte Vecchio for
example, a medieval stone bridge that arches over the River Arno which is
comprised of lots of little jewellery shops!
During this adventure we did what most Brits abroad would
do: find a cheap bar! Everywhere we went a pint of lager was around 7 euro, and
our purse strings simply couldn't stretch that far for a regular beer. So we
were very surprised to find a bar on the main piazza of the Duomo (Piazza del
Duomo) that sold a pint of 8% beer for 6 euro, aptly named Gasoline. Bargain. As the night crept on and more Gasoline was consumed, we found
ourselves dancing and singing camp songs to passers-by on the doorstep of the
Duomo. It was so much fun, and even though we got a few funny looks I think the
majority enjoyed it. Or maybe that's the Gasoline talking! We then found
ourselves joining in to a circle of dance with some random Italians. The dance
resembled Irish dancing, and all participants were holding hands and hopping
around. Of course, we joined in and pretended that we knew what we were doing,
although when I was pushed into the middle for my solo I knew it was time to
leave!
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| Dancing by Il Duomo was so fun! |
Next day, despite a horrendous Gasoline induced hangover, we
went for a walk and bumped into Chloe (another friend who was at camp with us).
She was on her way up to one of the highest points in Florence, Michelangelo's
Square, which overlooks all the beautiful terracotta-topped Florentine
buildings. We tagged along, and I soon regretted it... It was a horrid ordeal
when hungover in the midday heat, but I'm sure it is lovely to do in better
circumstances! I think I sweated out my entire body weight, almost throwing up
in the process. The views from up there were spectacular however, and it was
such a good way to see the whole of Florence. Once I had gotten my breath back,
we began our descent which, let me tell you, is a lot easier than the way up.
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| Florence from Michelangelo's Square |
We thought a free walking tour would be helpful to learn about some of the history and amazing things
we saw around us. I had heard that these can be very interesting and informative,
but we had a less fortunate experience. After about ten minutes of hanging off
the back of a tour group struggling to hear any of the guide's info, we snuck
off to the leather market which was much more fun. I love leather, so this was absolute heaven for me! I had to refrain
from buying everything as my student budget screamed at me, and also I had very
little extra room in my case (rookie travelling error). I did buy some
beautiful Murano glass necklace pendants though, as they weren't too expensive
and didn't need to go in my case as I put them straight on! After the torment
of being surrounded by tonnes of beautiful leather bags,
Louise, Greg, Chloe and I headed to a restaurant where we ate a classic
Fiorentina T bone steak meal and a glass of Chianti for 20 euro each. It had to
be done!
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| So many beautiful sunsets |
On the first Sunday of each month, most, if not all, museums and attractions are free to
enter. We went to the Accademia gallery to see the
famous Michelangelo's statue of David, and also entered the beautiful Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise
known as Il Duomo di Firenze. Unfortunately, the incredible exterior of the
Duomo set my hopes up, so I was a little underwhelmed by the very plain
interior. Remember, if you are thinking of going to Italy, you cannot enter
any place of worship without suitable clothing on. I had some trouble because I
had denim shorts and a cami top on so Louise and I had to rearrange our
clothing so that it covered our shoulders and knees. (This reminds me of the
time I was chased out of a church in Sanremo by an elderly woman for wearing
unsuitable clothing. Believe me, they can be scary!)
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| Prettiest cathedral ever |
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| Louise, me and Greg visiting big Dave |
One night, after spending the evening drinking Gasoline and staring wondrously at the beautiful Duomo right next to our favourite bar, we went in search of a nightclub. Unfortunately, clumsy Louise fell off a curb
and hurt her already injured ankle. It was a very tense moment because without Louise's
ankle, our trip could be in serious jeopardy. So, what do we do in a tense
moment like this? We sing the Frog song, of course! So there's Louise on the
floor in agony, and Greg, Chloe and I hopping around singing the frog song to
distract Louise from the pain and diffuse any "oh no, is she crying?... Oh
man she's crying! Shit." moments. No wonder people hate tourists so much!
After a while, Louise was back on her feet, but wanted to go back to the hostel.
So after taking her home and saying good night to Chloe who was staying in a
different hostel to us, Greg and I grabbed a kebab and went to the little
piazza round the corner from our hostel. It was packed full of Italians who
were all standing chatting and we felt so out of place. We didn't want to just
sit in the corner on our own so we gathered the courage to walk around the
piazza a few times. We didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb so we uttered
the odd Italian word every now and again to try and blend in. In hindsight, we
probably should have just stayed in the corner with our doner wraps, but there
was no holding back that night! At least we had a laugh!
During an adventure one day which took us away from the main central
areas of the city, we stumbled upon a little gelateria (ice cream shop). Little did I know that this would become one of my favourite spots in Florence. Firstly, in my whole life, I have never come across fresh peanut flavour ice cream, even in Italy.
Second, I am a huge fan of nutty things, and pistacchio and nocciola (hazelnut)
will always be the flavours I dive for on entry of a gelateria, so the fact this place sold PEANUT flavour meant it was always going to be a winner! I have never
enjoyed an ice cream as much as this one. It was that good, that I dragged
Louise round the maze of Florentine back streets the next day just get another.
It was our last day in Florence and there was no way that I could leave without
finding Il Gelato Gourmet for one
last taste of that peanutty heaven. It took us around two hours of getting lost, asking loads of people for directions
and uncountable puzzled looks at our city map. When we finally arrived, I
almost cried tears of joy. I then proceeded to devour two beautiful peanut gelati, one after the other.
After our little ice cream hunt we went for a lay down in
the hostel. We were sung asleep by the voice of an Australian angel who was playing
his guitar on the other side of the window next to the bed. That in itself was
amazing. Then, the next thing I knew, I was woken up by what I can only
describe as two Australian Gods who were moving into our ten-bed dorm! They
were all sweaty and hot from lugging their bags from the station and had no
option but to strip off. I can't even explain this. The memory is too much to
handle. Louise and I just gawped at them, and the next thing we knew, they were
off to see the city. That's the best thing about staying in hostels, that you are able to meet so many (beautiful) people. I must note, our hostel was also particularly good because it was cheap, was in a great location and had a kitchen which meant we could save money on meals and cook pasta alla gorgonzola for breakfast every day, mmmm. (Hostel Santa Monaca)
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| One of David's finer angles |
We left the next day and headed to Le Marche, where my
Gramps is from and also where my family have a farmhouse. My parents joined us there
for a week and we celebrated my birthday! Read all about it in my next post!
I hope you enjoyed hearing about my time in Florence. Sadly, we
missed out on visiting many things such as the Uffizi Gallery which is a shame, and
we most definitely didn't make the most of our stay in Florence and experience
enough of it, but boy, is it an incredible place! It is safe to say that Florence definitely is the best city I have ever
been to!
A presto!
Olivia xx
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