Under the Tuscan sun

You know you are in Italy when you can smell cigar smoke on the train platform and in the streets, there are more Vespa’s than bicycles in Amsterdam, there is a church or gellateria on every corner and the restaurant menu doesn’t have beer on it, only wine!

We arrived in Florence on Saturday afternoon after a much easier trip than we expected from Hopfgarten. It was a lovely sunny day and so warm when standing in the sun. After checking in we had enough time to walk around the city centre before the sun went down. The city was packed with tourists and locals and had such a summer feeling in the last rays of light. On our walking tour we passed the Galleria dell’ Academia with a replica of Michelangelo’s David and other statues outside in the piazza, the Galleria de Uffizi with statues of famous Florentine’s on the pillars, the Piazza dell’ Signoria with Neptune’s fountain, the Ponte Vechio and of course the Duomo and baptistery with the golden doors or Gate of Paradise. We also tried traditional gelato and loved it! Florence is one of Bron’s favourite European cities and she is glad that she got to share it with Justin. After 5 years of jabbering on about how beautiful and romantic Florence is, he can finally see what she is talking about!

Sunday we woke up to rain and decided to spend the day doing the museum thing. After a two hour wait in the queue we finally made it into the Uffizi. Justin really enjoyed it but Bron is still undecided whether it was worth the two hour wait. The paintings and sculptures were good but Bron enjoyed the few Rembrandt’s that they had more! We accidentally skipped the rooms with the drawings and I have a feeling we missed something good there.

Feeling a bit museumed-out we wandered around the street markets. So much shopping so little time! The leather and wool goods for sale are just beautiful and not that expensive for the real deal. Not being able to carry much more than what we already have with us, we stuck to a scarf each, sheep skin gloves for Bron and a Venetian mask. Bron has decided that she is coming back for a shopping holiday! lol.

We still had some time in hand and because there was no queue we went into the Galleria dell’ Academia. A much smaller museum but home to the original David by Michelangelo. Wow! What an impressive statue! The statue is 5.2 m and the features and proportions are just amazing. If you are in Florence and have time for just one museum go to the Academia and see the original David!

On Monday we started with a walk up the 463 stairs to the top of the Dome of the Duomo. The paintings on the ceiling of the Dome are impressive; the figures seem so real and some look like they are coming right out of the ceiling. More stairs to the top of the Cupola for views over the city, except the Duomo of course. A bit of a hectic climb but definitely worth it!

After the Dome we made our way to Piazza Michelangelo for views of the River Arno and the whole city. Wow, really impressive. You can see from the hills, to the Ponte Vechio, to the Duomo, to the Santa Croce and to the hills on the other side. Really impressive. We supported a local artist and bought an original water colour of views from the Piazza (not like our printed one from Prague…). There is also another copy of Michelangelo’s David in the piazza. They really love the statue here! They call it ‘David Fever’, which I think we caught!

We walked up the hill a little bit to the Chiesa di San Maniato al Monte and Cimitero dell Porte Sante which is a fortress type place with a church and highly decorated cemetery. We made our way back past the Sante Croce and via a Gellateria. Our last stop for the day was the Duomo itself. We went into the Duomo but not the baptistery, the view of the Gate of Paradise was enough for us.

Having covered everything we wanted to see in Florence, we headed to Siena for the day on Tuesday. Typical Spring day it was overcast and drizzling! In Siena we mostly did our own walking tour of the city. We did however go into the Duomo. A very different cathedral to most others. The pillars on the inside are white painted with blue stripes and the ceiling including the dome is painted blue with golden stars. Another different aspect of this church is the floor. The marble floor has pictures and stories from the Bible rather than just a pattern. Most of the floor is covered with cardboard to prevent wear from the feet of so many tourists.

The walls however are more traditional with Christian paintings and sculptures and there is an impressive bronze of St John the Baptist by Donatello. Another interesting thing is they include the symbol of Siena, a she wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, in the church which we though was weird since it is legend and mythology.

We passed many other churches in Siena and saw the main piazza, Piazza del Campo, where the Palio is held each year. Check out one of the Daniel Craig James Bond movies for scenes of the Palio. Basically a bare back horse race around the piazza but very competitive with lots of local rivalry. We also saw the Palazzo Pubblico which is the town hall with an impressive bell tower.

We really enjoyed walking around the narrow winding streets of Siena with very typical Tuscan houses. We loved the washing lines with colourful laundry hanging outside, not too much laundry out though due to the rain. Siena is very hilly so at the top of one hill you have good views of another. There is also an old city wall and fortress which we explored as well. It is not as well preserved as the Festung in Salzburg where it is a museum you can go inside but you can still walk around the top and people were running and walking their dogs. After a long day of walking it was time to head back to Florence to pack our bags and get ready to move on.

We have enjoyed some really good typically Italian meals in Florence. If you are in the area try the restaurants 4 Leoni and La Lampara. It’s amazing what a difference just using fresh pasta makes. Not sure we will be able to go back to the pre-made stuff! Just watch out for the pasta with tripe that is on most menus. And of course you have to try the gelato! Looking forward to more good food in Rome!

Today, we arrived in Rome on the slow train (~4 hrs) where we will be for 4 nights. More rain today, hoping it clears up soon! Apart from the cold we have actually had pretty good weather since we have been in Europe and can’t complain too much. Shell & Bron had more rain during their two weeks in summer than we have had in 2 months in winter! Looking forward to Spring though. Can notice the days are getting longer and some trees have blossoms already. Come on summer come on! Sorry for those in the Southern hemisphere, it means that your winter is on its way but you still have some good days left.

From Rome we fly to Barcelona on Sunday where we will be for 4 nights. We really didn’t want to fly but to get out of Rome on a train was going to be quite expensive so we decided it would be better just to fly. After Barcelona the plan is to move onto Madrid, Lisbon and finally Paris before heading back to Rotterdam sometime at the end of the month (aiming for 25 or 26 March or so). Feeling sad that the end of our 3 months of travels is in sight but guess we still have 4 weeks left and many good things to look forward to in Rotterdam.

Hope everyone at home is well! Sterkte for Argus and Oceans training! Let us know how it is going, we would love to hear from you.

Until next time, ciao ciao!

x

Views of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo 

View of the Ponte Vechio from Piazza Michelangelo 

The Duomo

Front view of the Duomo

Gate of Paradise 

Inside the Duomo

Replica of David at Piazza Michelangelo

Replica of David outside the Academia

View from the top of the Dome

At the top of the Dome

View of the Sante Croce from the top of the Dome

Typical Tuscan houses

Vespa's!

Sante Croce

Gelato! 

Duomo in Siena

Streets in Siena

Piazza dell' Campo

Inside the Duomo in Siena

Laundry in Siena