On the advice of our hosts, and Lonely Planet, we jumped on a train for Florence, though not before missing the previous train by about a minute. It didn’t matter at all, as we had as much time as we wanted in Florence. The train trip in was pleasant, as they always seem to be, and we arrived mid-morning at the central station. From there we walked gently into the city, aiming for the cathedral which we could see above the buildings from time to time.
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| First view of the Duomo |
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| In front of the Duomo |
First glimpse of it is amazing as you come around a curve in the street, and it towers high up above with its pink, white and green stripes. Piazza del Duomo is amazing, with the Duomo, baptistery, tower and the surrounding buildings. It needs a bit of quiet standing to absorb it all. We would have loved to go into the Duomo, but being Sunday apparently it is closed except to worshippers, though late in the afternoon there was a large queue forming perhaps hoping to get in. The signage is a triumph of Italian awkwardness, as it is very difficult to make out what is or isn’t open, when, and how. Tickets are somewhere, entry somewhere else. The end result was that we didn’t get in to see it, and the climb up into the dome which we had wanted to do also appeared to be closed. Cleverly, the main info place at the train station was closed for renovation, and there were no other ones visible, even in the Piazza del Duomo. Tourist information is something that takes a low priority in Italy.
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| Palazzo Vecchio couryard |
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| Ponte Vecchio |
From the Duomo, we headed down to the river, passing all kinds of wonderful buildings on the way – the Palazzo Vecchio with all the sculptures outside, including the copy of David, the Uffizzi Gallery, various squares and at the river the Ponte Vecchio. It is an amazing city just full of stunning sights, and one which probably needs more than a single day’s visit. Unfortunately every building here has a big price to go in, and we are a bit sick of paying generous entry fees everywhere, so we just enjoyed the city instead. Many have the entry office inside the main courtyard, so we got to see an awful lot anyway.
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| Lunch under way |
We had a delicious couple of pizzas at a small pizzeria, then down to the River Arno. At the river, we took a long time just soaking it all up. The Ponte Vecchio is a lovely structure – we particularly enjoyed tracing the private Vasari Corridor that travels 500m over it from the Pitti Palace to the Palazzo Vecchio. We went over the bridge and as far as the huge and ostentatious Pitti palace, where we would have gone in but for the 13€ + 8€ fees. On a long trip like ours, we simply can’t afford to go to every cathedral, palace, tower and exhibition, but we have probably gone the other extreme and gone to too few. We, and Alastair, have really enjoyed the little discoveries you make wandering around the old quarters of these ancient cities.
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| Outside the Pitti Palace |
Around 4pm, we revived ourselves with a gelato, but decided we’d seen about as much as we could take in. It really needs a week based here, and more Euros than we felt like spending, to get a decent coverage of what’s on offer, but we had an excellent day in Florence.
