The place we stayed was an apartment in a building from the 16th century. It is really nice inside, with high ceilings, big windows, big chandeliers, and good size rooms. The only problem was nothing had been updated since probably 1930, so it was very antiquated and smelled a lot like moth balls and stuffy air. The windows rattled at night, and this coupled with no air movement and the 5 mosquitoes that called our room home, have over the course of the past few days turned me into a zombie.
I booked with Guido on airbnb because it was a great location and a good price, but we hardly saw him. He picked us up from the train station, which was very kind, and took us to his apartment. The apartment was his grandfathers, and he rents out the rooms but lives elsewhere. We ended up having a very nice flatmate named Anna, who was from Paris and was in Florence to learn Italian. She has a really cool job, and works for the opera in Paris as a director's liason.. Of course with so many Italian opera singers, she had to learn the language to better serve them. She has lived all over, in England, Germany, and the US. It was nice having her around to keep us company and share meals with us. The nicest thing about this apartment was it had a (very old but operating) kitchen where we could cook. After eating out a lot an being overloaded with pasta I was keen on cooking!
Florence is a very beautiful city with pastel buildings and detailed architecture. Here are some photos I snapped:
The Duomo in the cathedral, about a 10 minute walk from where we stayed
Neptune!
Ponte Verecchia, a bridge with various shops (mostly expensive jewelry)
We arrived Monday and did some exploring, walking around and getting our bearings on the city. We were both pretty worn out from going non-stop for a week, so to be honest we really did not do much the first few days besides wander the town and visit the grocery store. I went for a run on Tuesday morning along the Arno River, which runs through the city and connects the other side by multiple briges. As I was running, I saw where we could walk up to see a great view of the city at the Piazza Michaelangelo. I had read about this place and the hundreds of stairs leading up to a great square with a replica of David at the top. After seeing the forecast for the week (raining, except for Wednesday) we decided that Wednesday would be the day to take a little hike. Between being tired from travelling an sightseeing in Milan and Verona and not sleeping well at the apartment, I was completely fine with having some down time. Paul had come down with a cold, and needed to rest as well. The rainy weather made it easier, too!
Wednesday we got up and had breakfast and made a move to see the city from above. First we walked across the Arno, then up to Fort Belvedere, which sits atop a hill overlooking the city. After walking up the huge hill, we got to the top and it was closed for the season... There was an office there staffed with a lady who told us we had to buy tickets to walk around the area where you could see the city, apparently there are some gardens at the fort. The entry fee was 9 euros a person, so we decided to make our way back down the hill and head to the Piazza Michaelangelo where we could get the same view for free!
Here was the view we got from the top:
The rain held out for us and it ended up being a nice day. We saw up a little higher on the hill there was a church, so we walked up to the top of the hill and found this cemetery.. There were all these tombs and gravesites throughout that were amazing.. We missed the sign at the entrance that said no photos, whoops...
Yes, it probably is strange that we took photos of gravesites, but I have never seen anything like these. There was even a miniature Duomo! These people must have been very important to have replica buildings as their final resting place. I am glad that the weather cooperated and that we were able to see all of this.. We then headed back to the apartment, ravenous and dragging, and relaxed until our dinner reservation at Gino's.
Gino is my grandfather's friend who he and his other friend, Jim, met years ago. Gino has been coming to the US to cook at Jim's country clubs in Atlanta since 1997, and after eating at his restaurant, I can see why. We has reservations at 7:30.. walked in the door had a seat and was immediately given a glass of prosecco and these little fried dough balls, which were amazing. We were then greeted by the othr chef , who made rcommendations about the menu and made a little chit chat about our time in Italy. Then Gino came out of the kitchen and it was so cool to meet a man I had heard so much about. He is so friendly and his passion for food is evident in the ambiance of his restaurant and of course, the food. We started with a savory flan with vegetables and crostini topped with vegetables and beans. The name of his restaurant is "Icce ci ci", which basically means, what you see is what you get. So, whatever they could get at the market is what they use to cook the food. A simple and efficient way to run a restaurant, and a delicious way to make seasonal food.
For the main course we tried some traditional tuscan items, I had calamari in lemon sauce and Paul had a huge piece of veal in tomato sauce. We are so used to the American style of dining out that we didnt realize the importance of the "primi patti", or the pasta/carb dish you get before the "secondi patti". I was fine with just the calamari but I think Paul regretted not getting the pasta dish because he said he was still hungry (i think he just has a bottomless pit haha).
We definitely had dessert, though. We were told about the chocolate flan, which was a house speciality, and Paul opted to order that while I got an apple and pear tart with fig jam. It's not very often we get an appetizer, main course, and dessert, so this meal was special, apart from being a family friend's restaurant. We considered this our Thanksgiving meal, and I thought I was going to pop! It was so delicious.. If you ever make your way to Florence, be sure to seek out Icce Ci Ci, located in a side street of the Duomo. You won't regret it!
Gino and the other chef (whose name escapes me, but he was awesome!)
A Marietta landmark, in Italy!Our last day in Florence was rainy, bucketing down all day long and made it really easy to just stay in and make prepartions for the next leg of the trip. We ventured out for a little bit, but the rain started around lunch time and didn't stop all day long. We caught up on some very important TV on youtube (since you can't get Netflix here), did some yoga and stuff, and were generally lazy.. We only left the apartment again to pick up some groceries for dinner and even then were huddled under an umbrella as we walked to the store. We shared our last dinner with Anna, packed up our stuff, and got ready for bed.
Currently we are sitting in the train station in Bologna, waiting to board to 10:35 train to Ancona. We were up at 5 something this morning and got the train from Florence to here, which was like a 25 minute train ride because we were going 300km/hour on the super fast Italo train. It was mostly underground with little blue lights on the side so as we sped by it felt like we were traveling through time, haha.
Our next train is a slow regional train, which will take us 3 hours to get to Ancona. We then have a few hours to kill before arriving to the port. We will be taking the Blue Line night ferry over to Split, Croatia. I got some super deal where we are staying in an ourdoor deluxe cabin, and it was only 20 euros a person plus taxes and stuff.... I am interested to see what this cabin looks like!! It's amazing what deals you can get when you shop around.. The room we are in is usually 135 euros per person! We will be sailing in luxury! (We shall see!!)
I'll be sure to take photos and update as soon as we get to Croatia.. I am thankful I don't have to worry about slamming window panes or kamikaze mosquitos that buzz in my ear tonight.. I am hoping I finally get some sleep so I don't look like I have been up for days on end! That is not a good look for anyone.
Ciao, Italy!
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