Florence

Florence and the Cinque Terre

In my last post about Italy, I wrote about the time that we spent in Rome. But before we did as Romans do, we did Florence and let me tell you…Florence, Italy is one of the most beautiful and romantic cities that I have EVER seen. In all of our travels, it remains one of our favorites. The cobblestone streets, lush gardens, tiny shops, soaring cathedrals, and museums containing some of the most famed works of art in the world. Not the mention the amazing cuisine and world renowned, delicious Tuscan wine…ugh my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Our original plan was to spend about 3.5 days in Florence including a day trip to nearby Cinque Terre. Unfortunately our flights out of the US were delayed, canceled, and completely turned around. To make a long story short, we didn’t arrive in Rome until a day and a half later than we had planned. So we were cut back to 1.5 days in Florence and a day on the Cinque Terre.

The first full day that we originally had

planned for before our flights were cancelled included a trip to the Uffuzi Gallery, Santa Croce, and the Academia. Unfortunately we had purchased tickets and passes that expired when we didn’t show up so we were unable to use them. I suppose that would mean we have to go back to see them…oh darn 😉

Once we finally landed in Rome we had to hop a train to Florence. We took one of the high speed trains from Rome, which only took about an hour. Once we got settled in our apartment we freshened up and began our exploration of the city. We stopped in at the gorgeous Santa Maria Novella for our first ever cathedral experience and needless to say we have been ruined for life. They don’t make churches like that anymore. Our afternoon consisted mostly of us walking around the city, exploring some cathedrals, and eating gelato…not bad for our first day in Italy!

Day 1

The next day we got up early, grabbed an Italian breakfast at a nearby cafe (cappuccino and Nutella brioche by the way) and set out into the city for the day. We first visited the famous Duomo. This thing is MASSIVE. It is hard to explain just how big this gal is and just how gorgeous she is. I mean it took them hundreds of years to build the thing…it better be impressive right? If you are traveling in shoulder season like we did, it won’t take too long to get through the line.

After finishing up at the Duomo, we headed to Ponte Vecchio. Built in 1345, the bridge is home to some romantic views and TONS of jewelry. Once a bridge known for its grocers and butchers, it is now home to luxury vendors. After some brief glances at the jewelry that we could never afford, we made our way to the famous Boboli Gardens. Lucky for us we chose to explore on a day where entrance was free to the public! Once private gardens of the infamous Medici family (the purse strings of the the Italian Renaissance) Boboli Gardens are now open to the public. The Gardens can be a bit overgrown, but it offers some of the best views of the city. After a big day of walking and exploring the city, we were ready for some dinner. So we wandered off the main streets and found a wonderful little restaurant on a back street. We relied heavily on our broken Italian and our very kind waiter to tell us his recommendations for everything from the wine, to the entree (still have no idea what the delicious concoction was), to our first taste of tiramisu. And just like that, our first day exploring Italy was in the books.

Day 2

The next day was our trip to the breathtaking Cinque Terre. These five tiny and colorful towns are perched in the cliffs on the Ligurian Sea. There are no cars allowed so if you want to hop between the towns, you either have to take the train…or hike on the footpaths through the cliffs. Our day started with hopping on a regional train to La Spezia. Once we got there, we had to catch an even smaller regional train to take us into the cliffs. One gorgeous train ride later, we arrived in Riomaggiore. We figured that we were young and semi-fit, so why not take the footpaths? The path from the first town to the second town was closed, so we decided to head to the top of the trail head and work our way down. So off to Monterosso we went! After we arrived we wistfully ogled the relaxing sunbathers on the beach and began the trek to Vernazza. Measuring in at 2.5 miles, this trail is NO JOKE. We gasped, sweat, and clawed our way through those 2.5 miles in just under 4 hours. When we caught site of Vernazza, we have never been more excited. One we stumbled into town, completely exhausted, we grabbed some freshly fried seafood and a couple beers then parked it on the docks to watch the sun begin to set.

After some shopping we decided that we should go ahead and begin the trip back to Florence. VERY IMPORTANT DETAIL: When looking at a posted train schedule in Italy, there is an ARRIVAL side and DEPARTURE side. This seems obvious since it says it over the board and it is even in English, but we didn’t realize that. So…you guessed it, we got on the wrong train headed in the wrong direction. The worst part was that we didn’t realize it for an hour and half. So we got off at the next stop, only to turn around and jump on the next train back to La Spezia. Once we got there we took a look at the departures all to find out that we had missed the last train back to Florence. I would like to say that I handled it with grace, but I would be lying. While I was having a tearful nervous breakdown, my husband managed to stumble through an Italian conversation with the person working the ticket counter and managed to get us seats on a fast train to Rome that would stop in Florence.

After we arrived back in Florence, we were pretty exhausted and we had to get everything packed up for our early morning train to Verona. However, after a whole day of hiking and a slight breakdown at a train station in La Spezia, we were famished. Luckily there was a shop just downstairs that served simple meals of dried meats, yummy cheese, and wine! The best part was that whatever we loved, we could purchase by the block, bottle, or log!

Florence was one of our favorite places in Italy and we wished that we could have spent more time there. If we ever venture back, Florence will definitely be on our list for revisiting!