Italia Day 25 - Firenze

Since we only had 1 full day in Firenze we had to pack a whole lot into Friday. So get ready for a ton of photos, because it was also my favourite city in Italy.

As I mentioned, we were staying across the river in a more residential area of town. I loved it, here is one of the streets.

Crossing the river.

Another view of the crowded buildings along the river.

First glimpse of Galleria Uffizi, built by the Medicis.

This was something official, I didn't note the name.

The architecture in Florence blew me away. And it wasn't just the architecture, but the particular arrangement of buildings - it's as if the entire city is an art gallery.

The famous Firenze Duomo, or Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. It really is as beautiful as the guidebooks tell you.

The Duomo with her bell tower.

After initially lining up in a really really long queue to get inside the duomo, we decided to climb the dome first and take our luck with the church later. Best decision ever. To get to the dome you have to enter the church anyway, so we paid our 8 euro & basically walked straight in (I think there were only 4 people in front of us at the bottom. The only down-side were the extremely rude & annoying tourists once we started the climb. Despite the numerous signs asking for silence (to show respect), they kept yelling out 'keep moving' to the line in front of them. I don't know exactly where they wanted us to move to - since it was single-file only.

They could have done what the rest of us did and admire the view down to the church below.

Or the beautiful frescoed dome. Some people...

The final bit of the climb was quite narrow, low and claustrophobic. Disappointingly, some people turned back near the top - I guess they were feeling the stress of being jammed in with so many people. Such a shame, because the views across the red roofs of Florence were stunning.

The immense scale of the church.

View to the hills of Tuscany beyond.

Proof I was there shot.

It was another hazy day.

We kept gazing at the hills, wishing we had more time to explore the region. Instead, we had to settle for the now familiar refrain 'next time'*.

Florence has so many impressive buildings that we didn't get to see. I liked the look of this one, though I don't know what it is.

Like other churches I have visited, the interior of the Duomo is relatively stark compared with the exterior decoration. Despite the lack of decoration, I still really liked the vaulted ceilings.

A walk around the outside of the duomo provided endless photo opportunities.

Detail of one of the doors.

Wandering the streets of Florence after the duomo visit, guess what we stumbled across? A library of course! This is the Biblioteca delle Oblate.

Another church - probably half the size of the Duomo, but still immense.

This hotel has transformed the riverfront into a lawn for it's guests to sunbathe. Very cute. In the distance is the only bridge that survived the German retreat from Florence in 1944.

It's the Ponte Vecchio, built as it stands now in 1345 & currently lined with jewellery shops that look like they will tumble into the river at any moment.

Food porn shot - some of the delicious gelato that I couldn't eat.

Some more of the streets surrounding our flat.

The park opposite our flat - it was jam packed with children playing every afternoon.

A street near the flat. This is the scaffolding around a building site. Someone has hung a number of empty frames up & local artists have created works in them.

The sign reads 'be free be artist'.

Yet another street near the flat - can you tell why I fell in love yet?

After lunch back at the flat we headed out again for round 2 of Florence - braving the Uffizi Gallery. The gallery houses some of the most stunning renaissance art in Italy and was amazing. Obviously, no photos of the art allowed, but here is the view from the rooftop terrace.

And peeking through a decorative gap in the stone wall.

The clock tower of the Uffizi is impressive.

Final view of Ponte Vecchio as the sun started to drop.

After a lovely dinner out with S's parents (who happened to be in Florence too), we found some great buskers on the Ponte Vecchio.

Finally we had to go home, but not before this poor, twisted bike caught my eye.

I truly fell in love with Florence. I could easily imagine setting up a life there, and in fact, when I got home that night I posted on Facebook 'I have written my new 5 year plan and it is this... In 5 years I will own a vegan cafe/bar/bookshop in Firenze'. Best get home and start saving!

* 'Next time' so far consists of: 2 weeks in Praiano, 2 weeks in a Tuscan villa, 1 week in Florence itself, plus visits to all the northern areas like Cinque Terre, Genova, Turin, Bergamot, not to mention the mountains. I think we're up to 2 months and counting...