Italy in Ten Days Part II: Florence.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the time of my life on a ten day trip in Italy with a darling friend.

We walked till we nearly dropped, stayed out till the sun set at nine each night, encountered one too many friendly Italian men who were happily to translate menus for us, offer us a taste of their glass of Italian wine and even a spoon of a lemon sobert they were making – and lived to tell the tale!

Florence was the second town we visited. I love how tranquil it was, especially compared to the ever chaotic Rome (the main mode of transport was cycling!) and the beautiful river that ran across the city.

Day 1

The street we lived on

Our accommodation

It was way past mid day when we got into Florence from Rome. After a long train ride and a tedious walk with our luggage in tow, I was really more than ready to collapse when we finally found our B&B, right smack in the middle of a dark, sleazy alley.

Thankfully, it was one B&B that looked a lot better inside than it did outside. Our accommodation had a surprisingly cheery decor that worked wonders for my weary spirit, although air conditioning (and not being awaken by the heat, covered in a film of sweat each morning) certainly wouldn’t have hurt.

Seeing as how there was nothing much to do in our room, it was straight off to dinner at a restaurant the owner of the B&B recommended!

Dinner at Il Latina

Melon and proscuitto (with barley salad, salami and tapenade on toast in the background) & roast duck (with pasta in vegetable sauce and roast potatoes in the background)

What seemed from the street to be a small, cozy restaurant turned out to be a spacious and incredibly crowded place we would later learn from the two Italians seated next to us we were really lucky to get a table at. And we could certainly see why- the food- everything from the flavourful barley salad to the succulent roast lamb was really good! It was certainly was one hell of a meal to start our time in Florence.

The gorgeous river by night

Day 2

Day Two saw us start our day bright and early, starting with a quick trip to Pisa!

Best chocolate croissant ever (from a little cafe in the train station)!

The streets of Pisa

More sights around Pisa

Finding the Leaning Tower of Pisa really wasn’t a problem at all – all we had to do was follow the general direction most people seemed to be taking. And after a good twenty minute walk, there it was, in full glory right in front of us!

The Cathedral & the Leaning Tower of Pisa

A water fountain and around the Leaning Tower

I didn’t expect it but I seriously was quite taken with the tower. I mean, I know it tilts but to actually stand before it and see the leaning tower right in the flesh is quite something! I swear one of the hardest things I’ve ever tried to do is take a photo of the leaning tower and not subconsciously lean in the same direction to make the tower look straight!

Nutella & cherry ripple gelato

But of course, what kind of trip would it have been without what was becoming a mandatory cone of gelato? I couldn’t resist stopping for one on the walk back to the train station in the mad heat.

The Mall!

Tea at The Mall: A slice of chocolate & cookie pie, a slice of chocolate & pear cake (so good!) and an affogato (no prizes for guessing whose this was!)

Our next stop after Pisa was to a farflung shopping outlet, very aptly called The Mall. And what a mall it was! It was here that I first fell in love with the gorgeous Ferragamo, going head in into what’s bound to be a very pricey love affair. Ahh, the bliss of shopping overseas (and the ability to kill the urge to do currency conversions)!

Spaghetti vongole (yes, I did eat this a lot) with spaghetti with truffles in a cream based sauce in the background & really good tiramisu

Physically spent after a long day out, dinner was at a restaurant just a stone’s throw away from our B&B that had surprisingly good fare and a pretty adorable waiter. The spaghetti vongole was definitely one of the best I had on our trip, with such sweet and delicate flavour of the clams and white wine.

Day 3

Starting yet another day early, this time we headed off to the outskirts of Florence (45 minutes by car, to be exact) to the region of Chianti for a bike tour.

The gorgeous scenery from the top of the castle

The castle, wine & olive oil tasting

We were first taken on a short tour of a castle who now housed facilities to produce wine and olive oil (depending on the season). The view from the top of the castle was simply breathtaking, especially on a sunny summer day!

The tour was concluded with a wine and olive oil tasting. While the wine was pretty damned good, it was the olive oil that really had me floored. Liberally drizzled over a thick slice of white bread and served with a sprinkle of sea salt, it was simplicity at its best and most delicious.

View from the castle from afar, catching my breath after a short ride

Before long, we were fitted with helmets and bikes and off on our 23km ride around the castle! Unending straight roads, clear blue skies and surrounded with breathtaking scenery, there really was little more we could have asked for.

Going past a vineyard, on one of the many never ending roads

After an hour of pretty relaxed riding, we stopped at a cosy little restaurant for a delicious three course lunch and a nice long break from the scorching sun.

As it turns out, that lunch was a nice lead in into a fantastically long ride down straight as arrow roads, up and down some really fun hills and then some really steep ones. If I had any delusions about my fitness level, they were certainly dispelled!

Wandering the streets of Florence

Florence Cathedral

Before we knew it, most of the day had whizzed by and it was back to the city centre of Florence for us. We took a nice stroll through the streets of Florence, immersing ourselves in the rich history of the city centre and the charming serenity of the streets.

The river by day

Sunset by the river

We were lucky enough to catch the sun setting as we strolled along the river. The warm orange glow of the sun setting against the stream of blue water was a gorgeous sight. And judging by the number of people on the bridge either snapping shots or gazing into the sky, we certainly were far from the only ones mesmerized by the sunset!

Proscuitto pizza & seafood stew

You would have forgiven for thinking that we were probably sick of Italian cuisine this far on our trip. But our seafood stew had quite the opposite effect. Fresh, sweet seafood in a light, delicious broth and served with crisp slices of buttered toast, this dish certainly refuelled my passion for everything Italian and the days to come.

Day 4

Last day of our trip and, what’s seemingly turning into a ritual, we spend it at a market- this time, the Florence leather market.

The indoor food market, pastries for breakfast!

While we were actually there for the leather market, we couldn’t resist peeking into the indoor food market. There, they had the usual butchers, delis (selling of course a whole array of truffle products) and also bakeries selling pastries, which proved to be too much for our willpower to handle. We admittedly ending up an assortment of pastries which tided us through our walk through the amazing leather market.

San Lorenzo – Florence’s leather market

Ahhh, leather. If anything (okay, anything non edible) that is more alluring than the smell of leather, I don’t (and don’t wanna) know it.

The leather market was just incredible! Rows and rows of little stalls selling leather goods of all sorts, I proved irresistible to the charm of leather and the most gorgeous and eloquant Italian I’ve ever seen and walked away with a couple of beautiful leather bags. (In my defense, I fell in love with the bags he was selling before I laid eyes on him. But of course, his good looks certainly didn’t hurt )

And just like that, our time in Florence had come to a seemingly quick end and it was time to move on towards the north of Italy!

Up next: Cinque Terre, the place that stole my heart!

Posted by thecoffeesnob on July 28, 2010

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