More than a month ago (I am REALLY far behind on these things) I traveled down to Florence with Deanna, from Miami, and Benoit, one of my roommates, from France, to try and do Tuscany in a weekend. I think we did a pretty good job. We started in Florence, where on our first day we climbed the Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, saw the Uffizi Gallery, an enormous collection of renaissance art, and the Accademia, where David is housed.
We also stopped for lunch at a sandwich placed called Antico Noe, recommended by Kammeron who studied in Florence for a semester all the way back in 2007.
After all that we stopped by the San Lorenzo Market, a huge made-in-florence market, with leather goods, ties, scarves, watches, jewelry, and much much more. We did a brief bit of shopping, and got some great, cheap stuff. (which you won't see here because they are gifts)
We then went to an enoteca (wine bar) nearby and enjoyed a nice Chianti (I think) from somewhere in Tuscany. For dinner we headed to Kammeron’s favorite restaurant in Florence, Trattoria Zázá. I got a cheese plate to start, which had 5 cheeses and an orange marmalade dip (it was amazing):
And then cheese ravioli in truffle sauce (which was even better). Probably one of my top 5 all time meals. You can’t get food that good in Milan.
Thus ended our first day in Florence. It was a successful one.
The next morning we headed to the two markets we missed the day before, the Mercato Nuovo and the Mercato Centrale. We only went to the Mercato Nuovo to get some good luck from the Boar statue there:
After, we headed to the Mercato Centrale for some dried fruit:
While there we saw some great scenery, such as brains:
Jaws:
And multi-colored pasta!
We then headed to the Fiume Arno to check out the Ponte Vecchio:
And then made our way up to the train station, stopping at Kammeron’s old apartment on the way:
Our destination that Saturday? Siena, home to the best piazza in all of Europe!
We arrived at 2 and immediately made our way down to the Piazza to grab some lunch and picnic on the piazza (called “Il Campo” because it used to be a field right outside the city walls. Campo means field in Italian, if you didn’t figure that out already). We started our picnic and gazed around, did some great people watching and seriously contemplated climbing the City Tower, but ended up deciding against it.
After our lunch in Il Campo, we headed over to the Duomo of Siena, famous for its black and white striped architecture:
Entry was free, so we went in a had a good look around:
When we came back outside there was a Siennese children’s drum corps playing:
They sounded pretty awesome.
Next we headed up to the fortress just on the outskirts of the city, and got a pretty fantastic view of Siena and the surrounding countryside:
We then headed down to the train station, grabbed a bottle of wine for the train and headed back to Florence. We grabbed dinner at a pizzeria on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, and it was delicious:
That night I went out with some Basque Spaniards I met at our hostel (along with a Finnish guy) while Benoit and Deanna wimped out and slept. It was a ton of fun and I’m gonna try to meet up with Mario and Maria (two of the Spaniards) when I finally make it to Rome (hopefully soon).
We closed out the club at around 5 that morning and headed back to our hostel to get some much needed sleep.
I got up a little later than Deanna and Benoit, but we got underway at around 10. I wanted to get to San Gimignano (a hill town in the south of Tuscany) that day but we checked out bus schedules and it just wasn’t going to work; instead we headed west to Lucca, a town with all its medieval walls still in tact, and very day-trippable. We arrived, took a quick walk around (the town is tiny) and saw pretty much all there was to see in a couple hours. We then rented bikes for an hour and rode them around the medieval ramparts of the town.
We closed out the day with a bit of delicious gelato from a beautiful street in the middle of town, and grabbed the last train back to Florence. We got dinner back in Florence, kebap from a place just across the street from Antico Noe. They were also delicious (I need more adjectives to describe good tasting food!). For dessert we each got crêpes from the place next door:
We called it an early night to recover from all the traveling we had been doing the last few days.
And thus, it was our last day in Florence. Our only to-do was going up to Piazzale Michelangelo, which has the best views of Florence. We checked our bags at the train station and grabbed the bus up to the Piazzale, but got off way before the piazzale itself. We decided to walk the rest of the way, which was a horrible horrible choice. The weather got worse with each step we took and by the time we finally made it up to the piazzale (about 30 minutes later) we were all thoroughly soaked and slightly miserable. The view from the top was still pretty fantastic despite the weather, but it could have been much better:
We didn’t linger at the piazzale and headed back to the train station to grab our train back home, sad to leave the amazingness that is Tuscany but excited to be get home to Milan once again. I have to go back to Florence at some point this month anyway, seeing as Jersey Shore starts filming there soon!
So illegal
We also stopped for lunch at a sandwich placed called Antico Noe, recommended by Kammeron who studied in Florence for a semester all the way back in 2007.
I'm getting hungry just looking at it.
After all that we stopped by the San Lorenzo Market, a huge made-in-florence market, with leather goods, ties, scarves, watches, jewelry, and much much more. We did a brief bit of shopping, and got some great, cheap stuff. (which you won't see here because they are gifts)
We then went to an enoteca (wine bar) nearby and enjoyed a nice Chianti (I think) from somewhere in Tuscany. For dinner we headed to Kammeron’s favorite restaurant in Florence, Trattoria Zázá. I got a cheese plate to start, which had 5 cheeses and an orange marmalade dip (it was amazing):
And then cheese ravioli in truffle sauce (which was even better). Probably one of my top 5 all time meals. You can’t get food that good in Milan.
Thus ended our first day in Florence. It was a successful one.
The next morning we headed to the two markets we missed the day before, the Mercato Nuovo and the Mercato Centrale. We only went to the Mercato Nuovo to get some good luck from the Boar statue there:
After, we headed to the Mercato Centrale for some dried fruit:
While there we saw some great scenery, such as brains:
Jaws:
And multi-colored pasta!
Gotcha
We then headed to the Fiume Arno to check out the Ponte Vecchio:
And then made our way up to the train station, stopping at Kammeron’s old apartment on the way:
Our destination that Saturday? Siena, home to the best piazza in all of Europe!
We arrived at 2 and immediately made our way down to the Piazza to grab some lunch and picnic on the piazza (called “Il Campo” because it used to be a field right outside the city walls. Campo means field in Italian, if you didn’t figure that out already). We started our picnic and gazed around, did some great people watching and seriously contemplated climbing the City Tower, but ended up deciding against it.
Torre Civica
After our lunch in Il Campo, we headed over to the Duomo of Siena, famous for its black and white striped architecture:
Entry was free, so we went in a had a good look around:
From the library, which had centuries-old hymnals
When we came back outside there was a Siennese children’s drum corps playing:
They sounded pretty awesome.
Next we headed up to the fortress just on the outskirts of the city, and got a pretty fantastic view of Siena and the surrounding countryside:
Roomies!
We then headed down to the train station, grabbed a bottle of wine for the train and headed back to Florence. We grabbed dinner at a pizzeria on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, and it was delicious:
Quattro Formaggi
That night I went out with some Basque Spaniards I met at our hostel (along with a Finnish guy) while Benoit and Deanna wimped out and slept. It was a ton of fun and I’m gonna try to meet up with Mario and Maria (two of the Spaniards) when I finally make it to Rome (hopefully soon).
We closed out the club at around 5 that morning and headed back to our hostel to get some much needed sleep.
I got up a little later than Deanna and Benoit, but we got underway at around 10. I wanted to get to San Gimignano (a hill town in the south of Tuscany) that day but we checked out bus schedules and it just wasn’t going to work; instead we headed west to Lucca, a town with all its medieval walls still in tact, and very day-trippable. We arrived, took a quick walk around (the town is tiny) and saw pretty much all there was to see in a couple hours. We then rented bikes for an hour and rode them around the medieval ramparts of the town.
Cathedral in Lucca
Dukes of Hazzard in Italy?
Delicious, Amazing Soup
The street we got our gelato on
Medieval walls of Lucca
We closed out the day with a bit of delicious gelato from a beautiful street in the middle of town, and grabbed the last train back to Florence. We got dinner back in Florence, kebap from a place just across the street from Antico Noe. They were also delicious (I need more adjectives to describe good tasting food!). For dessert we each got crêpes from the place next door:
Crêpe!
Crêpe Flambé!
We called it an early night to recover from all the traveling we had been doing the last few days.
Exhausted
And thus, it was our last day in Florence. Our only to-do was going up to Piazzale Michelangelo, which has the best views of Florence. We checked our bags at the train station and grabbed the bus up to the Piazzale, but got off way before the piazzale itself. We decided to walk the rest of the way, which was a horrible horrible choice. The weather got worse with each step we took and by the time we finally made it up to the piazzale (about 30 minutes later) we were all thoroughly soaked and slightly miserable. The view from the top was still pretty fantastic despite the weather, but it could have been much better:
Florence in the rain
Faux-David
Chris,
ReplyDeleteTell me again what happened to your camera this time?
Love, Mom
I WANT A SANDWICH FROM ANTICO RIGHT NOW.
ReplyDelete