Firenze (Florence) ~ October 14-17, 2022

 October 14-17, 2022 ~ Firenze (Florence)

Friday ~ Journey from Venezia di Firenze

We set our alarm for 8:30 a.m. to have plenty of time for our last breakfast in Venezia and then our checkout.  Our desk clerk, Riccardo, gave us some suggestions for Firenze and wished us "safe traveling" as we set off for one last walk to the Mestre station, where we would board our train to Firenze.

I spent much of our train ride from Mestre to Firenze working on this blog and did little looking out the train's windows.  I can attest to the fact that it was a very smooth ride.  Jeff tells me that we were going about 160 miles per hour at several points in time!  While on the train, we witnessed an American lady talking with the conductor.  Evidently, she had been pickpocketed and had her wallet stolen.  As he kept coming back and forth with questions (clearly, he was communicating with the police), it became apparent that all that was stolen was her money - she had her credit cards and other important "stuff" elsewhere in her bag (which, by the way, was an open pocketbook -- so easy for pickpockets).  The conductor asked how much money was stolen.  She replied, "18". He wrote that down and she added, "Hundred." "Oh!" he exclaimed, "1800!"  I can't imagine carrying that amount of money around!  She was rather stoic about the whole thing.  I think I would have been crying.

We arrived at Santa Maria Novella Station just after 12:30 and made our way to the tram stop nearby.  Both of us remarked that remembered being at exactly the same spot several years ago on our ONE sunny day of the February week we spent in Tuscany.  A nice but sketchy gentleman tried to help us with the biglietti machine (which we really didn't need).  I worried the whole time that he would run off with my card.  Eventually, we got our tickets (which I could have done in half the time if left alone) and boarded a very crowded tram three stops to our studio apartment for the next three nights.  This was a part of the package deal from Great Value Vacations, and it's really quite wonderful and very close to the tram that takes us to all of the sites.

There is a king-sized bed and a couple of chairs in the bedroom/living room area, and there is a kitchenette with a 2 burner "hot plate" cooktop and a microwave with pots and eating utensils.  A small refrigerator, a coffee maker, and an electric kettle.  A table and four chairs. 

There is a lovely courtyard just off our bedroom, which we can access from the floor-to-ceiling doorway from the bedroom to the courtyard.  We sat out there for quite a while this afternoon/evening before we went in search of dinner.  Jeff navigated us to a small neighborhood restaurant called Veradero (named for the chef/owner's home village in Cuba), on the nearby piazza.  It was a tiny place - just nine tables - and the chef/owner was Cuban.  He is quite charming and has a smile that lights up the whole place.  It is clear that he loves what he does, and he takes genuine delight in seeing people enjoying his food.

We perused the menu (totally written in Italian, which words that my Google translate couldn't properly translate).  We ordered un litro di vino rosso (a carafe of the house red wine) - which was very good - and a bruschetta to share.

The bruschetta was unlike any I had ever seen or heard of before.  It definitely had a Cuban flair to it.  Cubed (crouton-sized) pieces of toasted bread sat on top of hummus, and on top of that was octopus.  There were three swirls of sauces - a sweet cherry-flavored one, a guacamole, and some sort of aioli. Jeff tried it and didn't hate it, and I found it absolutely delicious!  

For our main courses, Jeff had spaghetti carbonara (which could be made with seafood or with meat - he chose the meat), and I decided on the Risotto Fruitti di Mare, a risotto with just about every kind of shellfish you can imagine.  It was truly delicious, and I ate every bit of the shellfish and most of the risotto.

Sitting next to us was this Dad and his son, whose name is Abraham Lincoln, the dad proudly told me.  Dad didn't speak English well but managed to tell us that he is a designer for Gucci and other famous brands and that he has his own business with six employees.  

We ended the meal with a creme brulee  - the custard was flavored with limone (lemon), and it was also fantastic.  The lemon had a surprising flavor, but it worked perfectly.

The chef and the waitress (who may have been his wife) were warm and friendly, making the visit extra special.  Most of the people in the place were locals who clearly come there often.

Il conto (the bill) came to a mere 54 euro!

A leisurely walk took us back to our apartment complex, known as PopArtment, for a good night's sleep!

***

Saturday in Florence

Hmmmm .... what can I say about today?  Busted play doesn't quite do it - blasted to smithereens play is closer!  Ha!  Seriously, the day started out fine - the weather was beautiful, life was grand.  Jeff slept until I finally awakened him at 11:00 a.m. and asked if he planned to sleep the day away.  He had awoken at 5:30 and didn't get back to sleep until about 7, he said.  Anyway, we walked back to the piazza in search of a coffee and breakfast place.  Breakfast in Europe isn't like breakfast in the US -- you won't find a bacon and eggs kind of place.  But we found a place with breakfast pastries and sandwiches.  I got my long awaited coffee Americano, and Jeff got a piece of Torta al Carota (carrot cake), which was not terribly sweet but very very tasty.  

The photos above are of our cafe.  We found a table outside and enjoyed a quiet breakfast surrounded by local folks chattering away in Italian.  

On the left is a tiny produce market, and on the right is a photo of the piazza with a rather unusual statue of a woman.

We then decided to find an ATM and replenish our dwindling supply of euros (we only had about 65 euro left from our Scandinavian trip).  Right nearby was a tiny shop that sold dried pastas, biscotti, and a variety of other goods.  The main attraction was cheese and interesting salamis.  As we stood and debated what to order, the proprietress cut a couple of slices of a cheese that was a cross between mozzarella and provolone in its flavor profile.  "Si!" I exclaimed, "Molto bene!"  She beamed and then took her cheese knive and held it up to the block of cheese to indicate a portion, looking at me for approval.  "Perfetto!" I declared.  We then asked for another portion of a bleu cheese that looked interesting.  She also sold wine, so we purchased a bottle of chianti and made our way back toward the apartment, stopping for un pane, per favore (one loaf of bread, please).  Supplies for later gathered, we dropped them at the apartment and headed into the city proper with a plan to go to the Church of Santa Croce which houses the tomb of Michelangelo (after his corpse was stolen from its resting place in Rome)

We boarded our tram #2 and had directions in hand from the desk clerk who checked us in, and off we went.  The trouble began when we couldn't find the bus stop for the #12 bus.  After checking with the tourist information office, we found the bus and boarded heading to "the last stop."  It was a long bus ride, and we did pass one terrific viewpoint but didn't get off, thinking it wasn't "the last stop."  The bus just runs in an infinite loop, and before we knew it we were back to where we started.  Jeff, being a "map guy" wanted to get a map showing all the bus routes.  Such a thing doesn't exist.  He was directed to an "app," which he finds to be fairly useless!  Anyway, by the time we got back to our starting point, it was after 3 p.m. and we decided to just return to the apartment and enjoy some cheese, bread and wine that we purchased in the morning.

Sunday in Florence

We set out this morning without a firm plan - other than heading to the Galileo Museum.  We wisely turned to our cell phones for routing information --- we totally had forgotten that tool.  We took the #23 bus from a location in the square and headed to the Galileo Museum, which is just a few steps away from the Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge) that we really wanted to walk across. 

The walled city, as seen from the bus

The Galileo Museum

The museum was fascinating in many ways and (truth be told) boring in others.  So many of the exhibits were of things I had no clue what they were and what they did.  Jeff, on the other hand, would have told me a lot more about what I was seeing than I really wanted to know.  There were the occasional video animations that explained different tools.  The other thing I found fascinating was that physicists of the era would take their instruments encased in beautiful carved and polished wood to the parlors of the wealthy for scientific exhibitions.  It was great!

Shots of the Ponte Vecchio.  I love the reflection in the water of the river - although it's pretty muddy!

As we walked from the museum to cross the Ponte Vecchio, there was a "Street Exercise" group - more than 100 people, marching through the street with headphones on - sort of a Peleton exercise in the streets - they were singing, clapping there hands over their heads, clapping, and chanting.

After we crossed the bridge, we found a little touristy restaurant to get a bite to eat and a glass of wine.  We ordered the bruschetta and again got an interesting variety of bruschetta - one topped with tomato/basil, one topped with a liver pate, one topped with mushrooms, and one topped with what I thought was humus but was blended artichokes.  Interesting (and delicious)!

We started making a plan for our return to Piazzale Michelangelo - going "old school" with a map.

We stopped into the Church of Santa Felicita for a short visit.  It is a simple chapel type of church with a lovely altar.  The light in the church was perfect for a couple of photographs.

We walked to the Piazzale degli Uffizi, the square adjacent to the Uffizi Galleries, which we had visited during our February 2016 trip to Tuscany.  We spent an hour or more in the cafe pictured above during that trip, so it was fun to walk past it again. 

 From there, we headed past the Duomo, another place we had visited before.  At long last, we made our way back to our bus stop, got on board, and headed back to the Piazzale Michelangelo. 

The tram we took back and forth from our Apartamento

A view of the Duomo from the Piazzale di Michelangelo

Reproduction of Michelangelo's David dominates the square

I loved this photo of the bridges, including the Ponte Vecchio, taken from above the city.

Designed in 1869 by the Florentine architect Giuseppe Poggi, Piazzale Michelangelo offers a beautiful panoramic view of Florence and the Arno and is certainly a mandatory stop for tourists and Florentines.

Created as part of the major renovations of the city walls in 1869, this sumptuous Poggi terrace is typically nineteenth-century. Poggi built the square as a monument for the celebration of Michelangelo and his works, which were to be exhibited here, both the Daivid and the sculptures of the Medici in San Lorenzo. When the terrace was finished, Poggi also built the neoclassical loggia which was to house a museum of Michelangelo's works . The building never became a museum, and today it is a popular panoramic restaurant. Today the square is crowded with tourists, stalls and a large bronze reproduction of Michelangelo's David. 

The transportation system in Florence is amazing.  You purchase a ticket for 1.5 euros, and it is good for 90 minutes from the time you first use it, so you can go from one place to another, or in our case, use it on the tram to the city and then catch a bus to another location.  Both are clean and easy to navigate.  Sometimes they were crowded, and sometimes they were nearly empty when we boarded.

After our visit to the Piazzale di Michelangelo, we caught the 12 bus back to the train station and boarded our tram for the journey back to our apartment.  A nap was definitely in order, and we both woke refreshed and took a walk to another restaurant in town.  As it was Sunday, many of them were closed.  We came upon this Osteria and were pleased to find it open.  It was definitely another local place, and it was such fun to mingle with local folks.

We loved the presentation of this bruschetta on a wooden plank!  

It was as delicious as it looks too!

Our waitress spoke excellent English and was very kind and efficient.

We each ordered the Fettucine alla Bolognese, which was beautifully presented with a spring of fresh rosemary.  It was fabulous!  Freshly made pasta that nearly melted in your mouth.  So very good!

We strolled back to our apartment, savoring our meal and the wonderful time we had in the neighborhood.  I think both of us enjoyed living like locals just as much as we enjoyed seeing more of the sights of Florence.

Tomorrow ... Roma!