Florence: The City of Hidden Beauty

Continuing on our mini Italian adventure we headed to Florence, Tuscany for a bit more culture and food, and of course leather.

After Venice and Verona I didn't think I would be able to fall in love with another Italian city, but Florence, or Fiorenza captured me completely. I don't know whether it was the cobbled paths, the continuous flow of white marble statues scattered across the city mainly in the loggio de lanzi, the amazing and voluminous leather markets or the stunning architecture, but there was something about Florence which made me want to end my trip here and stay for an unprecedented amount of time.

Cathedral

Of course the one thing that everyone does when they go here is head to the Cathedral, which I have to admit boasts an amazing exterior. Now one thing to bear in mind if you are planning on visiting cathedrals in Italy, is that they are a lot more catholic than other places and therefore you have to be very respectful. This mean basically covering up, leaving the debate of oppression v respectfulness aside, we did just this to get in. Unfortunately I have to admit that I was somewhat dissapointed with the interior as it was far less impressive than the outside had suggested, but then again I potentially raised my expectations too high.

Still definitely worth a visit, especially if you like me, have read the Dan Brown books and were interested to see all the places described.

Boboli Gardens

Another place to pop on your to do list is the Boboli gardens. At this point I am going to stop mentioning Dan Brown because I will give away half the narrative of Inferno if I continue. So instead, I will just talk to you a bit about the gardens.

The Boboli Gardens are the gardens which are behind of the Pitti Palace in Florence, and was the back garden to many dukes and duchesses in its time.It is now more of a public park, easily accessible and worth the small queue to get in. The garden is predominantly 16th century and follows a pattern if you look at it from a map. There are, in many way similar to the french palace gardens of Versailles, statues dotted around the place, paths leading to unknown destinations and small buildings scattered along the grounds. It was the perfect way to relax after doing nothing but walking and climbing over the last couple of days. Ok one more - just one more Dan Brown reference: the picture below of the drunk dwarf riding a turtle. If you have read Inferno then I am sure you will recognise it.

Uffizi

If you only visit one museum in the city of Florence then there isnt really a choice in which one you head to - the Uffizi it is!


If you want to see some of Florence's art then there really isn't anywhere else to go, with room upon room filled with paintings, murals and sculptures, each telling a different tale, you could spend weeks and weeks inside this building, wandering from room to room. I quite enjoyed it, truth told I can get a bit claustrophobic when in a building for too long and because of that I can find being in museums for long amounts of time quite challenging. But I loved this one, there is something for everyone and each piece of artwork has a fantastic story behind it.

Piazelle Michelangelo (Michelangelo Hill)

This is the place in Florence which you cant miss, you have to stop over here, rain or sunshine - just go. The views are stunning. I practically go weak at the knees whenever I see a birds eye view of a city (and no its not because I suffer from vertigo - quite the opposite in fact). I just love seeing a city span out before me, with all its beautiful buildings and places I haven't visited yet.

we got up there for early evening with the specific view to watching the sun go down over Florence. Unfortunately everyone else seemed to have the same idea, still don't let that put you off, its a great place to go if you want to be out in the open and maybe take a picnic with you if you want to stay up there for a while. There is also a replica of Michelangelo's David standing above you watching the whole scene unfold.

Finally it happened, and it was amazing, the sky filled with an array of different colours and we sat awestruck watching the sunset of Fiorenze.

Florence was astounding, and definitely a place I would recommend, with its famous Pont Vecchio bridge if you fancy some jewelry, leather markets popping up all over the place, glamorous buildings and ancient statues - there is something for everyone and somewhere which has definitely left an imprint on my mind.

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