Tues June 17th
We decided to go to Florence so headed for Camping San Guisto, 20km
south of the city. Terrible roads made it a tiring journey through lots of
small not so pretty towns. We perked up when we arrived at the foothills of the
Montalbano Massif – even the roads improved. The climb up to the site was
sinuous. Lots of olive groves and brilliant views. The site was at 410m
altitude and very rustic – in a nice way! Pitches were small but we squeezed onto one
with a bit of nifty manoeuvring.
view from site
Scoot out after a late lunch and we headed down into Vinci below us.
Great fun on scoot going down – hot sun, grippy tarmac and hardly any traffic. Unbeknown
to us it was the home town of one Leonardo Di Vinci. Nice find and worth an
extra day to explore further.
Weds 18th June
We scooted down to Empoli to catch the train into Florence. We
parked up outside the station amongst hundreds of other scoots – the only Brit
reg plate! 30 mins later we were in the heart of Florence. The city was hosting
a fashion show so lots of “beautiful people” were in evidence. The promoters
had completely wrapped the Battistero in a funky modern design. You could still
see the amazing bronze gilded doors – The gate of Paradise. However it is a
very accurate copy you see today!
funky!
Duomo dominates your view
Next to see was the Duomo which is huge with an amazing exterior of
pink, green and white marble carvings and inlays. The sparse interior (free to
see) was a bit at odds with it. Not the norm for churches in Italy. We headed
south towards the Arno river through busy narrow streets. I had noticed lots of
Police walking about in pairs – the most we had seen in any major tourist
destination. Was this why there were no street vendors selling all sorts of
tat?
amazing exterior in marble
We arrived in the Palazzo Vecchio to find a display of classic
Italian cars – nice. The statues and fountain weren’t bad either! The 94m tall
Torre D”Arnolfo (old palace) was impressive, dominating the skyline. The copy
of Michelangelo’s David sits outside it. The courtyard entrance has beautiful frescos
and a bronze statue atop a fountain. The nearby Loggia dei Lanzi with its
fountains and statues was also very impressive. Lots of people here but it
didn’t spoil our enjoyment of the sheer scale of the place.
Palazzo Vecchio
Italian style
copy of David
very ornate fountain
We strolled through the Plazza Degli Uffizi on our way to the Ponte
Vecchio. It is currently being restored so had scaffolding and a crane but
still was lovely. Lots of artists offering portraits or original watercolours.
We sat on the steps for a while and just observed.
Ponte Vecchio was crowded but ok. With no money to spend Tina could
only window shop in the rows of expensive jewellery shops. Huge prices.
restoration work in progress
Ponte Vecchio
A hugely enjoyable day despite the continuing intense heat. We
caught the return train with 30 secs to spare. Lots of dubious looking youths
offering to punch our tickets for us. A definite possible scam of sorts (vanish
with our unpunched tickets?) which we politely refused as we rushed past.
Vinci & Florence look great; interesting range of architecture. Must be frustrating to keep having to move on, rather than stay around for a week to explore. Nice haircut Tina. . . . where did you get that done?
ReplyDeletenot as good as the scalping I had in Omenga!! (Lago D'Orta)
ReplyDeleteTina says thanks again.