First day in Florence

Last week Caroline and I flew to Florence for a long weekend. After getting to our hotel, we spent the first night wondering around and doing a Tuscany wine tasting. It was a great way to start a holiday.

On our first full day there, we tried to find the train station which as where we needed to go for our tours in the next few days. And completely missed it - it is literally a 5 mins walk from our hotel. But we ended up near the river so made the most of it.

The Arno River, running through Florence

We walked along the river to the Ponte Vecchio. The buildings literally hang over the sides. It's the oldest bridge in Florence (the rest were destroyed during WWII and rebuilt since) and use to house butchers and tanners until one of the royalty decided it smelt too much and kicked them out. It's now home to some very expensive jewellery shops. 

Ponte Vecchio

Along the bridge

One the Ponte Vecchio

Expensive.

We decided to find the Hop-on Hop-off bus but had just missed it (and it was once an hour of course) so wondered around. It was pretty cold throughout our stay but for the most part it was sunny.

Ponte Vecchio from the other side.

And again

Near the Uffuzi.

We briefly considered going to one of the big museums or galleries but you can be queueing for hours and we didn't want to spend hours just waiting. Plus if you want to see the David, there are copies everywhere. So we got a photo of one of the copies and got our culture by looking at the buildings and learning about the history.

Copy of the David.

A strangely sad lion.

We managed to get the bus but ended u just staying on all the way around, to see Florence. (None of my photos really turned out.) We got to see the city but the bus tour was pretty disappointing. Usually they are really good but the explanations had little or no match to what we were seeing.

We got off near the street markets and the Mercato Centrale, a huge food market which I think it my favourite place in Florence. Downstairs is a giant food market selling everything from fish and meat to tourist gifts.

Pasta!

Lemoncello (in some interesting bottles)

But upstairs is the best food court ever! There are loads of places to get really fresh amazing food. And while Caroline was waiting in line and I got a table, a lovely man came to the table and asked if we wanted wine. He then delivered some very nice glasses of wine to our table. In a food court! All food courts should be like this! 

Waiting for food.

We had a wondered through the street markets and got some bits but we got sick of the vendors trying to get up to buy things. It gets annoying after a very short amount of time. So we headed back to the hotel for a chill out before dinner, walking past the Duomo on the way. 

We apparently got confused with how the Italians eat dinner. We though it was like the Spanish way, where the eat late. But apparently not. They eat a lot earlier. We went for some drinks before dinner and lots track of time. 

Spitz!

We need up having to search for somewhere which was still open and had to rush dinner. Oops. (But the drinks and dinner were very nice.)