We were quite sad to leave Bologna but excited to see Tuscany and Florence which was the main part of our holiday. We caught the train from Bologna and watched as the beautiful Italian countryside unfurled before our eyes. It was a two hour journey and full of long tunnels as we passed through the Tuscan hills. On arrival at Florence station we were greeted by an unusual sight (for us Brits anyway!). A new method of transport for the Florentine Polizia.
Our hotel was a good way out of the city and alongside the River Arno. We were very pleased to find that our room had a balcony overlooking the river and was also next to the bar, restaurant and swimming pool! http://www.hotelvillesullarno.com/ Here’s a photo taken from just outside our door.
We used the bar and the restaurant very regularly during our five days there. Wonderful food plus a very funny and friendly waiter who made our holiday even more enjoyable! The next day, on our first full day we caught the local bus into Florence and started to explore. Being August, the city was packed with Italians on vacation plus tourists of every nationality. It didn’t take us long to realise that to get in to any of the buildings would mean a mile long queue, so we gave up on that idea. (Before leaving England I had bought two tickets for the Uffizi gallery so we knew we would be ok with that one). We were totally stunned by what we saw though, building after building of absolute breathtaking beauty.
After such a hot and busy day we decided that we might prefer to get out into the Tuscan countryside, so the next day we took a bus way up high to a little village called Fiesole which had the most amazing views of Florence. Fiesole is actually older than Florence, being of Etruscan origin http://www.fiesole.com/ We very much enjoyed our day there, away from all the crowds of Florence.
Enthused by our day, we scoured our guidebook for somewhere else to go the next day and decided on Pistoia for two reasons: one – it was described as undiscovered by tourists and two – it had one of the finest pizzerias for miles around! Being further away from Florence, we took the train this time and were relieved to find that the Rough Guide to Italy was totally accurate. Beautifully quiet and very historic in it’s own right.
Finding the renowned pizzeria/trattoria proved to be rather more of a challenge! It took us us nearly two hours to find it and as we approached, we were sure it was closed! Thankfully we were wrong …… the very kind lady proprietress, gave us the menus and we quickly chose two different pizzas. I told her what we’d like (in Italian of course) and she said “I’m very sorry but we only do pizzas in the evening”! I think my face must have been a picture as she then spoke to her husband who was sitting at one of the tables enjoying his afternoon siesta. he nodded his head and went off to the kitchen to make pizzas especially for us! And wow, they were SOOOOO worth the walk and the inconvenience we must have caused them. Totally delicious and completely different to any pizza I’d had before. The base was about an eight of an inch thick and they were totally smothered with different meats, tomatoes, mozzarella and herbs. I’m so annoyed at myself for not taking a photo of the pizza itself but did take one of the cosy, unassuming restaurant.
On our last full day, we braved the crowds and spent most of it in Florence. In the morning, on reading our trusty guidebook again, we were urged to visit a cafe on the outskirts of the city. This again took some finding but I was keen to try the ‘best latte in Florence’. Another very unassuming little place greeted us with the most delightful lady owner. She made me the most delicious large bowl of cafe latte. Yum!
In the afternoon we had our visit to the Uffizi, Italy’s best known art gallery. A most impressive building which contained rooms and rooms of the most boring paintings I’ve ever seen!! Being an art lover, it seems almost sacreligious to make such a statement but I’m sorry to say that hundreds of paintings depicting the Virgin Mary are just not my thing! We made a sharp exit and I inwardly thanked my lucky stars that we hadn’t queued up for hours to get in. The views from the gallery were excellent though and they had a very nice roof cafe!
The following day was our last day in Florence and the beginning of our previously documented eventful return to the UK. Just a couple more photos showing what we spent much of our two days waiting for a flight home, doing!
