We arrived in Florence with neither of us knowing much about the city other than it being home to the Uffizi Gallery and Michelangelo's David sculpture. Our Air BnB was located on the southern, less touristy side of the Arno River and after settling in we went on a quick walk before bed to check out the area. We were pleased to find we were only 10 minutes from the centre of town but well-removed from the tourist chaos around the river and Palazzo Vecchio.
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| Early morning Florence |
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| The Arno River |
We had pre-booked tickets to the Accademia for the next morning to see the David sculpture. We arrived early to avoid the crowds and had a good 10 minutes for me to pose for photos before the tour groups started filling the gallery. Afterwards we wandered the streets for a bit, exploring anywhere that looked interesting, ending up in the Galileo Museum where we nerded out on physics displays, early maps & surveying equipment.
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| Me & David |
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| The Duomo |
The evening ended with us watching the sunset over the city from the Michelangelo Piazza before heading back to the Air BnB to cook ourselves dinner. The next day we visited the Uffizi Gallery for to see a few more masterpieces. We'd pre-downloaded free MP3 guides to the museum which helped us find our way around and get some background on the artworks.
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| Palazzo Vecchio |
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| Team shot with the Ponte Vecchio |
We felt a little like we'd overdosed on museums and needed some sustenance before resuming our cycle tour the next day; so decided to try and find some 'Bistecca alla Fiorentina' - Florentine Steak. Having read about this steak I knew I had to have it before we left Florence - T-bone steaks that are up to 1.5kg (you pay per 100g and you don't know beforehand how big a cut you're going to get!), cooked rare with only salt, pepper and olive oil. Yum.
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| This is what 1.3kg of steak looks like! Needless to say we probably didn't need the side of salad... |
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| Rower on the Arno with Ponte Vecchio behind |
It was a great end to the couple of days in Florence. We would have liked to spend a little more time there but there's only so many museums you can do in one stint! The city seems full of local artisans and craftsman and it's good to see so many people still drawing inspiration from the renaissance artists that put it on the map.
All that meat!! Ferritin levels should be topped up ....
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