Unlike Rome, which is a sprawling, walking city, Florence has a densely packed city center with most attractions within a 1-2 mile radius of each other. That being said, our tour covered less distance but instead granted us entry into more places. After all, Florence is famous for both the Duomo and its collection of Renaissance art, so exploring the insides of attractions is just as important as viewing the outsides.
After leaving Orvieto at 7:15 in the morning, we arrived at Florence, scarfed down a quick breakfast, and started our tour promptly at 9:30. Beginning at the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, we observed the outside then moved onto exploring the inside as soon as the gates opened. Although it was a rather plain interior, I saw something that I honestly can’t remember ever seeing before: shadows cast by light coming through stained glass windows.
I must have seen this before but I honestly can’t remember when. Looking back on it, it always seems as though stained glass windows have always cast a calming ambient light over a space, but nothing more. So entering this church and seeing the rainbows reflected upon its floors and columns brought it a certain magical quality. Needless to say, I was highly impressed. Unbeknownst to me, the feeling would only continue to grow as the day went on.
Continuing from our first church, we immediately headed to the Medici Chapels. This was one of the places I really wanted to visit in Florence, so I was really fortunate that it was built into the tour and I didn’t have to pay any additional out-of-pocket money. The cheap college student in me was very happy, and the visit certainly didn’t disappoint.
I’ve been to a lot of opulent places in my lifetime, but this one room put them all to shame. I tried to find the best picture I could but it still doesn’t do it justice. Imagine a massive, vaulted, octagonal chamber covered floor to ceiling in mosaics made completely of marble. Ranging from small tiles to massive slabs, the multicolored pieces of stone bathed the entire space a cold glow meant to awe and intimidate.
The ceiling was then covered with some of the brightest, best preserved frescoes I have ever seen, all lined in gold leaf that seemed to shimmer in the light of the morning. Not sure about the frescoes themselves, but I know the statues over the tombs in the next room were carved by Michelangelo, so maybe these were painted by him too. Who knows? They’re just as impressive either way.
Exiting the building, I was amazed but also rather outraged by the shear wealth of the building. It had to be one of the single most expensive spaces I have ever been in and it wasn’t even for living people! This was the Medici’s mausoleum. They literally made this to hold their bodies after they were dead and gone and it didn’t matter anymore. I mean, sure, I get the symbolism, but still! What a waste.
After exiting this, we made the 5 minute walk to the duomo, heard a brief explanation and then we were free for the day. Which obviously meant one thing: it was time for lunch. Now normally, I am not a lunch person on trips like this. I am the crazy person who likes to skip food to maximize the time I have wandering the city. (It’s also to minimize my need to use the restroom, but we don’t need to discuss that.) However, seeing as I was staying the entire weekend with a group of friends, I figured I had time to grab a quick bite.
About 10 minutes north of the Duomo, back past the Medici Chapels is the Mercado Central. Before entering, you walk about 200 meters through lines of street vendors hawking t-shirts, leather goods, straw hats, and various souvenirs and then you are at the steps of Italy’s version of a food court. I definitely forgot to take pictures because I was so hungry, but it was amazing.
The entire first floor consisted of shops selling various meats, cheeses, alcohols, and other goodies to make a nice picnic. The second floor, then, held all the restaurants to go to for a quick bite to eat. Pure heaven. Food of all shapes, sizes, and ethnic backgrounds ringed the massive warehouse floor with every table in the center jam-packed with hungry tourists. Now, this may seem like nothing special to many of you, as it sounds like something you can find in America practically anywhere. Consider this though, I was an American, used to variety in my food choices, seeing non Italian food for the first time in nearly three weeks. I almost cried of happiness. So to anyone wanting to know what the best view is in Florence?
That. That right there. Handmade, authentic, steamed pork dumplings. Pure. Heaven. Depressingly, still no Mexican food. But this was enough for now. We proceeded to come back the next two days to get our fill of ethnic food before we had to leave. Saturday consisted of a vegan burger and smoothie while Sunday was made up of a mix and match fried foods containing chicken strips, onion rings, and fried zucchini all covered in salt and slathered with ketchup. (*insert choir of angels singing in the background*)
Goodness. I may cry just reminiscing on it. Long story short, I am not even that excited to get home for Christmas anymore. I’m excited to get home and have guacamole, Panera, enchiladas, Hacienda Colorado, tacos, Red Robin, burritos, Corner Bakery, guacamole, Cheesecake Factory, enchiladas, Panda Express, chile rellenos, pad thai, and guacamole once more for good measure. Not to mention mashed potatoes, Wendy’s, pot pies, fried chicken, or any other unhealthy American food I’m desperately craving.
I’m literally sitting in my kitchen binge eating Ritz crackers and daydreaming about any restaurant or food available to me in the US. I need salty, fried, processed foods like an addict needs their next hit. Please. I’m desperate.
So. Ahem. Right. Moving on.
We left and did some shopping... my wallet weeps just remembering it. Apparently my good sense goes out the window as soon as I see handmade Italian leather for a semi-decent price. It was so, so bad. But so, so wonderful. I will be eating air and water for the next few weeks, but it was worth it. After I was done ignoring my better judgement, my group and I went back to our Airbnb, played a couple super fun games while we ate the sub-par dinner we made, then passed out. Then came Saturday. Oh boy.
Before we start, let’s have a nice break for pictures, yes?
Saturday
I will say this. If I don’t have amazing calves by the end of this study abroad I will be outraged. You see, I am constantly reminded of the fact that I am just like my father: I have his looks, his humor, his weird habits, and don’t get me started on our shared obsession with homemade enchiladas. But, when it comes to vacation planning I am my mother’s daughter. To all those people out there who like to relax and wander when you go on vacation, I am not the person you want to travel with. When I travel to new places I go hard. Momma didn’t raise no wimp.
I know exactly what I want to see, how to get there, how much it will cost, and what time to go to avoid the biggest crowds before I even book the hotel. So without meaning to, I ended up the travel guide for my friends whenever we stay the weekend in different towns (at least the ones who can keep up) and Florence was no different.
Having checked off but a few things from my list the previous day, we now had the rest of Florence to get through. It began at 8am.
Leaving bright and early, mi amiga, Cat, and myself went to sketch the duomo from a café whilst our male companions slept off their hangovers. We treated ourselves to a magnificent view, a great cappuccino, and an even better chocolate croissant. All for the price of 2.50 euro. Muahahaha. Italy may have expensive water but it has dirt cheap coffee.
After finishing, we proceeded to go spend even more money on some Italian leather shoes we had missed the day before (don’t judge), then walked back to the Airbnb to wake the boys from their comatose states. While they showered, we walked back to the duomo and got our combo tickets to see the duomo sights, and the day really began. After the boys caught up, we began with a nice stroll through the baptistery to stretch the legs, then moved on to the Campanile (bell tower) to begin our climb to the top.
414 very sweaty steps later, we were treated to this wonderful view. Granted, there were platforms about every 100 steps to catch your breath and take some pictures, but gosh dang-it, that was still a lot of steps, let me be proud. What was also nice was that they had a metal cage around all openings and the steps were enclosed, so my acrophobia honestly didn’t get to me.
Climbing down, we had the plan to meet up with Cat (whose was standing in line for the duomo because she didn’t want to pay the 18 euro for a ticket) and see the inside of the church. I however, forgot that I had planned for a church free day of trekking and had consequently worn a tank-top and short shorts to reduce risk of heat stroke and increase surface area for tanning. Soooo, while they all walked around the church, I ran to the back and completed a speed lap of the duomo museums which were also included on my ticket.
Apparently I didn’t miss much as the Duomo of Florence is notoriously plain and unfinished on the inside. I figured it would still be cool, but apparently it was a major let down. This made me feel better. (haha, suckers)
After lunch (vegan burger, yay!) (No, I am not vegan, I just really love vegetables. Deal with it.) we walked across Ponte Vecchio, Florence’s famous covered bridge, and entered the Pitti Palace’s Boboli Gardens. Goodness gracious, they were beautiful but also required a lot of walking.
From this standpoint, we were about a third of the way up the hill along the main drag which got steeper as it went. At the top, we were treated to sweeping views and free restrooms and water fountains (praise Jesus, hallelujah). We then walked all the way down the hill to the left side of the gardens and back up again to the right side of the gardens and the exit.
At this point, we were wiped. We had been walking the better part of the day in an oppressive heat and I would have loved nothing more than trek back to the Airbnb and take a long bath and a longer nap. Unfortunately, as I stated before, ‘momma didn’t raise no wimp’ and I still had one more place I wanted to see. I’ll be darned if I didn’t get to it.
So, picking up our weary bodies, I dragged my followers (who were begging to regret their decision of accompanying me) down and up yet another hill to Piazza Michelangelo. Famed for its sweeping panoramic views of the city, it didn’t disappoint.
After recovering from our trek, and relaxing in the piazza for a while, we finally, finally went home. Fortunately, Cat had a fitbit and was able to put some numbers to the day we had. We left at 8 am in the morning and returned 11 hours later at 7:00 pm. During those 11 hours, we walked 10. 5 miles, climbed up and down approximately 1,200 steps and gained what was probably close to 1,500 ft in elevation from all the hills we climbed.
I slept like a rock. Thanks for raising me right, mom.
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