Saturday 16th July

Hammia left in the morning, as did Maddie and Tyler. They both had Ospreys by the way, big ups. So I had a brief meeting with them which was fun and will stick with me for a while. For the time being though, after eating some breakfast and packing, I had some time before my Flixbus from Genoa to Florence, so I went to the Arco della Vittoria and sat and read some more Bridgerton. I had finished Brandon Sanderson’s work and really enjoyed them and had since them switched gears from fantasy to period drama romance. There were eight of these Bridgerton books though! So many! Having a Kindle is also ideal for travelling, just the fact that it takes up so little space, lasts for absolute yonks and I can read under the covers if I wish. Shhhh, don’t tell my mother, not meant to read under the covers! Although I will say, any books that I actually care about and wish to maybe reread again in the future, I will be buying physical copies of.

Anyhow, yeah, I read by the big arch. There were some groups of families having a nice jolly on the grass surrounding it and there were two, I assume, angsty teenagers in hoodies and low-hanging backpacks who were filming each other with finger skateboards, doing trix for dayz.

I wandered in to town to find myself some lunch at Osteria della Pizza where I got some genuine Italian gnocchi. That was a fun restaurant, it was situated at a roundabout at the meeting of four streets and had a nice fountain in the middle of it. There were tables clustered around the fountain as well as hugging the buildings on the edge and so the waiters and waitresses had to keep dodging slow-moving traffic to take food out to the more adventurous/late comers who wanted to eat food out in the middle of the roundabout.

After lunch, I was making my way towards my Flixbus which was leaving a little after 15:00 when I decided to swing by Casa de Christopher Columbus. Yep, that’s right, Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa! He was Italian by birth I believe. A tiny little crumbling house, it was quite interesting to see but you couldn’t actually enter it. Some photos were taken before I continued on my way to the Flixbus.

I found the right stand and got my ticket checked again. I had another window seat which was nice. This time, a large rhinoceros or bear of a man came and sat beside me and squished me up against the window. It wasn’t uncomfortable as such, just… Snug. He didn’t say a word to me and as soon as the Flixbus left, he fell asleep. The journey started as much the same, the continuous tunnel-bridge pattern until it emerged from the rugged Apennines and onto a broad, sweeping highway that cut it’s way through the yellow Tuscan (not Tatooine though) scenery. For this entire time, this giant man beside me was asleep. When we did pull into Firenze (Florence, in Italian) then he awoke suddenly, stood to let me pass, shook my hand with a “Thank you, good journey!” and sat back down to sleep.

Heat waves (July though, not June) rippled off of the surface of the tarmac as I stepped off the bus. I squinted in the bright light until I put on my sunglasses. The tram leading straight into the centre of town was several steps away and I was soon onboard with my bag on top of my knees as I sat in the cooled interior.

The early evening sun lit the city up as the tram made it’s way through to the historic city centre. I got off eventually and I was soon at my hostel. I checked in and the owner led me to my room. However, I think he must have double booked since the room he first showed me to was completely full, and so I got ‘upgraded’ to a four person dorm (instead of twelve) which was much nicer. There were two of my roommates there already: Jade, a East London lady who had quit her job and was erratically travelling around Europe. I say “erratically” because she was doing both a mix of flying and trains and coaches to fit whatever her whim was on that day, so if you plotted her route, “you would get a scribble” – her words, not mine. She was getting ready to go out partying for the night and was in the process of putting on makeup. She invited me out to go along with, but I said no citing travel tiredness. The other roommate was a French guy called Julian. He was really nice. Like me, he was inter-railing solo around the Europe. He worked at a place in Germany and was a super nice, chilled guy. I felt he was travelling in a similar way to me, doing stuff by himself most days and interacting with people along the way. Just a top guy, loved him. He made sure to stretch before sleep every night.

The hostel suggested some cheap restaurants and so I went out for dinner. The restaurant I ended up at must of had a deal with the hostel since I saw the owner (who checked me in) and his family eating there and chatting to the chefs. I got some nice, fresh pasta with burrata for dinner and had a nice time reading whilst I did so.

After dinner, I dumped my stuff in my room and spent my evening walking around Florence in that heady Mediterranean twilight mood. I saw stunning architecture everywhere. Churches, cathedrals, towers, cobbled streets, statues, romantic facades, fountains… Yeah, a stunning city. The roads were laid out in long straight lines and got progressively more crooked the further you got in to the centre of town. I saw one church with the large doors slightly ajar. I could put my eye against them and peer through and see a packed out service with an angelic choir in white at the end. People were jampacked on the pews and squatting around the edges. It was like peering into a different world. Hymns fluttered through the door and out in to the air.

Sunday 17th July

Today was one of adventure. Florence was meant to be this holy city of art and culture or something. Since the hostel wasn’t providing breakfast, which was a shame, I went and found a nearby café to eat at. It was owned by a lady who had just three tables outside and that’s pretty much it. As such, I ordered a European breakfast of two croissants, an orange juice and coffee. I am starting to really like this coffee shenanigans.

After finishing off the last crumbs of my croissants, I walked into town with the intention to explore. However, I had misjudged everything – it was a Sunday! Sunday is God’s day of rest. So everything was pretty much shut. I found this when I headed to the Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze (an impressive church) and found the doors firmly closed. The sun was pounding down and it was just rather hot really in the plaza in front. I sheltered in the shade provided by the Basilica as I looked up on my phone what wasn’t closed. There were golf carts full of people darting around town as well, seeming to be on personal tours or something, the occupants fanning themselves as their chauffeurs waved their hands in that Italian fashion at beautiful architecture on either side.

Having made my mind up on where to go next, now that my original plan for the day was scuppered, I headed to the Uffizi Gallery. It seemed everywhere religious was closed, so that was fine, still plenty to do. The Uffizi Gallery seems to have been made up of two sections, a smaller outside free gallery full of sculptures, and a larger indoor gallery. I kid you not, the crowds and queues for the indoor gallery were massive, I would have been waiting longer than Penelope did for Odysseus if I wanted to get in. As such, I went and had a look around the public, free outdoor gallery. I loved it! The sculpts of Ajax with Achilles was particularly good. It was just astounding that someone managed to make that out of a single block of marble, you know?

I then headed to Piazza del Duomo where the large, iconic cathedral was. Again that was closed but I was just walking past it really, in the search of a sit down in a park hopefully. I wandered the less tourist populated areas of town. All the roads were made of cobblestones and most of the paving stones were worn down from the thousands upon thousands of people who had walked upon them for literal millennia.

I got myself some lunch before heading to a Donatella exhibit. I was immediately disappointed there were no turtles or pizza. There was a lot of sculpts and painting and I learned quite a lot about one of the more famous Renaissance artists. One thing I noticed though, whenever Renaissance artists painted or sculpted Mary and the baby Jesus (Madonna e Bambino), they always seem to be orientated on the same side, the baby Jesus on the right, and Mary on the left. Not all the time, but more than like 90% of the time. And then they also seem to sculpt Jesus on the crucifix with some same traits such as his right foot being on top of his left. These are just things I noticed personally, if anyone has reasons why it is always sculpted or painted like this, let me know!

I then crossed the river, the Arno, and found a gelato place which was meant to be one of the best in the city. And my goodness it really was. I got pistachio, and it really tasted like pistachios! It was phenomenal! I tried to sit on a bench to eat it, but the bench was scorching, even in the shade. It must have been over 40 degrees at this point, easy. I then walked along the river to Giardini Bardini where I had to pay full price because I wasn’t a member of the EU. Absolute Balgonie. Fuming. But it was a nice garden, yeah, got a nice view over the city, the iconic view really. I sat there for a while in the café, reading with a ginger beer in hand after bobbing about in the garden. I was kicked out before long though since they were needing to set up for a small, private music concert apparently. That’s fine, I should have been going anyhow. I made my way down, across the river again via the Ponte Vecchio and back towards the hostel. The Ponte Vecchio is iconic because of all the houses and markets on it. I think traditionally, it was very basic shops such as butchers or cobblers, but now it was jewellers and tourist shops on both sides. Very funky though. A mini Volantis, for any GoT fans.

I left the hostel pretty pronto again though since I wanted to sort out some train tickets to Pisa for the next day. After buying them for €12, I headed to the same place for dinner as last night, the one where the owner of the hostel suggested, with another selection from the menu. It was a great place, I loved it, it was so cheap!

After dumping my stuff at the hostel, I went walking around town to try and find some live music of some kind. I walked to one bar, nothing, closed permanently. I walked to the next bar, nothing happening. I walked to another, way out of town, and nothing was happening once again. It was kinda frustrating! However, I had a lovely time meandering through town in the twilight evening. I took plenty of photos for couples, saw a guy play Time to Say Goodbye on the flute, and walked past a youth orchestra who were set up and playing in the outdoor Uffizi Gallery. Despite me failing to find anywhere to listen to live jazz, I did have a weirdly satisfying night. After watching the orchestra for a while (I had no idea what they were playing…), I went back to the hostel where I chatted to Julian for a bit and met our new roommate, Saqib, who was down from Milan as a bit of a work break.

Monday 18th July – Pisa

I had booked myself a day trip to Pisa for today. Everything still seemed to be closed, despite it being a Monday and so after a breakfast at the same café, I made my way to the train station. The trains were on a local line and so there was a long list of places they were stopping between Firenze and Pisa. Additionally, they were double decker trains and my goodness I was excited!

I found a seat on the top deck and took a seat by the window. The train was laid out with sets of four seats, two seats facing the other two. Like getting a table seat on a UK train, except without the table. As such, two ladies sat down facing me and then a group of four 30-something year olds sat down across the aisle, one of them sitting beside me additionally. Turns out, this motley crew (me, the two ladies and the group of 30-something year olds) were all British!

We all started chatting and the guy beside me eventually asked me what I did. When I revealed that I had a Masters’ in Physics, he perked up, slapped his thighs and exclaimed “Right! So. Teleportation?” Turns out, he really enjoys discussing Physics, just not actually doing it and so we had a nice time chatting about Physics in general. He would always start with a “Right! So. […]” before asking about his next topic. It was actually really quite fun, although I’m afraid I am turning into ‘That Guy’ who just talks Physics whenever I meet someone new.

We arrived in Pisa and I said farewell to the ladies and the group of 30-something year olds. Exiting the station, I walked out into a large plaza and the scorching sun was pouring the rays down on us. Happily low to mid 40s would have been my guess. I just remember vividly the sweat starting to soak in to my clothes the second I was outside.

I walked across the plaza, across the bridge and down towards the cathedral and the wonky tower. When I first saw it, I was truly so amazed at how wonky it was! It was hilarious. I laughed out loud, it just seems ludicrous! I mean, how can you make a mistake that bad and it still stay standing??

However, the tower wasn’t the only thing around. There was also the cathedral, a baptistery and the Camposanto (cemetery) amongst other things. The vast majority of the crowds were around the tower with a lot of people lining up to and posing as if they held up the tower. As such, the other places were not so full. I had a glance inside the cathedral (required tickets to enter) but actually made my way to the Camposanto. This was a building that was a long rectangle of cloisters with a sunlit courtyard in the middle. All around the outside of the cloisters, against the outer wall, were tombs. Each one was beautifully engraved and there was a faded fresco wrapping around the outer wall. At the short ends of the building were collection of statues and busts. I had come here to see one statue in particular and that was the statue of Fibonacci, a great mathematician who was born in Pisa! Not really helping with this image of ‘That Guy’ who just talks Physics?

I then headed out to see more of the town. The sun was beating down, it was such a hot day. I passed through the Piazza dei Cavalieri towards the next attraction on my list – the house of Galileo Galilei. Have you ever realised how silly his name is by the way? Literally one vowel difference between his first and last names! But yes, saw his house. He grew up and did his experiment with gravity from the Tower of Pisa after all! Again, not helping out this Physics image! Haha, on top this, a Physicist called Enrico Fermi was born in Pisa. He had a massive hand in our current understanding of quantum physics, but I could find no mention of anything about him in town which was a shame.

I had lunch by the house of Galileo before I walked my way back towards the train station. The sun was just ferocious! I walked past a bakery and had myself a treat. I ate it whilst I painted on some more sun cream. I also found myself a water fountain and I think I must have drunk a litre of water easily.

At the station, the train I had booked was delayed and ultimately cancelled with another coming half an hour later. When we boarded finally, I sat beside a lady called Alice and we proceeded to chat. She happily spilled her entire life story out to me. She was a Type 1 Diabetic and was having the absolute worst journey home ever. I can only imagine what her blood sugar was doing. She had been visiting her sister in Liverpool and was needing to get back home to Verona for a job interview. However, her flight was cancelled due to strikes in the UK, so she had to buy a new flight to Rome where she proceeded to get a coach to Pisa, a train to Firenze and then another train on from there to Padua, and then another back to Verona. However! This delayed train we had just boarded means that she was likely to miss her train to Padua and she was uncertain if she would be able to get home in time for the interview the following morning. My goodness, I would certainly be stressed. She had worked in a bakery in Germany for several years after leaving school, and was now finishing university to become a primary school teacher.

We eventually arrived in Firenze and Alice had about 2 minutes to hot-foot it to her next train. I never found out if she managed to catch it, or if she got home in time for the job interview. I hope she did. But that was a fun hour or so where I pretty much heard about her entire life story.

It was approaching evening when I got back to the hostel, and so after sitting in the AC cooled dorm room reading, I headed out for dinner. After that, I sat and chatted to Julian and Saqib for a while before eventually heading to sleep, quite late in the evening.

Tuesday 19th July

Another European breakfast for another day in Europe. Today was going to be the day that I managed to see all the cultural things in Florence (AKA Firenze)! I started out by the cathedral and straight away I knew it was going to be a good day. Behind me were two ladies from the Bible belt in America. They were such kind hearted individuals, but also I questioned some of the things which I overheard. One thing they said stands out to me: “I know God says that we will all end up in his garden, but as you know Kirsty, I don’t like gardens! I hope he puts me in his spa.” They did feed a beggar lady who came along the line asking for money though – super kind people for sure.

I managed to get in to the cathedral. The cathedral is stunning to look at from the outside and there is the same sense of refined grandeur inside the cathedral too. It was a crowded cathedral, but was quite sparse, with high vaulted ceilings and the inside of the dome was painted in a large fresco, depicting the majority of the Bible, I believe. There was also a crack through the fresco. They believe this was from a shifting in the foundations over the years, or from a minor earthquake. One of the two. Inside the cathedral there was also a clock that was 24hr and going the wrong way round i.e. anticlockwise. I approve of this from a pure mathematical standpoint. However, it was telling the wrong time, which I don’t approve of…

After leaving the cathedral, I passed a bakery and I simply had to try a genuine Italian Cannoli. I then made my way across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti, a large palace. Here, I visited a Raphael exhibition which I thought was too expensive in all honesty. However, I had ticked off another of the TMNT and I saw some beautiful sculpts and paintings.

I then passed through the palace to the Giardino di Boboli. These gardens were just spectacular! There were long, dusty avenues, lined by trees or statues or both, the statues covered in aged lichen and the trees swaying the calm breeze. There were large fountains with magnificent dioramas of Roman Gods and smooth stone benches shaded by a neighbouring tree. It was also on a hill so as you climbed, the Florence became a sweeping vista in front of your eyes once more. The cathedral’s dome stood proudly above the rest of the city, making it simply an iconic view. I wandered these gardens, the sweet seductive scent of Cyprus trees around me and sound of cicadas like out-of-tune maracas. The sun beat down and the blue sky stretched far over the horizon.

After spending some time in these lovely gardens, I set out to the Piazzale Michelangelo. Julian had suggested this, so I had to! I had to walk there, walking the half an hour in such sunny summertime weather. It was along a road so a lot of cars slowly went past, clearly enjoying the views as well. When I finally got to this panoramic plaza, it was full of tour buses since it was the ‘go to’ place to see the vista of the city and for good reason! Once again, the views were stunning. Countless couples were there having their picture taken in front of the city. It was difficult to get a picture as well without anyone else in it! But I managed, as below.

It was mid-afternoon by this time and so I had a small, belated lunch after walking back in to town. There was this guitar player I had passed several times. He was singing a lot of Ed Sheeran songs and changing location. I wonder how you would make busking in such a touristy city, with all the tour buses rolling into the city pretty much every day? I made my back to the hostel, weaving my way through crowds and ended up chatting to Saqib again in my dorm. He was an alright guy, yeah. After a genuine Italian pizza for dinner, I headed to sleep. My final day in Florence was great fun! But, as we know, all roads lead to Rome, and so that is where I was headed next!

Impression

I can understand why Florence was the heart of the Italian renaissance with so many artists choosing to study and work here. As a tourist in the 21st century, I felt it still held it’s charm and beauty but was becoming close to being overrun by tourism – I heard so many more foreign voices than I heard Italian!

Pisa was great, with the tower leaning an alarming amount, it was hilarious. But only for a day trip since there is not much there other than a university and the tower, unless you’re ‘That Guy’ who talks about Physics…

Al’s Random Stats and Facts which may or may not be Fun

  • Days spent: 4 (well, 3 really, and then 1 additional day in Pisa…)
  • Bakeries visited: 2, and a gelateria
  • Jazz Clubs visited: 3, but none were open! So, in reality, 0.
  • Number of things that went wrong: 1, not factoring in everything would be closed on Sundays and Mondays! Oh, and having to pay six times as much for not being in the EU anymore to see anything.
  • Memorable moment: The bible belt ladies discussing God behind me in the queue for the cathedral. Or laughing at the tower in Pisa. Or discussing Physics on the train. Or meeting stressed out Alice.
  • Music suggestion based off of city: Endless Summer Nights, James Bay
  • Postcards sent: 0 from here. 1 in total.
  • Average gingers seen a day: a lot actually. I lost count.
  • Number of tour busses seen: about 16,000.
  • How many people have quizzed me on Physics: 3 (One of the 30-something years olds, Alice and Saqib).
  • Burnt-o-meter: 4/10 – It’s getting higher… I have lines on my body where my socks are!
  • Items misplaced: 2 (Tears fall down)
  • Hostel rating: 6/10

Comments (2)

  1. Doug

    Reply

    I love Firenze – been there four times (avoiding summer) and still haven’t seen it all. You weren’t there for very long. You can go back! I like climbing towers: the Brunelleschi dome, the Campanile, the Palazzo Vecchio. Great views. There’s a museum just upriver from the Uffizzi devoted to renaissance maths and science. I was fascinated. Amazing what these guys got up to. Have you ever seen a ball roll uphill? They have one. Honest! From Piazza Michealangelo, climb up the hill to San Miniato. Worth a visit. And also book to go see the original ‘David’. Have you ever seen a photo of the back of David? Exactly! You can walk around it and look up. That statue is huge. Take the Pisa train but get off at Lucca for the day. Also do Siena for a day. Now you got me thinking! Great blog, Alasdair.

    • Al

      Reply

      Hi Doug! Thanks for reading, much appreciated. Yes, Florence was incredible, I loved it. Though, I loved everywhere I went in Italy really. And thank you for the tips, I am sure that they will come in handy when I next go back to Italy – I would love to visit again for sure!

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