Day 22 Florence

It was supposed to be raining today so we had not made any plans. Before we came here we had thought of a Tuscany bike tour, but wanted to check the weather before we booked. Of course it ended up being fine all day!

Our first stop on our walk this morning was to the cathedral because it is just awesome to walk past. We decided it was too early for Lindt, so went to Eaterly for breakfast instead and had a lovely stuffed focaccia bread.

Then I was off on a search for hire of e bikes. Trisha was probably quite relieved that we couldn’t find anyone that would hire us one. So changed the plan to local buses instead. First off was to Michelangelo Piazza which had stunning views of the city without too many people at that time. Then after a couple of dodgy road crossings we managed to get on our next bus to go to Fiesoli which is a town up in the hills on the other side of Florence. We had one bus change and made our first bus faux pas, ie waiting for quite a while on the wrong side of the road for a bus that didn’t come luckily. Once we realised and crossed the road, the wrong bus did come lol. The ride up the hill was quite spectacular in terms of the views.

Unfortunately there were no markets up there today, but we walked up to the convent San Francesco where there were really great views. It was also slightly windy and we had a shady place so stayed there for quite a while.

When we got back on the bus there was an American guy complaining to the driver that he had paid 21 euro for his 9 bus tickets to a previous driver and was wanting to know he could complain to. Answer is no-one buddy as tickets cost more if you buy them on board. We paid 1 euro 70 for ours and knew they lasted for 90 minutes after they were validated. Then another woman was talking about validation and I said you really need to do that, and she said yes we know as they got a big fine earlier in the day. Fines start at 50 euro and there were several women in their party. Pleased we have always passed muster so far and have tickets that are in order.

So we got off the bus near the Mercato and Trisha bought her leather bag that she had eyed up yesterday and it was still her most preferred bag. And then Mercato again for a very late lunch.

Back to the cathedral where we were treated to a brilliant impromptu opera performance by a singer who has an Insta account called opera on the street. He was really good and must have earned several hundred euros for his 4 song performance.

I had noticed earlier that there was a Pylone store not very far away so we went and had a look there and managed not to buy anything which was a minor miracle as there were lots of cute small things there. Of course I have a few cute small things from there already at home!

So once again we were back at our hotel early having dinner here and watching NCI type programs on tv, the last of the party animals! That was after Trish trying out the laundromat that was just at the bottom of our stairs.

16, 753 steps and 28 degrees. Czytaj więcej