First day in Florence

We left Siena by bus on Wednesday morning, bright and early, bound for Florence, to which we arrived at about 10.30am and checked our bags into our hotel before embarking on an informal walking tour of the city.
We saw the Ponte Vecchio, Pitti Palace, then a coffee, the secret Vasali elevated passageway built for the Medicis, the Uffizzi, the Palazzo Vechio, the magnificent cathedral, baptistery, bell tower, and then the St Lorenzo Cathedral, leather market and the Mercato Centrale. The last named place is a food market that is hundreds of years old, and a couple of us who were brave had the Panini Lambredotto, which is a bread roll with lamb’s stomach on it with some chilli and pesto sauce. It is a local delicacy which needs to be tried by everyone. I bought two cans of Coke Zero which offended one local Italian man who scooped up both cans and threw them in the bin, all the while exclaiming loudly that it is not the time and place to drink coke but I should instead drink a glass of wine with my panini. He was very passionate and demonstrative.
After lunch there was free time for wandering around Florence.
For dinner we shared a Florentine bostecca, an aged steak which is a specialty of the region, and then a gelato before bedtime. Another amazing day.Read more