Florence, Italy

The train ride from Venice to Florence was gorgeous. The train was amazing and I honestly wish we could travel by train more often in the U.S. because it’s better than driving! We arrived late in the evening in Florence and had a short walk to the hostel. We had thankfully booked one in advance while we were in Venice. Marco, the owner of the hostel, met us and helped us carry our bags up to the rooms. He was so friendly and told us about a few restaurants he had connections with. In Italy, the restaurants charge for everything; there’s always a service charge and they charge you for water! The restaurants he recommended gave us free water and no service charge which was amazing. After we dropped off our bags and checked in, we went out to eat. The food was delicious (and so was the wine) but I don’t think you could have bad food in Italy!
The next morning, all 9 of us went out to explore. We went to a nearby outdoor market and immediately noticed differences between Venice and Florence. Venice had glass, masks, and lace all over the markets, but Florence had many more leather goods and clothing. The weather was pretty gloomy so we decided to explore the inside of a nearby church. Most churches are ornate inside and out, but this one in particular was very plain on the outside, not what we were accustomed to at all. We found out that there are two sides to Florence; the city and old Florence. We had only been on the city side so far so we crossed the bridge and began exploring old Florence. It’s amazing how crossing a bridge can take you back hundreds of years, but that’s exactly what it did. Ponte Vecchio is the famous bridge in Florence and I took tons of pictures of it. There are jewelry shops hanging off the bridge, but we didn’t go in because we couldn’t even think about affording any of it! Old Florence was so much nicer than the city area. I really got the “Tuscan” feel, even though the weather was blah. We arrived at the Piazza de Pitti, but it was too expensive to go into, so we walked around it hoping to get a view of the gardens. We were able to get a glimpse of parts and my pictures turned out pretty decent. Since we didn’t really know what else to see in Florence, or it was all too expensive, we decided to walk around to get a better view of the city. We ended up climbing this huge hill and got some amazing views of the city. While we were walking up the hill, we got to see some amazing homes and little Italian subdivisions. It definitely helped make the city more appealing. The rain and clouds were still putting a damper on our day and we decided to grab some lunch at the other restaurant Marco had suggested to us. After some amazing pizza, we walked to the Duomo, the famous cathedral in Florence. It’s the fourth largest cathedral in the world and the outside is exquisite, but the inside seemed to be missing something that other cathedrals have. It definitely wasn’t my favorite church to see. Next to the Duomo is a bell tower that you can climb for a few euros. We climbed 414 steps to the top. While we were climbing, the bells began to ring. They were deafening! We literally had to stop and cover our ears until they were done. It was intense! After that experience, we went back to the hostel to change out of our wet clothes and get ready for dinner. We enjoyed the restaurant so much the night before, we decided to go back again. The manager came out and greeted us and gave us two free appetizers and free dessert too! I could have gotten used to the hospitality the people have to offer! We went back to the hostel and packed up after dinner because we were heading to Pisa and Rome the next day.