After Rome, we headed to Florence and the wider Tuscany region. We based in Florence for a few days, and stayed in a great little hotel across the river from the main tourist sites, but still only about a 20 minute walk away. This allowed us to stay in a quieter and more local neighborhood, which we really enjoyed. It also put us one block from what quickly became our favorite food stope in Florence (Pitti Express) for their cheap, massive, and delicious sandwiches, and their insanely good pesto lasagna. We may have gone there three times during our stay (considering we like to try lots of new things when we travel, that's pretty telling)...We spent a few days exploring Florence itself, and also took two day trips to other towns in the Tuscany region, Siena and Greve in Chianti.
Florence - A smaller and beautiful city with lots of piazzas and street musicians, the meandering Arno River, and of course the Duomo, which dominates the city center with its beautiful exterior of green, pink, and white marble. We toured the Duomo, and while the outside was extremely intricate and unique, it was far less exciting inside when compared to other cathedrals we had already visited. It did have another painted "Last Judgement" on the interior of the dome which was cool to see, but after seeing the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel we were harder to impress. The dome itself is also more egg-shaped than the Pantheon dome. The Baptistery of St John is next to the Duomo and part of the Duomo complex we visited. It’s much smaller than the cathedral, but entry to the baptistry is through large doors made up of a series of bronze panels depicting the life of Jesus. Inside the baptistry, the walls and ceiling also depicted art scenes made entirely from mosaics. The baptistry was mesmerizing, and we stared at the doors and walls for a good while just admiring it. The baptistry also boasts a beautiful golden mosaic ceiling, but that was under maintenance when we visited and we couldn't get a look at it.
We also visited the art museum Uffizi in Florence, which had tons of beautiful art in various types of media. The ones with the most impact on us were “the birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci's first paintings. Pictures don't do "the birth of Venus" justice; the way the light catches the paint in person is really captivating. We also visited the statue of David sculpted by Michelangelo which was located in a different museum, the Galleria dell’Accademia. The gallery had many statues and paintings from various artists, but the David was definitely the centerpiece. Standing 14 feet tall with a right hand so detailed it looked real (we really couldn't get over the hand). It's hard to believe it was chiseled from marble. Near the David were a set of other Michelangelo statues called "the Prisoners" which were unfinished. We had never heard of these works before, but we were captivated at seeing how the sculptures were taking form while still being entombed in the block of marble. You could also clearly see how much rougher the marble still was no the unfinished Prisoners compared to the smooth finish of the David. This gave us an even greater appreciation for how amazing David is.
One of the highlights of Florence was also getting to see our friend Alison for an evening! She was already in Italy and our itineraries aligned, so we were able to catch up over pizza and gelato. It was so great to see a familiar face on the road, and we're excited for more visits from others in the future.
Siena - We took a day trip to Siena, which is about an hour south of Florence by train. Siena is a medieval city that we really enjoyed- more than we even expected to. Its large outer walls and quiet streets provided a different vibe that the other cities we had been too. It was certainly quieter, more laid back, and felt more local. Walking away various streets, we noticed a lot of flags and insignia of various colors and animals. We learned that Siena is broken into different neighborhoods/districts called Contrade, and each one has it's own flag and lots of contrada pride. This was evident just walking around the streets, but we also learned that the city has hosted a horse race (Palio di Siena) twice a year since the 17th century where the different contrade compete with one horse and one rider each to be crowned champion. What's even crazier is that the race is held in the city's main piazza- it's transformed just for this purpose. Needless to say, we were disappointed to have missed the races during our visit, but would love to come back one day and experience it.
We also visited the cathedral in Siena, which was one of our favorite cathedrals. The exterior was similar to the Duomo in Florence with intricate marble detailing, and the interior was similar to St Peter’s with large sculptures and paints everywhere, but it still had it's own flair. Inside were also flag poles that were taken when Siena battled their rival Florence. We should probably mention at some point that aside from the Colosseum and the Vatican we have not paid for any guided tours. We have, however, been downloading free audio guides from Rick Steves and listening to these as we tour many of the major monuments in these cities. It's been working out really nicely since it allows us to still learn about the history and importance of what we're seeing without having to break our budget.
Greve in Chianti - On another day, we took a bus to the town of Greve in Chianti located just over an hour from Florence in the Chianti region of Tuscany. Here were went to a winery called Fattoria Viticcio, which, we coincidentally found out, was the same one our friends the Dwyers stayed at when they visited Italy a couple of years ago. Us and one other couple from Belgium were given a tour of the winery and we learned about their wine production and how DOCG wine is made, and about how the black rooster symbol of Chianti Classico came to be (let's just say there was a rooster race between Florence and Siena to decide the territorial lines and Florence didn't really play fair - we're #teamSiena on this one). After the tour, we tasted their rosé and three different Chianti Classicos (different years aged). The wine was paired with a snack board with local Tuscan meats, cheeses, and spreads. After the winery, we went back into the town of Greve in Chianti to a self service wine bar to try more local wine from Tuscany. All in all, it was a wonderful day, and everything went really smoothly. We were told by many people (and read a lot on the internet) that you really couldn't visit Tuscany without car. That's probably true if you plan to go to many wineries and move around a lot, but we had no problems taking one bus from Florence to Greve in Chianti and walking about 20 minutes to the winery. Plus, we got to enjoy more wine this way without having to play rock, paper scissors on who would drive. We (ok, mostly Carson) have been embracing the public transportation and so far it's been working for us (knocks very heavily on wood).
The FCC/Alky team took a look at some of your journeys today. Looks like you're having an amazing time!
ReplyDeleteIts been great so far and hope it continues. Hope everyone is doing well back at the refinery!
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