Famous Places

Ponte Vecchio in Florence


We’ve sadly left behind the wonderful comfort of Sam and Kate’s company, and the cosy house in Lucca (with a washing machine, toilets, fridge and showers! -All the things we’ve so taken for granted all our lives!) But we left feeling refreshed, well rested and excited once we were back in the camper and on the road again. I was glad too, that we were still not anywhere near the end of our trip and still had plenty of new things to see. This actually surprised me, as I was thinking I would be well over it by now. Mind you, it did help to have Florence and Venice at the top of the list of places where we were headed to next!

Saturday morning saw us on the road to Florence (second time lucky) using the autostrada this time. We made it to the outskirts in record time and found a beautiful spot to park Poupe for the day and night. It was right on the river that Florence is famous for - surrounded by trees and grass and across the river a massive forested park. We found it amazing that we were able to park there so close to the city in an almost rural setting with hardly anyone in sight. We were only 20 mins bike ride from the main center of the city, and so Josh wrestled the bikes down from the roof again and we headed out. This bike ride we managed to time with a summer storm, which soaked us to the skin by the time we were in the city, but it was mostly nice though because it had been so very hot, and it didn't take long to dry off once the sun came out again.


Our destination was the Uffizi museum which displays many famous originals from well known artists like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Botticelli. We got to the back of the queue at about 3pm, which was quite good really as our wait wasn’t as long as if we’d been there earlier in the day (we saw the very long queue the next day!). We were rushed through the museum a bit, because of the closing time being 6:30pm, but we still got to see the beautiful paintings and sculptures from the Roman times right through the ages till the 1900’s. Phoebe and Fern have been bringing their sketch books along with them where ever we are and have been enjoying drawing some of the sights they see. The art museum was perfect for them!
Fern taking notes at the Uffizi
Botticelli's Spring. Look how many people were there! 

Outside the museum there were artists selling their own original work too, and most of them were very good. But it was odd to find that there was a similar style of painting running as a theme throughout the work which was mostly scenes of Florence and the surrounding countryside. I wonder if the originator of that particular style was cross with all the imitations!

The next day was a sunday and a true scorture of a day reaching easily into the 40’s. That morning we walked around the semi quiet streets, cathedral and basilica, but by 11am the streets and center piazza were so jammed packed with people that we could barely see the pavement ahead. The crazy summer tourist season is truly as busy as we had been warned!
The beautiful Cathedral in Florence

A view over the roof-tops of old Florence

Kate had told us that there are free walking tours available in many cities, so we booked one to learn a little more about Florence and it’s people who built it. This was really very good, with a young architect as our guide. It must have been something he did for fun in his free time! He was very knowledgeable about the buildings and the history of them, and it really brought Florence alive for us. I’m so pleased we found out about these tours (thanks Kate!) and will definitely be keen to do some more. Our only downfall will be having to book in advance via internet, so will just have to make sure we're super organised next time we're at some wifi.





Comments

  1. Dot30 July 2018 at 12:44

    It would be neat to see some of that art in real life, it looked crazy busy and packed though! The walking tours sound like an interesting way to learn about the city. Nice to see pictures of you all (o:

    ReplyDelete

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