So we managed to find the train station… Tick. We managed the navigate the very large train station… Tick. And finally got on the train, the right one… Tick. We got the super economy tickets so we were expecting the worse when in actual fact it seemed much better than British Rail.
When travelling I like making a mental note of how visually impaired friendly places are. Tactile marking was good and they had tactile maps.
The Braille is pretty much like French Braille – which is heartening to know. But as Pete pointed out, I may be able to decipher it letter by letter but I still wouldn’t have a clue as it would still be in Italian. A fair point I guess.
I loved seeing these signs as we were walking through the station.
‘Kiss and Ride’ something to conjure with. But it’s far more prosaic than anything I imagined, you can park for free as long as you only stay as long as it takes to kiss your beloved. Of course the equivalent in the UK is ‘drop off’ which has none of the romance. Like dumping your loved one like a sack of spuds on the side and then speeding off.
I loved the fact there was a screen that told us how fast the train was going. 245 km an hour – which sounded to me quite super speedy. I had prepared myself for lovely views as we headed for Florence but the train just went through a very, very long tunnel. The line is 78.5 km long and includes 73.8 km of tunnels, so I didn’t really stand a chance really of seeing Italian countryside!
The main market, Mercarto Centrale, was the closest stopping off point from the train station. The market is in the heart of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood, a massive 19th-century indoor market hall, constructed from iron and glass. Lots of stalls selling local produce but with very much the eye for the tourists, especially Chinese ones, as many signs were in obviously Italian but also quite a few in Chinese.
We got to see pasta being made first hand too.
From here we walked to the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze. We saw David by artist Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504. We had a bit of a wait but it wasn’t too bad. Standing in the queue we saw one group pass by after another. With there group leaders at the front herding them through, flags etc aloft so they were visible at all times. We found Florence quite rammed but I think that it had more to do with the fact that most tourists visiting here travel in packs. Moving as one, like armoured tanks down the narrow streets.
David is produced using one block of marble, two other sculptors had given up on the project, Agostino di Duccio and Antonio Rossellino but both experienced sculptors were pretty much stumped by the task in hand. When Michelangelo finally got his hands on it, the marble had been waiting for 40 years for someone who was up to its challenge.
The guide book suggested that there isn’t much of interest in the rest of gallery but we found it interesting. Of course all the artwork was religious in nature and to be honest by the end of the day we had seen so many variations of the baby Jesus that it really was mind boggling. This depiction of Jesus is great, he looks like a chubby naughty boy.
I liked this early Renaissance hipster too!
By the end of our day in Florence we saw baby Jesus with blonde hair, light brown hair and ginger hair but never black. The lyrics of Black Grape were a bit of an earworm for me during the visit to Florence going on auto repeat… ‘Jesus was a black man.’ I spent some time later googling why not a darker skinned Jesus. Some of it’s to do with the fact the powers that be didn’t want him to look Jewish – which he was. So he was made more ‘palatable’ for one an all and in doing so completely re-wrote what little historical evidence there is about him.
I watched a very informative video on how the religious triptychs were made. I really did enjoy it but if anyone has trouble sleeping I can go through each stage in the process in great detail! There are quite a few stages and I seem to have remembered them all.
Leather is really big in Florence and handbags especially can be bought from the market stalls upwards.
I think Pete was looking a bit overwhelmed with it all.
I can’t imagine why anyone would want to spend 10,000 on a bag, it seems more than obscene. Even if you consider it as a bag for life it is still way over the top.
Walking around spotted this. What an angelic way to say ‘bugger off’. Tourism is an issue in Florence as it is in most of the major tourist sites in Italy. I was reading a thread before I came here on TripAdvisor from a women in Illinois who was complaining about a lack of places to picnic in the city, a lack of green space and no metro. She was very much lambasted as one reader pointed out the place wasn’t built for tourists and asked her should the Mayor sanction bulldozing down a few Renaissance buildings. I think it is problematic though as if you want to keep costs down you aren’t supposed to eat publicly. Florence bans eating in the street. The city ordinance, which bans people from pausing in the historic centre to eat food on pavements, by the roadside and on the doorsteps of shops and houses. With 10.2 million visitors a year this is quite a headache. The Mayor has stated that, ‘Only those who love Florence deserve Florence.” So Pete and I were super well behaved.
Winding our way towards the Uffizi we stopped to look at the Ponte Vecchio, or Old Bridge built in 1345. During World War II it was the only bridge across the Arno that the fleeing Germans did not destroy. It is really impressive.
Later we walked over it and had a coffee overlooking it. Each side of the bridge was lined with shops, a mixture of tat and the blingiest bling.
We had booked tickets in advance for the Uffizi which was a good idea. The Uffizi was a must as it is considered to be one of the best art galleries in the world. It has had its fair share of drama over the years.
In 27 May 1993, the Scilian Mafia carried out a car bomb explosion in Via Del Georgofili and damaged parts of the palace, killing five people. The blast destroyed five pieces of art and damaged another 30. There was almost another explosive event when I had a bit of an altercation with a group leader. She said sorry but carried on being really annoying. Eventually I just told her that she wouldn’t need to apologise if she just stopped being rude.
The highlight of visiting the Uffizi was seeing the birth of Venus.
The painting was ground breaking for the time because Venus was naked. During the Middle Ages, almost all art was Christian based, therefore, nudity was rarely if ever portrayed. Thousands flock to see it every year which is ironic as the painting wasn’t meant to be viewed in public. In fact, it was meant to hang over a marital bed.
Next to it was a tactile version.
There were so many paintings that I really liked. Hard to pick a favourite.
I liked picking out details from some of the bigger paintings.
It was a really big place and we could have been there for hours but there gets a point when enough is enough. You can only look at so much before you get completely saturated by it all. One sculpture did stick out for me, Socrates. Bizarre to think that all these years later we know what he looks like.
Wish that there were more people in government nowadays who knew about his philosophy and applied it, especially education when he said, Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
We left the Uffizi and headed towards the of Santa Maria del Fiore or Duomo. Many of the stalls we passed on route had Pinocchios.
Who knew? I didn’t but Pinocchio was born in Florence. There is even a museum with an extortionate admission price.
The Duomo boosts the largest stone dome in the world. I think it also had the longest queue to get in, in the world too.
One thing I really enjoyed in Florence was the canolli. They are so tasty, they originate from Sicily.Cannoli consist of tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling usually containing ricotta, different flavours and haven’t had one so far I haven’t liked.
To finish the visit to Florence we visited what is considered the oldest pharmacy in the world, which began in 1221 by Dominican monks. It was the furthest you could ever imagine a pharmacy could be from Boots.
I think things were really expensive as there were no price tags anywhere.
Random Acts of Travelling 