Florence

Florence was one of the busiest cities I’ve been to thus far. I thought I was here during the tourist off-season, but there were throngs of people! I think there’s a local university with many study abroad students. On our train ride into the city, we sat near four girls who had a lot of drama about some guys. We also heard a decent amount of American accents. Needless to say, Florence is well-visited.

When we arrived, Will walked us into a leather shop where I almost bought a $400 leather jacket. It was super nice, but I’m not sure I’d wear it often. We got out of there before I purchased anything. While Will was upset I didn’t have a game plan for our expedition, I enjoyed wandering the streets aimlessly. We spent two days in Florence. We didn’t get there as early as I hoped, but we left on the 22:09 train to Pistoia. So we had a solid amount of time to explore.

Our first area was the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. We arrived at 3pm when they were closing up. We didn’t ascend the cathedral, but maybe on our next visit to Florence. This historic church, Giotto’s Bell Tower, and the Baptistery of St. John are surrounded by touristy shops and restaurants. Prices are quite high. We wandered. I loved it. Especially at night, the city sparkles. The crowds slowly disintegrate…sort of. It’s still quite busy, but nothing like during the day. These buildings are huge when you are standing near them, but wait until you see them dwarf the rest of the city.

Hot take! I’m fine skipping the real David at this point in my travels. I’ve seen so many statues. So I had a beer. It’s my first $8 beer since Paris. Geeze! While Will saw the real David and other works of art, I hung out with a Latvian guy and celebrated their day of independence. Priekā!

On our first night, we got a pizza near the cathedral for an appetizer before we had our real supper. Mister Pizza hosted us for La Regina with a mozzarella bufala and sesame crust. Yum. Our second stop was Il Nutino. We started with the black truffle penne. This was absolutely amazing. Decadent! We had more pizza, because why not! More about our Pizza adventures in the following post “Pistoia Pt. II.”

We nearly didn’t make it back to Pistoia! My app said the train left at 22:15 when it actually departed at 22:09. But we made it, just as the doors closed.

On our second day in Florence, we explored more of the streets. We tried visiting both Fortezza da Basso and Forte di Belvedere. I had checked online to see that the forts were open. Both were closed to my dismay. Will’s goal was to see Cappelle Medicee – also closed on a Sunday. We hiked up Piazzale Michelangelo to get a beautiful view of Florence. The view from there made up for the forts and chapel being closed.

Will and I were starving (in a first-world sense) after the literal hike. We raced down to find some of this Bistecca alla Fiorentina that everyone mentioned. It’s basically a huge-ass steak that you can share with someone. The British couple we encountered at our first night’s supper said it was three fingers thick. We found a restaurant, but it was too close to the cathedral and expensive. We wanted something off the beaten path, but we were close to pure exhaustion. The stakes were high… ;)

We walked away from the chapel after discovering a semi-random restaurant on our map app (Organic Maps: offline maps. Super helpful). We actually passed some sort of festival as well, but our hunger kept us moving. We finally arrived at Bisteccheria Santa Croce. We decided to eat there. We started with a ribollita – a bean, bread, and veggie soup. It was the best I’ve ever had.

Our waiter showed us what the steak would look like before it was cooked. It was only two fingers thick (fake disappointment)! Will and I knew this would be the priciest meal we’d have. The steak alone was $109. I also went with the least expensive wine recommended by the waiter – $45. We enjoyed every moment. The steak was tender. It filled us, but not to the point of being too full. Honestly, I think we both could have eaten our own 1.4 kg steak. But I’m glad we split it.

After we had survived such a harrowing experience of nearly starving, we paid the bill. And then we explored the aforementioned festival. I still don’t know the reason, but it was neat. We saw huge blocks of licorice. I love licorice. The stall man offered us some pellets of licorice. It was gross. I got a not-so-good mulled wine. I began to not like the festival. Luckily, some yummy apple strudel fixed the bad taste in our mouths. And before we knew it, we had to run to the train again, but not before listening to some piano at a ritzy bar.

Florence is a great place to see some touristy things. But I recommend wandering further away from the cathedral and nearby shops. Even ten minutes away and the crowds are smaller. The food is just as good. And you’ll find unexpected experiences. Just don’t eat the licorice. It’s really bitter.