Florence and Pisa

After a great stay in Venice, another city for the history books was ready for us to explore, Florence. Like so many European cities, history is all around you as you walk along anicent cobblestoned streets. Marveling at the famous Ponte Vecchio or Golden Bridge, the famous Piazza del Duomo with the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and looking at the statue of David (for us we saw the fake one), you get a greater understanding of what the city may have been like centuries ago and what was of the utmost importance to the citizens in that time.

Florence is easily a city to be explored on foot. Our Airbnb was quite close to the train station which is as close to the city centre as any major train station can get. From there, you can get to almost any point of interest easily. We walked around for a couple of hours and saw many sights without any problems, including the large leather markets or San Lorenzo Markets where you see the same bags a million times over. Definitely haggle as you can get a great deal.

While in Florence, we were but an hour away by train from Pisa where the cliché tourist photo at the Leaning Tower of Pisa awaited. The city itself was beautiful and I am so happy we made the trek. We couldn’t spend all day there though as we wanted to see Florence from above (or more like further away on a hill). We went to the popular Piazzale Michelangelo for some epic city snaps. This lookout surely is where many filmmakers go to get the city shot and I definitely understand why. We caught a scenic public bus up and back and again (bus 13 from train station) and got to see parts of the city we normally wouldn’t have.

See for yourself how worthwhile the view from the top really is below.

See you on the flip side!