Italy – Florence

We left Siena in the early hours of Wednesday morning and took a train to Florence, where we intended to spend the day before heading for Bologna, and on to our ferry to Croatia. One day, of course, is a pitiful amount of time to spend in Florence…

We began with a visit to the Duomo and I found the paintings in the dome beautiful. Spent a bit of time sitting on the floor, leaning against a pillar, contemplating them! You can climb up into the dome to see them closer, but after having done that at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, we were a little bit over stairs… next time perhaps!

Jan really wanted to see the original statue of David, so we duely lined up at the Accademia Belle Arti… for an hour and a half… hoping desperately he was worth it! He was, of course! Lovely legs, gorgeous curls, beautiful face, an all round nice package! And useful too, for slaying Goliaths and lions! Very nice!

I really wanted to see Santa Croce and the Arno, having read A Room with a View and seen the film adaptation many times! Santa Croce was lovely. The paintings were fascinating, and there was a small chapel off to the side which I particularly liked. Above the alter was a lovely sculpture in creamy stone with a blue (enamel?) background – it looked a little like a giant cameo!

We wandered along the Arno until we got to Ponte Vecchio. We had lunch at a cafe near the Uffizi then gazing with longing at the jewellery stores on the Ponte Vecchio! By this time we needed to head back to the train station to catch our train to Bologna. Not nearly enough time… I really want to return to this lovely city!