Buono journo, friends and vicarious travelers. And, we hope your sleep last night was better than ours!
We didn’t rest so well last night for three reasons:
Fortunately, this morning, after an excellent breakfast at the Albergotto Hotel, they upgraded us to a larger, cooler, and much nicer room (not that the last one was a bad room at all). In fact, this one is huge. Twelve foot ceilings and the room itself is 20 x 30 feet – and that does not include the foyer or bath. Nice!
Note not only the palace within, but the palace across the street
Then we were off to an area of town not frequented by many tourists, but one that is right up our alley – the Oltrarno area to the south of the Arno River.
We’ve found that staying in the tourist-only zones of any European city leaves us with an incomplete impression of the city. This is particularly true of Florence.
We’ve been told this area is the best place to get “a sense of rustic, old Florence,” and we received that in spades just wandering the neighborhoods, visiting the shops. We passed many shops of working artists – a man refinishing an ancient wood chair with ornate carving, a shop cleaning and refinishing what looked like ancient painted panels from a church, shops making jewelry, furniture, leather goods … it was a view into the lives of working artisans who each made us feel welcome.
There were several fun markets …
The flowers were gorgeous – especially the Canna Lillies
… and we stopped in at several gorgeous parish churches, as well as a nice coffee and gelato shop. We discovered a hidden view of the Ponte Vecchio …
Ornate watering spots for horses or pets …
Icons, statues of saints, or cherubs overlooking many intersections …
An even a modern icon just above a trash receptacle …
Note – It’s a statue of a woman holding her nose! Cute.
We found the only remaining 14th century gate to the city (through which the road to Pisa ran) …
Near that gate was an interesting piece on a corner of the city wall near the Arno River. Paul McCusker, I’m thinking we need to put this symbol in our next TSI novel … the eye that sees all, looking up river at the city … and the symbol has similarity to the one on our one dollar bill …
By the way, and as an aside, the second novel in the TSI series, Time Scene Investigators: The Influenza Bomb, should be out in the next couple of weeks. If you read it, let me know what you think.
And we saw many more fun knockers … both those warning away door-to-door salesmen …
And those with an even more devilish theme …
For lunch we found a spacious and cheery trattoria hidden near the ancient gate to Pisa. The family-run, we-speak-Italian-only staff, had a simple and ridiculously inexpensive menu with stunningly tasty food.
The house wine was delicious and matched perfectly to spaghetti with tomato sauce, garlic, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (Barb smelled of garlic the rest of the day! And, I loved it!!) Barb had a mixed salad, while I enjoyed stewed beef and potatoes, which had a marvelous peppery flavor and a simple rustic feel.
The deserts looked exquisite, but we had gelato on our minds, so after paying our small bill, we were off.
Our late afternoon was spent back on the north shore of the Arno, after crossing over the Arno on the Ponte Vecchio (do you feel like you’re learning your way around by now?), where we visited the Santa Croce Basilica, …
Santa Croce Cathedral
… which is Michelangelo’s home parish (he grew up quite near to this square and church) and his final resting place is inside the church …
Along with the tombs of Galileo …
… Dante …
… and Machiavelli.
After a brief gelato stop (dark chocolate and cream for me, milk chocolate and strawberry for Barb) at Gelateria Grom (unfortunately, Vivoli’s Gelateria was closed today), we were back at the Duomo for a late afternoon tour of its massive baptistery (remember Ghiberti’s doors from yesterday?).
This is believed to be the oldest building in Florence, dating from the 11th century. The dome is as amazing as those in St. Mark’s in Venice – and, with good reason.
In the 1200’s, workers from St. Mark’s came to Florence to do the massive mosaics of the dome in Venetian glass. The pre-Renaissance, Byzantine style is marvelous. And they were stuck on gold!
Here’s how part of the ceiling is described by Rick Steves:
“The Last Judgment on the ceiling gives us a glimpse of the medieval worldview. Life was a preparation for the afterlife, when you would be judged and saved or damned, with no in-between. Christ, peaceful and reassuring, would bless you with heaven (on his right hand, thumb’s up) …
“… or would send you to hell (below Christ’s ultimate thumbs down).
Hell’s the bottom half – not a pretty sight, eh?
“… to be tortured by demons and gnashed. The hellish scene looks like something right out of the Inferno by Dante … who was dipped into the baptismal waters right here.”
We popped back to the hotel to give our legs a well-earned rest … and now are off for an evening in the city.
Tomorrow will include a much anticipated visit to the Uffizi Museum, one of the top four or five art museums in the world – and much more of one of our favorite cities in the world. Hope you’ll come back for more.
Arivederchi!
Here’s the entire series:
Dr. Walt and Barb’s Italian Adventure — May 8-25, 2010
If you’ve ever wanted to go to Italy (or even if you have in the past), you’ll want to come along with us and enjoy the sites, sounds, food, and art.
Hopefully, this blog will stimulate you to put visiting these amazing cities on your to-do list. Just click on any of the days or cities you want to visit with us.
We’ve hoped you’ve had fun accompanying us on this trip to Italy, and that one day you’ll be blessed to experience and enjoy her yourself.
0 Comments
I’M EAGERLY WAITING FOR THE NEXT TOUR BUS.
Sounds like you and Barb are having a WONDERFUL time!!! I’ve enjoyed reading your blogs — next best thing to being there 🙂 Have a great rest of your trip!!!