Florence:
We arrived in Florence later afternoon/early evening. The hotel, Donatello, is located right outside of the Florence old town, so location is nice, but the parking was expensive and 2 blocks away. Since everything was walking distance away, the location of the parking was not an issue.
Since we got in just in time for dinner, we asked at hotel for a good place for dinner and they've suggested a restaurant close by: Al Chirola Di Jimmy. That was great advice: food was excellent, wine was great. I think it was only one restaurant in the whole trip that we visited twice. Of course the fact that there was a gelateria (you can guess what it is) next door did not hurt :)
On the first day in Florence we had a tour, as planned. Tour was very interesting. Did you know that there are no trees inside old city. The reason is simple: Florence was fighting a war against Pisa. So, to defend the city, they had to build a wall. All new buildings needed to be protected inside the walls. So, all the trees were cut to create room for the buildings. The war is over, Italy is united, but trees are gone.
In the middle of the city, there is a huge church. All roads in the city seem to end at that church. The tour guide showed us that we can climb on the top of the dome. So we thought we would do it on the last day in Florence, but we totally forgot :(
NOTE to everybody who plans to visit Florence: CLIMB THE DOME!!!
The plan for the second day was to visit wineries, after all we are in the middle of Tuscany and that is where the Chianti is made. I booked an all day trip to 2 wineries and truffle based lunch. The tour guide was local Italian guy, who spoke pretty good Russian. From what I understand, he also spoke English and German. He took us to 2 wineries: Cosimo Maria Masini and Leonardo Beconcini in San Miniato. For lunch, we stopped at Osteria l'Upupa, where we had lunch with wine, followed by espresso. Everything was great: the wine testing, the lunch, the view of the village and surroundings. For anybody who plans to visit Florence, it's a must! Allocate a day and you will not be disappointed. I am sure there are different places that organize this kind of tours, but we used http://www.ariannandfriends.com.
Next stop: Pisa.
We arrived in Florence later afternoon/early evening. The hotel, Donatello, is located right outside of the Florence old town, so location is nice, but the parking was expensive and 2 blocks away. Since everything was walking distance away, the location of the parking was not an issue.
Since we got in just in time for dinner, we asked at hotel for a good place for dinner and they've suggested a restaurant close by: Al Chirola Di Jimmy. That was great advice: food was excellent, wine was great. I think it was only one restaurant in the whole trip that we visited twice. Of course the fact that there was a gelateria (you can guess what it is) next door did not hurt :)
On the first day in Florence we had a tour, as planned. Tour was very interesting. Did you know that there are no trees inside old city. The reason is simple: Florence was fighting a war against Pisa. So, to defend the city, they had to build a wall. All new buildings needed to be protected inside the walls. So, all the trees were cut to create room for the buildings. The war is over, Italy is united, but trees are gone.
In the middle of the city, there is a huge church. All roads in the city seem to end at that church. The tour guide showed us that we can climb on the top of the dome. So we thought we would do it on the last day in Florence, but we totally forgot :(
NOTE to everybody who plans to visit Florence: CLIMB THE DOME!!!
The plan for the second day was to visit wineries, after all we are in the middle of Tuscany and that is where the Chianti is made. I booked an all day trip to 2 wineries and truffle based lunch. The tour guide was local Italian guy, who spoke pretty good Russian. From what I understand, he also spoke English and German. He took us to 2 wineries: Cosimo Maria Masini and Leonardo Beconcini in San Miniato. For lunch, we stopped at Osteria l'Upupa, where we had lunch with wine, followed by espresso. Everything was great: the wine testing, the lunch, the view of the village and surroundings. For anybody who plans to visit Florence, it's a must! Allocate a day and you will not be disappointed. I am sure there are different places that organize this kind of tours, but we used http://www.ariannandfriends.com.
Next stop: Pisa.
No comments:
Post a Comment