Florence

Travel day today. We start fairly early (for us) with the train back to Naples. While in Sorrento we discovered that, for a few dollars more, there is an express train that comes with guaranteed seating, although it only runs a few times each day. It is pretty much the same graffiti-covered subway car as the regular train, but skipping more than a dozen stops is well worth skipping out on a little sleep.

In Naples, we switch to the high-speed lines. Everything seems to route back through Rome, but at 225 km/h, even with the extra distance, we make arrive in Florence in a little more than two hours. It still feels crazy busy here and, like Rome, we had a tough time finding a place to stay. In fact, so far we only have reservations for tonight, which some members of our group are a little nervous about.

We didn’t expect much out of Florence today since it is was almost 4pm before we have checked in and walked downtown, but somehow we still manage to cram a day’s worth of sights into the little time we had left.

We start by heading to the Duomo. It is closing for the day, but it is amazing to look at even from the outside. The scale and detail of the cathedrals here are so over the top compared to what we are used to that we still can’t really wrap our heads around the fact they were built before Columbus was even on the scene.

Not much further on is the Palazzo Vecchio, the City Hall of old Florence. It is still open and, since we are already booked with tours tomorrow, now is a good time to knock something off the list. There is some good history here (mostly involving the Medicis alternating between holding power and either being imprisoned or banished from the city), and an interesting story about a fresco originally painted by Leonardo da Vinci that he never finished and was eventually painted over (oops!).

Palazzo Vecchio sits just a block off the Arno river (the Uffizi Gallery, which is on tomorrow’s agenda separates the two) so it is just a short walk to the Ponte Vecchio (vecchio in Italian translates to old, so Old Bridge in this case, or Old Palace for Palazzo Vecchio). Seeing shops lining both sides of the bridge is a little different and, if not for the odd gap here and there, you’d think you were walking down just another street (albeit one with nothing but jewelry stores as they seem to be the only businesses that can afford what I’m sure is pretty steep rent).

We’ve pretty much exhausted daylight by this point, so all that remains is finding a good spot for dinner. Our book mentions a food market not far away that sounds like something different so head off to find it. We’re not disappointed, although at first glance it looks like a mall food court. The food is far from industrial and the place is packed with tourists and locals alike. Best of all, pizza and gelato in the very same place!!