Day 25 June 16, 2023 (Florence)
After a 20-minute walk to the train station, we boarded and after about 1 ½ hours we made it to Florence. Our walk from the Florence train station to our BNB was about 20-25 minutes and there were people EVERYWHERE! Our place is about 2 blocks from the Ponte Vecchio Bridge so of course tourists were all over the place. We could not check in until 3 and arrived about 11:30, but our host let us drop our bags off and we did some site seeing. Our host gave us some suggestions for lunch away from the tourist district, so we headed that way. We found a huge outdoor market that had shops on the inside as well and we ate at a place called Trattoria da Rocco, which serves typical Florentine food. On Friday’s and Saturday’s, they serve a seafood spaghetti so we both got that and a glass of white wine. We were surprised when they brought a whole bottle of wine, and you just drink until you want, and it was only $2 a glass per person!
After our lunch we walked around some more, then found a little wine bar that we stopped at and did a tasting. They also had a decent food menu, so we made reservations for 7 p.m. for dinner. We found the supermarket, grabbed a few supplies, dropped them off and headed for our tour at the Accademia Gallery for an evening tour to see the Statue of David.
We met a couple from Georgia (Atlanta area) and a family from Ohio (Toledo area) and swapped a few stories about our travels and where we had been. Our tour guide was born/raised in Florence and of course very knowledgeable about the area. We were able to get some great pictures of David and a few other paintings, etc.
Once the tour was done, we headed to the restaurant, Bacco Matto. I wasn’t starving so I ordered shrimp with chickpea puree and bread crumbles and John had pork ribs with potatoes and we ordered a side of spinach. It was all very good! We got the chocolate mousse with strawberries and peanuts for dessert with a great dessert wine. Happy tummies 😊 Tomorrow we have tours of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and then one of the Uffizi Gallery.
Miles walked – 8.40 Ciao!
