December 17th was Day Five of our trip and we were hitting up our third location in Italy...Florence!
I had us on an early train that left Venice at 7:26, so we safely crossed that slippery bridge (with luggage) in Venice and got to the train station and had a blueberry muffin while we waited. Our train arrived in Florence at 9:39 and we took a taxi to our hotel. Our hotel (more on that at the end) was able to get us into our room if we waited a few minutes which we did.
We started our day in Florence by taking a taxi to Piazzale Michelangelo. This is a hilltop square where you get those great views of Florence. When I went on New Year's Day 2017, I wasn't able to find a taxi so I hiked up there. I was NOT doing that again!
It was a pretty day, but a little windy up there!
We walked down and wondered the narrow streets down to the Pitti Palace because there was a lunch spot across the street from PP where we planned to have lunch. Of course, we got there and it was closed. We started to eat at the place next door, but decided it was a bit heavier of a menu than we wanted. We walked back across the river, crossing at the Ponte Vecchio.
We decided to see about THE panini place.
The line was really only maybe 10 people in front of us. We each got a different panini. Here's a video of them making paninis.
Mom got the La Summer which was prosciutto, mozzarella, fresh tomato and basil. I tried a bite and think her's was better than mine. I got the Favolosa which was Schiacciata with Sbriciolona (a salami), pecorino cream, artichoke cream and spicy aubergines (eggplant). It was very good, but it was very rich and a lot
There is no place to eat them but we found these round barriers to sit on.
By the time we got through eating our paninis, the line was down the block!
(Note: if you ever visit and want a panini, keep in mind there are 3 store fronts on the same block. It seemed like people saw the line and just got in it, but then the store front next door would have only a couple of people waiting)
After our lunch we walked to the Piazza Santa Croce and walked around the Christmas Market...
They had a Haribo booth where you filled up your bag and paid by the weight. This made me rediculously happy! (I might have even gone back the next night for more)
After the market, we decided we needed Gelato, so we walked to a place called Vivoli. I had read about this place and it had been described as a legendary gelateria. They have been serving gelato since 1929 and it is the oldest gelateria in Florence.
Here's the thing to understand about gelato and gelaterias... in the heavily tourist areas and main streets, you see beautiful bright colored gelato with fruit and other props in the cases to draw you in. Keep walking. It might be good, but you can almost always find better. Better will not be as pretty, it won't be colorful, it may even be some weird flavors you wouldn't have dreamt of, but it will be better. That was the case Vivoli. I thought it was really good. Mom kept calling it the melted gelato place because it definitely wasn't as firm as some of the other gelato we had. But it was good, though you will have to take my word for it because I have no photographic proof.
After some gelato, we headed to the Uffizi Gallery. Just unbelievably uncrowded.
Here was a timely piece of art just a few days before Christmas... Adoration of the Magi by Gentile da Fabriano was painted in the early 1400's
Just tons of detail
And the gold detail on the three kings almost looked like tooled leather. Just remarkable...
For me the superstars of the Uffizi are the Botticellis (from the late 1400's). I love them so much.
Spring
The Birth of Venus
You also get the best view of the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi Gallery
After the Uffizi, we headed to the Duomo. We had tickets for the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, or the Duomo Museum. They removed most everything from the inside of the Duomo (and some from the outside) for preservation and have it in this museum now. The museum includes Ghiberti's bronze doors (replicas are now on the Baptistery) and a Pietà by Michelangelo which he designed for his own tomb.
I don't know why, but I have zero pics! Anyway, they had completely redone the museum since I visited in 2016.
After the museum we went inside the Duomo. The Duomo in Florence is very pretty on the outside and then has a great dome, but other than that, it's not that noteworthy.
This is the baptistery and you can see the replica bronze doors
The last thing we had tickets to that day was the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David.
Since everything had been so uncrowded, I thought we would see if they would let us in early and they did.
I can tell you that it is every bit as amazing upon your second viewing. And there were no crowds!
We went back to the hotel for a few minutes of rest before our dinner reservations. Our hotel has a rooftop area where I went for a pic of the Duomo at sunset...
I wasn't able to get dinner reservations where I wanted to go, so I made them at a place called La Ménagère. I had read that it was a good place for lunch, and kept seeing the name come up when I read about restaurants in Florence, but their website was under construction and I couldn't see a menu. I read that they had sandwiches and things for lunch, but never saw a good description for dinner. I took a chance anyway and I have mixed reviews. As you can see from the menu, it's not a dinner spot. It's tapas and cocktails...
1) It's kind of expensive for not a lot of food. Each tapas is literally two bites and because they are so small, you have to order several for each person.
2) It was some really good stuff. That Sandwich La Menagere was a roast beef on honey meringues. I still can't really wrap my head around it. Roast beef on meringues? It was AMAZING. We also tried the Lobster Roll and it was very good. We tried several other things and nothing was bad, but that sandwich was really the high point.
I had also read that the place looked like a Nancy Meyers movie and that is 100% accurate.
I think my recommendation would be to hit it up for lunch, or just drinks and appetizer before dinner (so you could try that sandwich) and then head elsewhere if you wanted a larger dinner.
Here's a video I took...
We walked over to the Mercato Centrale next. We contemplated more food, but decided to only have some Gelato. Since we had been up for many hours, we headed back to the hotel.
For the hotel, I decided to stay at the same hotel from my previous trip, Cellai Boutique Hotel. I liked it fine from when I stayed before. It's clean, the location is good, they have a good breakfast and yall, it was really inexpensive compared to other Florence hotels. When I emailed them in March I got a great rate, so since I splurged a bit on hotels in Paris and Rome, I decided to go with something that was more affordable here since it was a known hotel.
I stayed in a single room before, but of course got a double this time (although it would have slept 3 because of that daybed). I think they got new mattresses since I was there last though, and we definitely voted this hotel as the firmest mattresses. They were pretty hard.
That's a wrap on Day Five when I know my mom went to bed happy that I didn't have her booked on another early morning flight or train the next morning!
Comments