Europe Travelogue 2014 - Florence, Italy

We said goodbye to Venice and boarded the train to our next stop - Florence!

After dropping our bags at our airbnb (which might I add had a super nice bathroom with a massage shower - pity I didn't take any pictures), we headed to Florence's most popular and bustling Piazza del Duomo. The first thing that greeted us was the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, which in my opinion has the most beautiful exterior out of all the Italian churches we visited. Okay, actually I will rank it almost close to St. Paul's cathedral in The Vatican.

Gorgeous intricate design on the exterior!

The interior is not as beautiful as the previously mentioned St. Paul's, but is super huge and airy (take the little humans as reference!)

The paintings on the ceiling of the dome on the other hand - AMAZING!

Back outside, viewing the basilica from the other end.

This tall tower is called Giotto's Campanile, and together with the Baptistery, these three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I couldn't take a proper picture of the Baptistery, because unfortunately for us it was under restorative works. It is that building in front of the Duomo covered in white scaffolding. 

I did managed to get a picture of the Baptistery's exquisite bronze door.

I have to spam because it was really beautiful. Anyway, Florence is pretty "small" in a sense that throughout the next few days we found ourselves passing by this centrally located piazza a few times.

Piazza della Repubblica - the insta-worthy piazza with the merry-go-round. Not as big as the one near the Eiffel Tower in Paris though!

Mercato del Porcellino - my sister recommended me to come here to buy a leather jacket because she bought one here when she visited. But honestly when I was browsing through the stalls, part of me was quite lazy to bargain, and part of me was wondering whether the goods were even real leather. So in the end we left empty handed! 

Piazza della Signoria - if you want to visit the Uffizi Gallery you will end up here. The building with the tall clock tower is Palazzo Vecchio. The structure on the right which houses a few sculptures is called Loggia dei Lanzi.

Fountain of Neptune.

From the Piazza, we walked to Ponte Vecchio, which is a famous bridge in Florence. This picture is on the bridge itself, but you may not recognise it from this angle.

This is the angle which many may recognise instead!

If you stand on Ponte Vecchio and look far this is what you see. Beautiful!

Piazza di Santa Croce.

Passed by a gelato shop with a long queue...so MUST TRY!

Melting so fast in this heat! :/

The next day for lunch we decided to patron this place we found on Tripadvisor - Trattoria Mario (that we ended up going back again during our short stay in Florence.)

We reached there before opening time, and a crowd had already gathered outside (this was taken when we were leaving), but when they opened, everyone were ushered in and the small family-run restaurant was filled up quite quickly. There were both locals and tourists.

The menu changes quite a bit save for their speciality dishes. The menu is that few pieces of brown paper stuck on the wall. So not only do you have to try to exercise your vision on the English scribbled words below the Italian words, you had to do a fair bit of translation for those that didn't. 

I think this was some beef/pork pasta I can't remember. It looks so plain and unassuming but it was sooo good. After all, handmade pasta and sauce? Super yummy.

When in Florence, you have to try their Florentine steak. I would say this wasn't very "wow" but it was value for money. Joel wasn't satisfied though and throughout the next few days he was craving for more steak.

After lunch we visited the Central Market, which had super a lot of Italian fresh produce and products! Wanted to buy some stuff like truffle oil (so much cheaper there) but we didn't want to lug it around for the whole day, so we made a mental note to come back on our last day. But unfortunately the market was not open on our last day ): MISSED IT! D:

We also visited the Uffizi Gallery (no pictures allowed inside) but we got this view of Ponte Vecchio from one of the higher floors of the gallery.

Also got to see the clock tower up close from the outdoor terrace.

Some horsies showed up at the Piazza today!

Excuse me sir I think you are about to fall off the bridge. 

Gelato errday everyday!

What do you mean we need to climb up this steep hill? :o

Okay, the view is totally worth the climb!!! Gorgeous! You can literally see how small Florence is. You will end up revisiting all the spots worth seeing. And we walked EVERYWHERE. Only took public bus when we had our luggage traveling between train station and airbnb. Btw, this view is from the Piazzale Michelangelo. Best place to get the panoramic view of Florence.

Gotta stick your face into the shot or else it didn't happen.

No idea why so happy :D

Hello David! (This is just another replica, there are many across Florence, while the original statue is housed in the Accademia Gallery.)

Spot Ponte Vecchio!

Stumbled upon a garden called Giardino della Rose.

Falling in love with Florence more everyday. 

Onward to the last day in Florence!

We went shopping today at Prada Space outlet. To get there we had to take a train out of the city to Montevarchi. It's quite hard to get there, because from the train station you have to take a private taxi to the outlet.

We reached there even before opening time and joined the queue. Too excited to shop! You should see the way the asians run in when the doors opened :/ I casually walked in at an acceptable speed (lol) and watched as the staff shake their heads at those people rushing in. Oops.

Happy camper yay! They had a wide variety of Prada and Miu miu stuff, but mostly past season designs. They did have some classic designs though. But the prices were soooo cheap (even with the unfavorable EUR:SGD exchange rate - almost 1.8!!!), we got a pretty good deal. I bought two bags and three wallets! Joel only bought a wallet. We later found out that some of the exact models at the outlet was also sold at the retail stores in the city! 

Headed back to Florence city and deposited our buys in the airbnb and headed back out for a late lunch. Ended up back at Mario's again!

We went for the beef pasta again, but ordered the fish this time. This concludes our time in Florence, which is one of my fav Italian cities! Actually I kinda like all that I visited except for Milan.

Okay this post is soo long and I'm going to end it off now bye!