Tuesday 17th September 2024

Florence is the jewel in the crown of the Renaissance. It has more works of art within its city limits than you can shake a stick at. It is the number one destination for all visiting Tuscany, which means it can be busy.

Is busy.

Very busy.

Very peoply.

Most of us have been on a tour guided by someone holding up a flag or umbrella, heck I've been on one in Florence myself, but there is a new twist to the curse: guides talking through a radio mic, and the visitors stumbling along, zombie-like, following, looking where they are told to look as more instantly forgettable historical details are spewed out.

And then there is the selfie.

I had foolishly thought the age of the selfie was over, but no. Apparently, you have to photograph either yourself or significant other in front over every work of art, every historical building, so you have something to post on social media to prove you were there, and having a grand old time.

Today, we had four hours in Florence, quite pleasant at first. There was a line for the cathedral, so we thought we'd have breakfast first, and wait to see if the line shrunk.

It didn't.

We walked to the Ponte Vecchio and beyond, came back via the riverside gallery and the square in front of the cathedral was full of groups, guides and the queue, was seven wide and snaked out of sight.

The cathedral was why I wanted to visit the city in the first place. But I was done.

I have shots of the outside and details of other churches, but with the trams and buses coming into the city still, was only going to get crowded. So, with rainclouds building, we walked back to the station, caught a tram back to the CoOp where our car was.

I did get this shot.

Last time every alcove in the gallery was taken by people selling tat from sheets, and visitors couldn't get to see the view of the river and bridge.

We did visit at least two churches, and was the only people in both, the coolness and silence all encompassing.

Breakfast was good, we had a view looking towards the town hall and the Gallery where the replica of David still has his chap out on display. You can buy a fridge magnet of it in detail.

If you want.

I read that some places are revolting over the number of visitors they get now, I can say that it was beyond comfortable today, huge numbers of people, and pickpockets at work, and their presence meaning additional precautions were needed.

A city as stunning and beautiful at Florence deserves better.

All this means planning a visit like a military operation: what to take, what to leave behind. We left all bar one bank/credit card each behind, carried €50 each, and we planned to get to the city before nine.

So, up before dawn, with a cool breeze blowing now, pointing to the change in the weather.

One of Emy's cats, a little black void, had got into the our rooms, and dug through the bin, as some guanciale fat, which it left in the middle of the living room, then came to sleep on our bed.

Just like being home.

Emy asked us not to feed any of the cats, some are semi-pets, others are feral, so we let it out and closed the patio door behind it.

After coffee we went to the car, programmed in a car park, and set off up the drive.

The City Council does a very good website for visitors, and it suggested parking at a CoOp superstore in the west of the city and catching a tram to the centre.

We drove to Roccastrada, then by a new road to the autostrada to Siena. All motorways in Italy have either not been completed or are under repair. So, all drives on them are stop start, with regular lane closures for repair, or lie on the way into Florence, mostly not built yet, but work is under way to get them done.

Being half eight, it was rush hour, so traffic heavy, but not too bad. We turned off before the tunnel to the city, and the sat nav took us down a road just not wide enough for two family cars to pass, so it was hair-raising to drive down the narrow valley, then into a suburb, with cars parked everywhere, and dealing with traffic lights, driver ignoring them and road markings.

We got to the store safe and sound, parked up and walked to the tram stop. €1.90 got us a ticket, but the tram was rammed, mostly with German students where were doing what all students do: goofing around for the benefit of girls.

We all got off at the station, no need to worry about which direction to go, the roofs of the cathedral and city hall showed high above the apartment blocks that line the narrow streets.

Past a large parish church, almost large enough to be a cathedral in itself. Jools then asked what that was she could see over the rooftops. It was the belltower of the Cathedral, all black and white marble, and unmistakeable.

We walk down two narrow streets, past a market that had taken over the street, and getting past each stall due to the narrow way was almost impossible. And remember, according to the city website, all these stalls were illegal, and yet they set up every morning. Modern day money changers in the shadow of God's House.

The main square was pretty empty, but the line for the cathedral was already snaking out of sight. I foolishly thought it might shrink once the cathedral opened at ten.

I was wrong, readers.

Shall we have breakfast?

We shall.

So, in the shadow of the town hall and Uffizi we ordered breakfast in a fenced off area. Coffee, juice, toast and a main course for €14 wasn't bad.

We ate well, and I had an extra coffee because.

With the cathedral still not open until ten, we walked to the Ponte Vecchio, which an old bridge with added shops. Above to the left is the corridor that the great and good used to get around the city without having to mix with ordinary folk.

The bridge is so slight you'd not know it was a bridge for a break in the shops in the centre and views on either side of the river.



On the other side, we had hoped to find the gardens I visited two decades ago, but we took the wrong turn and my back began to complain.

We turned back, and once back over the bridge, turned right to the square, but now the views under the arches had been cleared of trinket sellers, so views of the bridge and the city on the other bank were visible to visitors again, not guarded by criminals who growled when you asked to see over the balustrade.

Back at the cathedral, after getting up the long gallery lined street, we saw hundreds, apparently, of guided tours all milling around, and the line for the cathedral deeper and longer than before.

Sigh.

We shall call it a day.

We had already visited two churches, and had them both to ourselves, the cathedral would elude us this time.

We stopped for a cider/pint o red ale at an Irish Bar, and then walked back to the main station, catching a tram back to the car.

There was a fuss on the tram, apparently, the old man behind me was feeling my pockets for a wallet of phone, but I had moved them out of reach. He was spotted, and although at first we thought it was a confused message about his bag being unzipped, once he ran off at the next stop, a lady explained she had watched his hand reaching towards my pocket, and she sounded the alarm.

The tram is the other prime location of pickpockets other than in the city centre, and so my preparations paid off, as he got nothing.

Back at the car, we went into the CoOp for supplies: cider, beer, fruit, bread and other stuff.

We shopped like locals, and me thinking of how to use the fabulous ingredients for our dinners.

Back then to the car, program the route back, and we drove out of the car park, through the quiet now suburb, and onto the autostrada, back towards Siena as clouds thickened, and rain began to fall.

The car took us back via side roads and byways little travelled. Long straight roads had speed limits of 60kp/h, while twisty hilly roads had speed limits of 90, but you couldn't get above 50.

Makes sense.

We got home at four, just as the rain came down harder. We had a coffee and a sweet something bought from a chic bakers in the city.

Very nice.

Very sophisticated.

I roasted vegetables for dinner, mixed them with olive pil and balsamic, fried guanciale and salami, then mixed with freshly cooked pasta, topped with grated Parmesan and some focaccia and a glass or several of red.

Perfect.