We were relieved when we made it to Firenze Suite and could pull off our hot layers (lugging bags for a good few kilometers was exhausting and steamy).
Eventually we ventured back out to play in the traffic just before dusk. Our accommodation was only 2 to 3 streets away from the Duomo. Duomo was astoundingly huge and we used it as a marker for our location, as it towered over everything. We stopped off at Duomo, craning our necks to admire the stunning green and white marble. Duomo had quite a few tourists milling about, and a noticeable police presence. We had read that tourist areas in Italy were quite bad for thieves and pickpockets, so weren't too worried. It was as expected. As we tried to leave the Duomo area a man stopped Hugh, trying to forcibly press a set of beads into his hands. No sooner had Hugh started to say no as the man tried to insist it was a 'gift', then two police officers had pulled the man aside and asked to see his papers.
We hurried away from Duomo, again being accosted by scam artists, who were looking for signatures on a petition. We had reached the petition station when we realised it was a scam (in Australia, petitions are usually legit) as they asked for a 'donation'. We refused and walked away quickly.
We made our way through the San Lorenzo markets, where sellers of Chinese knock-off leather goods tried hard to get our attention. We had already decided at the start of this holiday that we weren't going to be buying much in terms of clothing or large souvenirs, so it was easy to keep our heads down and walk quickly to get out the other side.
Eventually we managed to make our way to a small trattoria, a place where the locals obviously came to dine. Exactly the sort of place we wanted. A police officer who obviously knew the owner quite well popped in and out over the hour and half we were there, to use the toilet facilities and eat his dinner. The owner spoke very little English, but served up the most mouthwatering spaghetti with white meat sauce.
Our bellies full and the memory of such a taste lingering on our tongues, we made our way back to Firenze Suite.
This morning we were greeted with a huge breakfast delivered into our room, including one of the best hot chocolates I had ever had. It was the perfect mixture between a thick gooey Italian hot chocolate and the milky ones back in Australia.
After breakfast we headed across the Arno, to the hills in the Northern area of Florence. We forced our feet up steep steps to make it to the Abbazia San Miniato Al Monte, a 1000 year old monastery overlooking Florence, affording the most beautiful views. Duomo was seen clearly, rising above all the other buildings.
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| View from San Miniato |
We paid €1 each to enter the monastery, where preparations for Sunday morning mass were taking place. Chanting of Gregorian hymns came from the back of the monastery, echoing eerily around the old ceiling.
We left before mass; not being religious I didn't think I could sit through it and didn't want to rudely leave during a sermon.
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| In the Rose Garden |
We stopped at the Michelangelo lookout on our way back down, which offered more views of Florence. The route we picked down cut through a quiet rose garden, whose flowers were still sleeping from Winter.
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| Stone wall on the way up the hill |
The walk up and down the hill took most of the morning. In the afternoon we decided to take a train out to Viareggio for the Carneval. Hopping off the train, we were very excited to see the streets awash with crazy costumes. We blindly followed the crowds, who all seemed to be heading in one direction: to the beach.
When we arrived though, we saw that the entire festival area had been made inaccessible by tall fences. Erected signs told us that it was €18 per person to enter the festival area. Having spent €20 each on return tickets, and seeing the large crowd packed into the festival area, we decided it was not worth our money. Instead, we took a walk along the street until we reached an accessible part of the beach (The beach even had fences on it right until the waters edge, as well as guards next to the water to ensure you could not swim around the fence to join for free. Dark, overcast skies threatened to spill over us so we made our way back to the festival entrance, as the floats had started their parade. We could see the gigantic, 10 metre high floats through the entry way. Quite a few people were viewing the floats from this free vantage point.
Tired and cold, we headed back to Florence.
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