Florence - Oh the heat

(No great story to tell, just the nitty gritty bits)

After our 2 short days in Venice, we travelled southwards to Florence. Florence, was the only part of our half-Europe trip where we stayed at a backpacker's hostel. I thought we got a really good deal for the price we paid; meals are provided, free-flow drinking water (bring your own bottle), free wi-fi (just had to get the password from the receptionist), computers at the lobby with free internet access, and free walking tours! It's such a pity that we couldn't make it for the walking tours because of clashes with our schedule.

Basilica of Santa Croce

Santa Croce: dome's interior

close-up

closer-up

While in Florence (for a night), we only managed to visit some of the tourist sites that were located in closer proximity. We were only staying in Florence for a night so time was a bit of an issue for us. Apart from the Basilica of Santa Croce, we also passed by some other smaller churches and visited the bustling open-air San Lorenzo market/bazaar. The market is lined with shops hawking all sorts of leather goods (e.g. belts, satchels, jackets, boots, key chains) and interesting handmade souvenirs for the tourists to take home. After bargaining (I really suck at this) with a shop-owner for 5 minutes, I got myself a tiny leather bag... and a pair of leather sandals from another shop in the market!

The heat (32 degree Celcius when Singapore was only 28-29!) got to us and we decided to seek temporary refuge in the Macs near our hostel. Got such a wonderful surprise when I tasted the salty fries (just like ours! UK's fries are not seasoned with salt at all). Did a little more walking before we finally decided to head back to our hostel for dinner. We were going to Rome the next day.

I apologize if I've made Florence sound like a boring place, it is not... it's just that we spent a really short day here and I'm not really into all that arty farty stuff. You'd probably do a much better write-up of this place if you can name another work of Michelangelo apart from David (I'm that lousy when it comes to arty stuff). Or if you have a deeper interest in Leonardo da Vinci than I do. Other than knowing nearly nothing about art's local big names and their works, I kinda enjoyed my stay in Florence; loved the buildings that had an old-charm to them, loved the bustling streets and markets, and I loved the 'discovery' of salty fries in Italy!