Ciao!
I have just gotten back from a four-day weekend in Tuscany. I went to go visit a friend that is studying abroad in Florence. It was lovely! Florence is so far my favorite Italian city (I have been to Rome, Venice, and Pisa). The buildings seem to be untouched by modern ugliness. They were all gorgeous. There are new shops/brands that you would recognize, but the Tuscan style has been maintained. It was much less overwhelmingly touristy than Rome and Venice, but I should keep in mind that November is the off-peak season and I went to the other cities in the height of the summer.
We started my first day there by going to check out a famous market and the Ponte Vecchio. We climbed up the clock tower in the Duomo to get a view of the city and the dome. I was very impressed by my friend’s knowledge of the city. She takes tours of the city each week with her school, so was very informed. It added a lot of depth and life to the city. At the top of the tower we met a guy about our age who was experiencing traveling for the first time. He said that he had learnt more about who he was and the world in two weeks than he had in his entire life. The experiences he had were irreplaceable. We ended up running into him at the end of the day and went with him and some of my friend’s college friends at a pub in the main square. We grabbed a couple drinks and went downstairs to watch the karaoke. Everyone was amazing! It was so fun 🙂 I even got the name of one of the bands who performed.
The next day we started off by going to one of the palaces of the Medici family where we saw the Boboli Gardens and a costume exhibit of famous women’s outfits throughout the last couple centuries. After we went on a wine tour of the surrounding wine region. While Austria is good for white wines, Italy is good for red wines because they have the necessary heat. We visited two wineries where we saw the process of how the wine is made and learnt about the care that goes into making a single glass of wine. There is a lot more there than you may think. For instance, to be able to sell a certain type of wine, a member of a wine society must come and check every batch and approve it for sale. The hills around Florence were stunning! The villas, villages, and monasteries that were tucked between the vineyards and trees were picturesque. The fall colors and bright sun made the whole area glow. After the wineries, we headed to a nearby village to do a little shopping or have some more wine. I couldn’t help myself and bought some pasta and a flower hook from a small local shop. It was lovely how dainty and idealized this place was. We ended the day by going to a restaurant called Dante’s. The food was amazing and came with free flatbread and unlimited wine for as long as you ate! The owner even gave us a free shot of this lemon alcoholic drink. The aftertaste was so sweet!
The third day we went to Pisa. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t so kind to us. There were intermittent downpours of water, so we (along with all the other people) were running back and forth from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the nearby cathedral and shops! It was funny and made the day very memorable. To let the rain pass, we stopped in a cute little restaurant where we got some pizza. It was so cheap! It felt quaint and family owned. There were such random things hanging on the walls that gave it such a homey feel. We did a little exploring of the city before heading off to Lucca. We had originally planned to bike ride around the town, but the weather spiked again. Instead, we took a walk around the city walls and quickly throughout the town before heading home. We ended the day by watching movies with her roommates and having a much-needed gossip session 😉
The final day we went to the famous Uffizi Museum where we saw works by some of the most famous artists and paintings. These include Leonardo da Vinci and The Birth of Venus painting. On Sundays, all the museums are free, so we got there around 8am. At first the line looked long, but it moved so quickly we were inside in no time. Most London’s museums are free all the time and have some amazing things to see. I highly suggest them. The natural history museum is my favorite. After we went to a cathedral were mass was being held. We stopped in to see what it was like. The priests voice echoed around the room as he spoke in Italian. I could pick up a couple words, but not enough to understand. The cathedral itself was stunning though and held the tombs of Dante, Galileo, and Michelangelo! It was so odd and humbling to be in the same room as the bodies of such influential humans. Our final stop was a cute breakfast place where we got crepes and reminisced on the weekend. It was amazing. I’m still, and always will be, how much you can get done here in a couple weekends. It doesn’t cost much. The trains to Pisa and Lucca were 8 and 4 euros respectively and none of my meals were more than 10 euros. The tour with travel, our guide, wine, and snacks, was only 45 euros.
As the travel never stops, I’m going to Athens and Santorini this weekend with my sister!
Holly
