D and I got a bit fed up over the holidays so booked a last minute trip to Florence! I had to twist his arm as we're trying to save money for next years holiday, but we managed to do it on a budget.
I've been to Florence before, but D hasn't. We both thought it would be a good place to go as the weather is always tip top, and the train service is so good in Italy that we knew we could travel to nearby cities if we wanted.
We started our trip flying out of an afternoon, landed just a couple of hours later, a short coach trip from Pisa and we were in the beautiful city of Florence! Tip - fly to Pisa which is much much cheaper, then get one of the shuttle buses to Florence city centre which only costs you 10 euros per person!
The first day we just pottered around the city - it's such an easy place to walk on foot and you get to see so much more - I'd recommend just wandering aimlessly and only looking at a map when you are well and truly in the middle of no-where. It's much more fun that way!
We loved walking up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to get a full view of the city from height. On our way back down we stopped at a great place called Gecko for a bite to eat. Whilst not typically Italian cuisine, it did great burgers, healthy salads and open sandwiches. Make sure you pop to the toilet to see the resident Bulldog which sits lazily by the loo's - it's pretty cute!
Next day we decided to venture further out and get on a train to Siena. Siena realy is a beautiful city - it sits right on top of a steep hill, and is just a maze of tiny cobbled streets. We stopped off at a local deli to try some of the areas meats and cheeses.... food coma alert. It was delicious! We struggled with our Italian at this point... and made a fool of ourselves trying desperately to order, but the embarrassment was worth it. I would just recommend brushing up on some simple phrases before you go to help you out, and save being a babbling moron like me!
Finally, our highlight in terms of wow factor was a rooftop bar we found on our last night. D and I love a rooftop bar, and every holoday/break we go on we seem to have one night that just tops it all. This was the night! We did a bit of googling and stumbled into Hotel Minerva, shot up a flew floors in the lift and were greeted by the best view in the city. We splurged a little on this night, spending more than a tenner for a cocktail (a lot considering we were meant to be saving) but it was totally worth it. We spent a good hour up there, talking, laughing and laying on the sunbeams pretending we were fancy. Overall a great place to see the city and soak up a bit of atmosphere. I'd definitely recommend this place if you want both a day or nighttime view of the city with a little pzaz!
I know we didn't do a lot of cultural bits that I'm sure most people would, but I'm sorry, D and I are just your typical pottering tourists.
Where have you been that's worth a visit?
