Tuscany - day 4

On Monday we drove to Florence. We were in dilemma whether we should visit it or not, but then decided to do it. Mondays most of museums and galleries are closed, so we hoped there would be less tourists in town than usual. And we didn't have any plans to visit museums and galleries, we didn't have very much time and we would need to buy tickets for that well in advance anyway. We were a bit nervous about traffic and parking, but it all went better than expected.

We decided to park in the parking on the North side of old town centre (and no-traffic zone). We drove by the Piazzale Michelangelo, a famous spot where people gather in the evenings to watch the sun set over Florence. We stopped for few moments and even without a sunset the view was great.

There was a 15 minutes walk from our parking to the centre of Florence. The buildings here were much bigger, taller and grander, and mostly also more modern than what we saw in Certaldo or Volterra.

This is the most famous church in town, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. It is all covered in multi coloured marble.

There was a huge line of people waiting at the entrance.

The buildings around the church are also very pretty.

This is the back of the church, with less people.

I found it interesting that the bell tower wasn't attached to the church building.

There were also some more medieval buildings around, like this granary.

We also saw some very nice facades.

This is another must see building in Florence, the Palazzo Vecchio or the old palace.

In front of it to the right there is an open building with many famous statues, most of them depicting beheadings or rapes. Life must have been pretty cruel back then.

In front of the palace there is a copy of Michelangelo's David, right on the place where the original used to be. Even the copy is pretty impressive.

But I also liked this Fountain of Neptune by Ammannati.

The Pallazo Vecchio has a very high tower and we were tempted a bit to climb it, but then decided to just explore the streets.

Next beautiful thing we found was the famous bridge Ponte Vecchio. 

This was probably the most crowded part of the town. And I managed to resist the temptation of all the jewelleries that were on both sides on the bridge.

We walked to the next bridge to the West, the Ponte Santa Trinita, from where there was again a great view of Ponte Vecchio.

We were getting a bit tired and hungry and decided we have enough energy left to walk to the central market and get something to eat there. On the way there we saw some more pretty buildings...

...and we found another church with facade made of multi coloured marble.

The stalls on the ground floor in the central market were already almost empty, but the food court on the first floor was full of stalls and people. We walked around a bit and found several places where the food looked and smelled delicious, but then we came across this one with great selection of Fiorentina steaks. We asked if they are still open, as it was already passed 4 in the afternoon, and they said of course. And we decided - it's now or never! 

 

We ordered the smallest steak we could and it was still 1.2 kg.  When we saw it on the platter we though we will have to ask for a doggy bag to pack all the rests, but once we started eating it it was so delicious, we managed to eat it all! It was also helpful that we didn't ordered any potatoes with it, just some grilled veggies.

After so much meat and a bottle of wine we were done for the day. We slowly walked back to our car, by on this pretty Porta San Gallo and drove back.

But while driving by on Piazzale Michelangelo, we had to make a stop again. Here there is another replica of David, this time in bronze.

It was much more crowded than in the morning, but it was worth the stop - the views over Florence in evening light were quite spectacular.

Then we drove back to our hotel and went to bed early.
 

Tuscany - day 3

On day three, on Sunday, again after big and yummy breakfast with great view, we headed West. We planned to visit only two towns, that were again not on the tourists must-see top lists. First we drove to Certaldo, the home town of the great medieval writer Boccaccio. This is his statue in the newer part of the town, Certaldo Basso, that is in the valley.

The old part of the town, Certaldo Alto, is on the hill and we took the funicular to get there.

This is the view over the funicular tracks to the lower part of the town.

This is the house where Boccaccio lived, now it is a museum. We didn't go in, but we visited the church a bit further down on the same street, where his tomb is.

At the end of the main street there is a big palace with crests of Italian noblemen.

Also other houses were very pretty.

This is the view down the main street towards Boccaccio's house.

The town is walled and there are several gates in the wall.

The views from the wall are stunning...

...we could even see as far as to San Gimignano.

One thing that I found very interesting was that you could see how much all the buildings have been rebuilt and renovated over the centuries, and it is still visible where the doors and windows were in the past.

Around the houses there were lots of flower pots, mostly planted with plants that can endure some hot and dry weather in the summer.

The title of this photo could be: life is hard!

And even in upright position this cat was complaining a lot. But it was so cute.

Two more photos from this lovely town - the old fountain...

...and probably another old fountain, adorned with plants planted in caffettieras.

I really enjoyed Certaldo, it is such a pretty town, also because I love Boccaccio and his works.

Next we drove further towards West and on the way we stopped to make some photos - one looking back to Certaldo Basso in the valley with Certaldo Alto above it on the small hill...

...and one with a closer view of San Gimignano with it's many towers.

But our next destination was further West still - the town of Volterra. There we again found a free parking right under the town walls.

On our way up the stairs to the town we met this cute cat. Almost all Italian cats that we met were very talkative.

Volterra is quite big and it must have been very rich in the past, judging by its many big palaces, churches,...

...and ornate doors and windows.

Looking over the roofs towards West one could almost see the sea.

On the main square there was a rally of older sports cats.

But it almost didn't belong there, in all this history...

...and great architecture.

We couldn't figure out, why there were so many rings mounted on the walls. Some were very pretty, our first guess was they were used for tying horses, but many were mounted too high for that. We even asked around, but got no answer.

At few minutes before three we got a bit cold, tired and hungry, but we knew, it would be difficult to find some cooked food at this hour. Then I noticed a sign on one macelleria that they serve ribollita, a Tuscan bean and kale soup, that I definitely wanted to try. So we stepped in and asked it it was possible to get two plates of ribollita and two glasses of wine, even if it was almost 3. They rolled their eyes a bit, but then said yes. This is where we sat, in a cozy almost cellar like room without the window. When we got the ribollita, we attacked it so quickly that I forgot to make a photo. But it was very delicious and we were really happy we got it.

After a good meal that warmed us up, we continued to explore the town. I saw that there was a Medici fortress a few steps away and we walked there. I was surprised that there was fence all around it, but just thought that they want to make sure people pay entrance fee.  

But then we saw signs that this was a state prison. Well, that's what you do if you need a place for a prison and there are only palaces and fortresses available...

This is the entrance to the town from the East with the Medici fortress or state prison behind it.

Here is another example of how the architecture was changing over the time, new windows and doors emerged and old ones were closed.

Just outside of the town walls we found these pretty flowers,...

...the Broad-leaved anemones (vrtne vetrnice or Anemone hortensis).

On our ride back to our hotel we drove through the town of Colle di Val d'Elsa. We saw that it has an old town center and spontaneously made a stop. The town stretches along the hill...

...and we walked throug the narrow stone streets along pretty old buildings.

There were also several old fountains, this one was from the year of 1372.

The fort at the entrance is called Porta nuova and is from the 14th century. So that's what they call new!

This town was such a nice surprise, it is absolutely pretty and not mentioned in any tourist guide or travel blog. All in all, all three towns were fantastic and a joy to explore.

After a very long and eventful day we drove back to our hotel. We dined in hotel restaurant again, but only some pasta and a glass of their own delicious Chianti. And it was again delicious. And then we made it an early night again.