Florence, Italy

Ciao! We spent four full days in the Florence area and were really looking forward to relaxing and getting a good appreciation for the city and its surrounding Tuscan countryside. We were not disappointed in the least. We spent two days walking through Florence and seeing some of the churches and squares that make it a truly wonderful city. Another major attraction for Florence is its art. We got a sense of the artistic side of Florence even though we are not avid art fans. Florence has many statues and sculptures that line its streets and squares and it was interesting to see so many different naked people. Number one of those is definitely Michaelangelo's David. There are two replicas of the man we saw throughout the city, but we also got a chance to see the real deal in the Gallerie della Accademia. We are glad that we took the time to see the actual sculpture because he does not compare to his replicas, or to any other statue that we saw. It's incredible to see the precision and perfection displayed on his very large and yet detailed features. The picture shown is a replica.







We also took a day trip to the nearby town of Siena. Siena is a great little Tuscan city with wonderful old streets and buildings. It has some nice, large squares where we were among hundreds of locals and tourists alike sitting and enjoying gelato. We enjoyed walking down streets that placed us in the 1700s.




The fourth day we were in the Florence area was probably our favourite. We decided to embark on a Tuscan bike tour that took us up and down many great hills that gave us great views of olive orchards (for olive oil), vineyards, and terrific Tuscan villas. Despite the somewhat surprising workout, we absolutely loved riding through the countryside. It was the perfect way to see Tuscany. We even received a tour of the Corsini winery and villa and were served a beautiful Chianti lunch complete with bruschetta, olive oil, pasta, wine and espresso. What more could you ask for? The lunch was the highlight of course, and will always serve as our perfect Italian meal.

These are some of the sights we endured on our bike tour:














Rome is our next stop after Florence. It's hard to believe we are entering our last month of travel, but we still have so much we are looking forward to seeing. Bye for now!