Warming up to the city of Artists - Firenze

The drive from Venice to Florence wasn't as long as we anticipated and was actually fun to drive in our lovely automatic BMW, felt like I was in a video game. Anyhow we made it through to our B&B Alla Dimora Altea located near central station outside the city centre. A nice place with super friendly host but even with the first walk towards the historic centre we realised it was just a little bit too far from all the fun places.

After the love in Venice, it took a while to get used to the crazy busy tiny streets of Florence with the influx of tourists, way more than we experienced in Venice.

Our first walk was all the way through the centre with a site of the beautiful famed green, white and pink marble Il Duomo, quite a site, then walking past the Piazza Republica and the Ponte Veccio bridge to Piazza Santo Spirito, the side of Florence that was my favourite.

Away from the tourists, yet with a church and some small cafes - one of which is the best pizza we had this far - Gusta Pizza. But we had to wait a day to try it since they close when we arrived. So we had a small panino and of course a gelato at a lovely gellateria one by Ponte Santa Trinita.

Walking through the small streets we pretty much walked around the city in about an hour stopping by the San Lorenzo markets and rubbing the boar to make sure we make it back here and then around to Piazza Della Signoria to see the outside of the Uffizi, the Palazzo Vecchio and the Neptune fountain. Then we randomly heard some beautiful music and discovered a travelling all female Irish choir in front of a small church called Chiesa Di Santo Stefano.

However we had to wait till 9pm to see them and so we decided to grab a drink. With some beers from a supermarket we sat by the steps back at our already favourite spot in the Piazza Santo Spirito and slowly took in the vibe of Firenze. Making our way back to see the choir which was so worth the wait. They were beautiful and sent chills down your spine with a pianist and all women and girls singing along.

By then we were too exhausted to go any further and had a quick bite and were back to the hotel to have a good nights sleep.