Our day started early, up about 5:30am, to finish packing and head out. Our bus never showed up, leaving us to catch the next one 20 minutes later. By the time we reached the airport, there was less than one hour to takeoff, for an international flight! Our baggage was surprisingly accepted and we had 20 minutes until boarding. We didn't muck around, and got to the gate as boarding commenced.
With 10 minutes to take off, and everyone in their seats, the captain announced our flight was delayed by air traffic control. We sat on the tarmac for an hour before we were airborne. So why did we rush? The flight was painless, 2 1/2 hours long, but our touchdown was hard.
We landed in Pisa. Immigration was so easy, a quick passport stamp and through. Not a word spoken. After collecting bags, we bypassed scanners and left. We chose not to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, as it was very hot and we had baggage in tow, and headed for our hotel in Firenze. Minutes later we had a train ticket. The ride took us first to Pisa Central where we swapped trains, and then had a hot ride without air conditioning to Firenze SMN.
We found our hotel easily on foot once we found our bearings. This was not helped by the fact I had lost our maps in our luggage. Once we checked into our room, we headed out. It was now 3pm local time and we were starving.
We found a pizzeria just a few doors away and thought "this will do". And it did. The pizzas were lovely, I finally got to try authentic Italian pizza! It wasn't perfectly round, it was all funny shaped as it was hand made. We then walked further, in a random direction, encountering the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella and Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.


We headed back to the hotel again. After reading the Lonely Planet, we followed their advice and headed down to the River Arno to watch the sun set around 8:30pm. It was worth it. The sky was clear, and the sun set almost dead centre down the river.


That took us through till twilight, after which time we walked back via some new streets, encountering a couple more piazzas and more sights.




1 comment:
Hello Mike and Helen
Beautiful pictures and video of your day in Florence! Italian cities are so nice!
Alex and Florence
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