Italy - Day One - Flying to Florence

Well here we are in Florence, or Firenze as the locals call it.

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 were getting hot and thirsty again, the sun was beating down and we're just not used to it. We walked back towards the hotel via some back streets, where I purchased a leather belt at the markets after some haggling. We also found a really helpful vendor selling leather laptop bags. I was tempted but didn't buy as they weren't cheap. We'll see how the trip eventuates.

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.



And look for the moon in this photo.

We stopped at a restaurant which sold Duff beer and went in. Once I saw the prices (€8 for a Pepsi !!!!) we left without ordering anything. Instead we found some gelato and drinks near our hotel, more fitting to our budget, and sat outside to watch the twilight. Then off to bed, it's been a big day.