On my third day in Florence, I spent the morning walking around and exploring the city some more. I spent a few hours in Santa Croce, which is amazing, and then met my friend for lunch at a Panini stand. Very good. We took our Panini to go and began a long hike from Florence to Fiesole, a town in the province of Florence located on a hilltop above the city. From Fiesole, we got an incredible view of Florence in landscape, spread out below us like a city model. The Duomo was very clear, even from far away, which accentuated the structure’s mammoth size relative to the rest of the city. On our way up to Fiesole, we saw a talpa (I think these are also called nutrias), or water rat. I thought it was a beaver at first, but nope! It was a water rat. Cool!
here is the talpa swimming
As well as getting stellar city views, we saw a variety of fenced off Italian villas, complete with orange/yellow/red colored houses, Cyprus trees, and olive gardens. The general image was very stereotypically Italian, and, combined with the relatively warm weather, put me in a summer mood.
on the hike
grotto
Once we made it up to the top of Fiesole, we found a trail into a wooded area and took a hike, stopping at lookout points (although it was a little hazy so the views weren’t as good as they could have been) and a few grottos. After hiking, we ended in the Fiesole town square, which is tiny compared to that in Florence, and got gelato (of course) before taking a bus back to Florence city center. In total, I think we walked about ten miles. To finish off the day, we got Mexican food, which I haven’t had in ages!
My last day, day 4 in Florence, we got up semi-early to look at Bellezza Divina, a divine art exhibit, featuring artists from Van Gogh to Chagall. The art was interesting, going from the incredibly realistic and detailed, bright gold colored art of the 18th century to modern art. I definitely prefer older art to modern art, but having the styles in contrast was a new take on exhibits (at least for me) which made the focus of each style stand out more than if the paintings and sculptures had all come from the same era. After the museum, we walked around the city more (and spotted another talpa near the river) before I caught the bus back to the airport.
There is pretty cool graffiti in Florence