The final city on our Italian tour was Florence, Italy (we also visited Rome and Cinque Terre). We were in for a treat because our first day there happened to be the first day of the Tour de France, which departed from Florence this year. So, we got to see what the city was like all abuzz for the special occasion. Florence is a much nicer, much more walkable city than Rome. We enjoyed the views both from street level and from above.
Tour de France
We didn’t plan to see the Tour de France kick-off, but we were happy we ended up in the right place at the right time! On June 29th, everywhere in Florence you could see evidence of the race. Flags lining the river, art in the main squares, and, of course, barricades along the course. I got up to run early that morning and was able to run the route that the bikers took later in the day.
At first, we were going to ignore the Tour de France and try to avoid the crowds, but you could feel the excitement all over the city. We got caught up in it. We found a spot along the parade route to watch the bikers. There really aren’t that many of them and they travel in a clump, so here, unedited, is the entire 20-second drive-by we got to see in Florence!
Florence’s Duomo Cathedral
The cathedral in Florence was perhaps my favorite part of the city. It is beautifully colorful on the outside and understated on the inside compared to the cathedrals in Rome or even Siena. The amazing dome was created by Brunelleschi and you can tour the inside and outside with timed tickets. There is also a baptistry, bell tower you can climb, a wonderful museum, and crypt to see. We bought the Brunelleschi Pass, which allows you to see everything over three full days at your own pace and you likely will want to spread the tours out over at least two days. It is important to point out that having that pass gives you a timed entry to climb the dome and allowed us to enter the cathedral through the Santa Reparata doors, bypassing the incredibly long line at the front. That made the pass worth it right there.
The cathedral area is incredibly crowded most of the time. The square between the cathedral and the baptistry is packed and the line to get into the cathedral sometimes wraps all the way around the building. It was not busy, however, at 7am when I was out for a run. Getting up early to see the outside of almost any monument in Italy is probably a good idea. It’s the only time when you don’t have to fight the crowds continually.
I absolutely loved the museum. The cathedral curators have replaced most of the original statues and the famous bronze doors to the baptistry. You can see all of the originals, done by famous artists like Michelangelo and Donatello, in the museum. I also loved the Santa Reparata (the crypt), with its original mosaic floors and elaborate gravestones. The dome tour was worth doing, but it is very difficult if you are claustrophobic or afraid of heights. We got stuck on the balcony just below the dome and all I could think about was how old the building is and whether this tiny balcony could really hold us all up. The view of Florence from the top is unbeatable. If you can’t get dome tickets, the view from the top of the Bell Tower is also amazing.
Art in Florence: Uffizi vs. Galleria dell’Accademia
If you only have time to see one museum in Florence, consider skipping the more famous Uffizi and going to the Galleria dell’Accademia. Why? It’s smaller, more manageable, and Michelangelo’s David is so, so very impressive. We really enjoyed our time in this museum and were in and out of it in less than an hour, but still got to see everything. Whichever museum you end up seeing, you do need to buy timed tickets at least two months in advance as the tickets sell out.
The Uffizi, on the other hand, we didn’t like. It is huge and crowded and if you don’t know much about Italian art, it’s pretty meh. The security guards are inconsistent (they took our reusable water bottles, although they were within spec according to both the website and signs posted), and that probably set the tone for a bad visit. However, there was one painting I was excited to see (below). There were other paintings from all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles too, but nothing super recognizable to the layperson.
Getting Around & Food in Florence
Getting around in Florence is incredibly easy. You can get to almost everywhere you’d like to be on foot.
As far as food goes, we found the Italian restaurants in Rome to be better than Florence. We’d been traveling so long in the country that we actually did something unthinkable. We started looking for non-Italian food, which was not always easy to find. We went to Ristorante Taj Palace for Indian twice in Florence. The inside is beautiful, but they also do takeout. If you wait for your order, they’ll bring you a free glass of mango juice. We were really craving a beer at this point too (can you have too much wine? I say no, my husband says yes) so we ended up at Alibi Craft Beer & Kitchen. Here, you can get nachos, tacos, other Americanized goodies and of course lots of beer. It really hit the spot after being away from home for a month.
Speaking of eating in Italy. There is an app called The Fork, that acts as Italy’s version of Open Table. We found it incredibly helpful when making reservations. Just be careful, its reviews can be wildly inaccurate. You’re better off searching for restaurants based on their Google Reviews, then using The Fork to make a reservation.
Next week we’ll talk about our last tour that we did in Tuscany to the hill towns outside of Florence. It was beautiful, it was delicious, and it was worth the long drive on a tour bus.