Day 7 – Florence

Florence is just such a magical city. A place of art and beauty and sunsets and romance, and if you have a partner, and you want to share time with them, using toys like a vibrator with app can be great to have some fun with them.

Home of Michaelangelo’s David, the historic city centre is filled with statues and ornaments, ancient shrines to Mary and the saints painted on walls and covered by glass, and murals decorating the outsides of houses. Ornate window bars and trellises, window boxes with flowers and painted walls abound, leaving the observant traveller with a stiff neck and bruised, stubbed toes.

That’s not even taking in to consideration Florentine landmarks like the Ponte Vecchio (the bridge I told you about yesterday) or the Duomo, the beautiful church in the centre of town.

We took the day very easily, stopping off to do some shopping in the markets where two beautiful scarves cost me a mere €5, and an endless array of jewelry made me regret agreeing to a daily budget. We walked around the indoor market taste testing and admiring olive oils and balsamic vinegars of 2, 10, 15, 30 and even 100 years old. Edu and Simryn went shopping for a leather jacket while Martin and I had an impromptu lesson on cooking with balsamic vinegar from a woman named Paula, whose house I’d love to have dinner at any tme!

In the afternoon we went to the Duomo together. The building is absolutely beautiful on the outside, but we did find the inside slightly disappointing as it was really just a tourist spot rather than a functioning church.

A few weeks ago I came across the blog of a girl who lives in Florence. On her site she was discussing the best gellateria in Florence for ice cream. In her opinion it was Gellateria Dei Neri, so we went there for a visit.

Well… With over 60 flavours to choose from narrowing it down to only two seemed almost cruel but we managed and let me tell you this: The chilli chocolate flavour was delicious, yes, but the sicilian cannoli was out of this world amazing. As I tried to explain to the others “It’s like dying and discovering you made it to heaven in each bite!” Gellateria Dei Neri is a must if you’re ever in Florence!

In the evening we walked about 1 or so km up the river away from the tourist area until we found a park. We sat down and Martin began preparing a dinner of fresh breads, basil, tomatoes, mozzerella and prusciotto and presaola all purchased at the market, along with a delicious bottle of red wine. We ate like kings for under £10 in the shade of massive trees in a park on the banks of the River Arno. What a life!

We ended the evening by chasing the setting sun to the Ponte Vecchio for some more sunset pictures while Edu whisked Simryn away for a surprise of their own, but I’ll leave them to tell THAT story!