Florence, Italy - October 2008

2 Nights in Florence – Home of the Renaissance and David

After our 3 nights in Sorrento, we headed north for Florence. The second snag in our train travel experience came when we arrived in Naples from Sorrento. We got off at the wrong station this time, but were quickly guided to the correct station as soon as we asked for help at the information counter. We weren't that far off. The train from Naples to Florence was a Eurostar, the best of the passenger trains in Europe. It is smooth, fast, and quiet. However, don't order cappuccino in the cafe car. It's cold and weak!

All of our hotel selections (besides Venice) were from Rick Steves' book. He chose places that weren't too expensive and were a reasonable distance from the train station. Our hotel in Florence, had a spectacular view. It was also the hotel that brought our breakfast to our room every morning. About 8am, the host would bring a tray to our room with pastries, hard boiled eggs, juice, and coffee. It was a treat to have spice muffins both mornings.

When choosing restaurants, we also referred to Rick Steves' book. A lot of times we were at restaurants filled with mostly Rick Steves' readers. It made for great conversation starters when we had our book laying on the table. One restaurant gave us free limoncello for having the book.

One of our favorite restaurants on our trip was in Florence. We chose a place that was off the tourist path. We asked for a table for two by holding up 2 fingers and saying due (doo-eh) and were sat at one end of a long table with a couple and their daughter at the other. We ordered a mezzo liter of wine and some water, no gas. Italians drink mineral water, so the easy way to order non-carbonated water is to ask for it with no gas. You can also say natural or still, which we learned later.

The menu was in Italian, but our server ended up speaking English, as well as French we heard when he was at the table next to us. It seemed the thing to do was to have the full course meal at this place, so that's what we did. We ordered pasta, an entree, and dessert. We ordered one course at a time, the server came back in between courses and asked what we wanted next. The portions weren't that big here, so it worked out great. The food, we thought, was fabulous. We liked it so much that we ripped out the page in our Rick Steves' book and gave it to another couple we visited with in Vernazza.

We did see Michelangelo's David statue while in Florence, but they don't let you take pictures of him.

LODGING

Soggiorno Battistero (TA Review)

The view from the room was of the Baptistery and Duomo.

Breakfast was served to our room on a tray in the morning. Compared to our last 2 hotels in Italy, we thought the breakfast was great. We had coffee (hot and enough for at least 2 cups each!), juice, spice muffins, croissants, boiled eggs and packaged toast. Breakfast was usually pretty skimpy in Italy, but we made up for it with lunch and dinner and plenty of gelato!

  

ATTRACTIONS

Climb the Duomo and Visit Nuovo Market

The first thing we did after arriving in Florence and having lunch was climb the Duomo's dome to see the views of Florence.  The artwork in the dome of the cathedral was completed by Brunelleschi.  There are about 450 steps to the top of the dome.

After climbing the dome, we walked through the Nuovo Market.  It's several blocks of vendors selling souvenirs such as scarfs, leather products, etc.  We bought several scarfs for friends and family back home.

The Accademia (David) and Uffizi Gallery

These are the 2 most popular places to visit in Florence, and we visted both in one day.  We didn't originally plan to do both in one day, but the company we made online reservations with recommended changing one of our reservations as there was a possibility of a strike one of the days.  We were only in Florence for 2 days, so we had to go to both in one day.

We had a reservation for the Accademia to see David for about 9am.  We were allowed to go in early as we arrived about 45 minutes before our time.  We got the audio guide and it was helpful for a few things in the museum.

Our reservation for the Uffizi Gallery was about 4pm.  There are lots of rooms with art in this gallery.  We pretty much rushed through this museum as we were getting a little burned out at this point.  It is a beautiful museum, however, and worth a visit.

RESTAURANTS

Trattoria la Burrasca – Lots of Rick Steves Readers

 I was attracted to this restaurant by Rick Steves' mention of cheap wine.  We love our wine and had some with most of our meals.  The restaurant is very small (10 tables) and when we walked in, everyone turned to look at us.  We soon realized everyone in there was American and had their Rick Steves' book with them.  It was a little interesting hearing about everyone's travels, but I would have preferred a little less tourists.  The longer we sat there, the more the atmosphere changed as locals waited until later to come in for dinner.

The service was ok at this restaurant and I would have maybe liked it more if I'd ordered the right thing.  We both ordered red meat, but mine was like a prime rib.  I don't like prime rib, so I didn't eat much of it.  I tried to eat what I could, because Italians tend to get a little insulted when you don't eat ALL of your food.  Mike's was more like a filet which was much better.  I tried to stay away from red meat after this experience.

I would go back to this restaurant, but go later in the evening when more locals are there and I would definitely order something different.  We spent 54 Euros on our meal here and that included us both having a primi, secondi, espresso, and a liter of wine.

Picnic on the Ultimate Renaissance Square – Grocery Store Lunch and People Watching

After visiting the Accademia (David), we walked across the street to the Il Centro Supermarcati to grab some food for a picnic.  We ended up standing by the deli for a while trying to figure out what and how to order since we didn't know much Italian.

We ended up buying sandwiches already made, some olives from the deli, some fruit, and 2 cokes.  We spent 12 Euros on our meal and took it to Piazza S.S. Annunziata to eat and people watch.  It seems to be a popular place to picnic as there were plenty of others sitting around eating food.

Self-Service Ristorante Leonardo – Fast, Cheap, Good Lunch

After arriving in Florence and checking into our B&B, we wanted to grab a quick bite for lunch and be on our way to do some sight seeing.  We had one less day in Florence than we had in all our other stops.

This self-service cafeteria has salads, hot entrees, pasta, desserts, etc.  You get a tray and pick out what you want, pay, and enjoy.  The cafeteria has a fairly large seating area.  I had a pasta dish and a salad, Mike had lasagne and a side of roasted red pepper.  We thought the food was very good for being a cafeteria.  We rarely had food we didn't like though during our trip.

Our bill was 13 Euros and that included a bottle of water.  They do have tap water available as well that I didn't find out until after we sat down.

Trattoria Sabatino – Good Food with Authentic Experience

We chose this restaurant out of our Rick Steves' book, because it was a little off the beaten path of tourists.  We were looking for a little more of an authentic Italian experience.  To get to this restaurant, we followed the street along the river on the south side of the Ponte Vecchio bridge.  After going under the large arch, it's on the right.

We went in and were sat at a table with a couple and their daughter.  Our server did speak English, but the menu is in Italian only.  I heard the little girl at the end of the table repeat over and over that she wanted Spaghetti al sugo, so that's what I ordered.  It's just spaghetti with meat sauce, but it was sooo good.

We decided to experience the full, Italian meal and have pasta, an entree, and dessert.  The server came back in between courses to take our order.  The food was delicious and the portions were enough that we were able to eat all the food and still have dessert.  We also had a mezzo liter of wine and spent 32 Euros for the whole meal.  It was probably our favorite restaurant from our trip.

Continue reading our trip:

3 Nights in Rome

3 Nights in Sorrento

3 Nights in Cinque Terre

3 Nights in Venice