vecchio

Day 12 – Florence

Posted on July 11, 2014

Galileo, don’t talk to me about science. Please make me television.

Today was mostly spent at the Basilica of Santa Croce. We had walked past it a few times, but hadn’t gone inside yet. So we did.

It’s larger than I thought and had a lot to see. There was a nice Dante statue out front.

Dante Alighieri.

Inside, there were a number of tombs and shrines of such men as Galileo, Dante and Michelangelo.

: Galileo’s Tomb.

: Michelangelo’s Tomb.

: Dante’s Monument.

There were lots of other areas and artworks to see as well which were quite interesting.

: Good old ceiling art.

: Not sure what this is… some sort of tomb?

: The main shrine thing.

: Outside the church, in a nice courtyard.

: One of many modern depictions of Dante’s Inferno.

: Another nice courtyard area.

: An interesting painting.

: A very detailed sculpture.

: A big fountain at the Palazzo Vecchio.

That last photo is at the Palazzo Vecchio, which is a big square with some sculptures and things around the area. It was quite crowded, so perfect for another instalment of “Where’s Adam?”.

Where’s Adam?

We then had lunch (lasange!) and walked around a bit more. We were going to go to the Uffizi Gallery, but it started to rain, so we headed back to the apartment. It only rained lightly though and stopped shortly after, but we’ll go to the gallery tomorrow.

Day 8 – Florence

Posted on July 7, 2014

And We rested on the seventh day.

Today was to be a day of rest and little adventure as a lot of things are closed on Sunday and we had a late start. We decided we would go to Ponte Vecchio (the “famous” bridge), walk around a bit and then go back to the apartment. Luckily, we were waylaid, but more on that later.

Firstly the bridge. It didn’t seem all too spectacular as we approached. It was fairly crowded with a lot of shops around. I found it had a much nicer view looking out than looking in.

The view from Ponte Vecchio.

Afterwards, we walked around a bit more, expecting to soon head back. But then the buildings parted and lo there was the Palazza Pitti (Pitti Palace). We thought we might as well see if we can go in and look around, though it seemed to require payment to enter.

I’m not sure if it was due to it being Sunday, or some other reason, but there were no staff at the entrance, so we just walked in. There are a few museums inside, but we didn’t go into them. We did go through to the Boboli Gardens though. It was quite large and had some great areas to sit and look over Florence.