Florence & Cortona, Italy

We caught a quick train from Rome and arrived in Florence a few hours later! After a quick taxi ride, we arrived at one of my favorite hotels ever - Hotel Davanzati. Between the free breakfasts and happy hours each evening and the amazing customer service, we were very happy with our 3 nights here. 

Florence is such a walk-able town that we basically hit all the big sights our first afternoon. We had our daily gelato at Perche No! and continued exploring. We walked all around Piazza della Republica, the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, and up and down the Arno! That evening, we picked up a delicious sandwich at Osteria All'antino Vinaio and ate on the steps in Piazza della Signoria!

The next morning, we decided to go to the Bargello Museum to avoid the crowds of the Accademia and Uffizi. It was a great choice! We saw tons of beautiful works of art with hardly a soul in sight.

We grabbed lunch at Mercato Centrale and then explored the nearby Mercato di San Lorenzo for leather goods. We didn't end up finding anything besides a few small trinkets, but it was still nice to smell that beautiful leather!

That evening we went to my favorite meal of the trip at 4 Leoni. Everything we had was fabulous - from the fried zucchini blossoms, to the pear pasta (my FAVORITE!), the spaghetti vogole, to the cheesecake. On the walk back to the hotel, we crossed the Arno and listened to a street performance for a while. A perfect night!

The next morning, we jumped on a train to Cortona. This town was literally only one stop past the town where I studied abroad at, but I never went! I'm glad we finally made it here. We took a quick bus from the train station up to the town. The views were incredible, so we took them in for a while. 

We popped into a few shops and made our way to the center of town. The town square was so adorable! Right off the main square was a little place called La Grotta which ended up being a fabulous choice. We started with bruschetta and for the main dish, my mom had some prosciutto and I had the truffle pasta.

We finished exploring the town (it's tiny, so only takes a few hours) and caught the bus back down to the train station.

Since we had a hearty lunch, we decided that picking up some picnic items and heading up to Piazzale Michelangelo was perfect. We called a cab and took the easy way up - ha! We took in the music and the sunset for an hour or so. 

We honestly couldn't have asked for a more beautiful sunset! As it started to get dark, we made our way leisurely back downhill into town.

Our final morning in Florence, we went to the Duomo before checking out and getting a car to take us to the train station.

Florence was such a breath of fresh air. It always feels like slipping back into a familiar place when I go back and it was wonderful to show my mom around!

Up Next: Our final stop in our Italy trip - Venice!

A Few Hours in Florence {Italy, Part 3}

So you remember our night at Officina Della Bistecca? Well, needless to say, it affected our morning. We had grand plans to wake up at 6:30 to return our car to Florence and explore for a few hours. This didn't happen.

What did happen was that we slept in until we had to check out (11am) and then made the hour's drive north to the Florence airport to return our car. After a quick taxi to the train station, a stop to drop off our bags and a quick walk, we arrived in Florence proper! After a stroll through Piazza della Repubblica and a bit of gelato, we felt (sort of) brand new.

We climbed up both the Campanile (bell tower) and the Duomo. May have been a mistake on our part, especially considering our state, but it worked out all right. The views from both 400+ steps up were really worth it. The bell tower's view of the Duomo was amazing, but the view of the Duomo's internal paintings couldn't be beat. Afterwards, we had just enough time to haggle in the leather markets for a new bag, cross the Ponte Vecchio and see the (fake) David in Piazza della Signoria before we had to jump on a train to Naples.

Not nearly enough time in one of my favorite cities, but enough to convince Jason that he would like to return!

Next up: Well...let's just skip the rest of this horrible day. Gist is: 4 hours on a train, 1 hour on the Circumvesuviana, and 1.5 of the WORST hours of my life on a bus (crying and a doggie bag were both included) from Sorrento to Praiano - Amalfi Coast. We'll pick up at the fun part next!