{"id":4212,"date":"2015-10-12T08:01:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T08:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=4212"},"modified":"2019-05-17T07:50:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T21:50:24","slug":"florence-italy-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=4212","title":{"rendered":"Florence, Italy. 2015 \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Travelled: 324 kilometres from Ancona to Florence, Italy.<\/strong>
Visited: Duomo and the Old City, Cathedral of St.Maria del Florence (free), Gallery of Uffizi (\u20ac8 pp) and The Dome of the Cathedral (\u20ac10 pp).<\/strong>
Stayed: Parking Gelsomino, Florence, all the usual services, \u20ac15 per 24 hours. (two nights) N43.75176, E11.24379<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our sosta in Florence has all the camper-car services and proves to be about 2 kilometres from the gate to the Old City, about a 20 minute walk as we just missed a #37 bus and decide to walk (Pam likes a walk).  We woke to a light drizzle this morning and this continues for the day.  It’s a bit of a shock as we have been on the beach and swimming every day for the past month and today it’s long sleeves and a jacket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The gardens of Florence are such a contrast to those in other Italian cities we have visited.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"One<\/a>
One of the gates to the old city. A drizzle day but it’s a chance to wear the gortex. Can you spot Pam ?<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As we walk toward the Old City we are surprised by the beautiful villas lining the boulevard. In many ways it is reminiscent of the streets surrounding Centennial Park, lovely lawns, majestic shade trees. It’s a far cry from Rome, Pisa or Milano. We have decided on two days in Florence to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary, our first day is just wandering about the Piazza Duomo and the other old squares and gates that make up the Old Walled City. We have a very late lunch in a little restuarant on the Piazza St.Maria Novella. We sit next to a younger couple from Wales and exchange our travel stories, he is an avid rugby follower and hopeful of a victory against Australia later that day, but he will be disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Pam<\/a>
Pam cannot pass a church without lighting a candle for Nicholas and Indiana.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a>
The Cathedral of Saint Maria of Florence or the Duomo.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Florence<\/a>
Florence is Italian for long queue. This is the side entrance to the Cathedral or Duomo.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It’s been a long day, the drizzle has continued without respite and we happily find our bus and travel home on a ticket given to us by an Irish motorhome neighbour earlier in the day.  We enjoy a beer and wine in the Hymer and plan our visit tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We wake to sunshine and a plan to visit the Uffizi Gallery and climb the 436 stairs to the Dome of the Cathedral.  On the bus we pass the old city gate and cross the River Arno arriving at the rail\/bus terminal ten minutes later.   There are 5 old stone bridges crossing the river and two more modern bridges away from the old city.  Walking again through Piazza Duomo we purchase tickets to climb the Dome later in the day, then continue on the Uffizi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Ponte<\/a>
Ponte Vecchio on the River Arno in Florence.  This is the famous bridge which the gold and jewellery shops built along it.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a>
The courtyard of the Uffizi.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Golden<\/a>
Golden church panels on display at the Uffizi.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"image\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We arrive at the Uffizi Gallery 15 minutes before opening and the queue is already long, we persevere and make it in an hour later.  According to the Lonely Planet, ‘arguably the best gallery museum in Italy’.  Whilst we have seen the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, there are several of Michelangelo works on display here as well as some of Leonardo de Vincci early works…if you have the chance do the Uffizi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The frescos on the dome of the Duomo.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"View<\/a>
View from the top of the dome<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Walking back to the Piazza Duomo we join our second queue for the day, this time to climb the stairs to the top of the Cathedrals dome.  Finally we start the climb, it was a slow process with plenty of forced rest stops. but the view from the top made it all worth while.  It’s 3 pm and time to find our bus and say goodbye to Florence for this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael and Pam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Travelled: 324 kilometres from Ancona to Florence, Italy.Visited: Duomo and the Old City, Cathedral of St.Maria del Florence (free), Gallery of Uffizi (\u20ac8 pp) and The Dome of the Cathedral (\u20ac10 pp).Stayed: Parking Gelsomino, Florence, all the usual services, \u20ac15 per 24 hours. (two nights) N43.75176, E11.24379 Our sosta in Florence has all the camper-car […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[65],"class_list":{"0":"post-4212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-cities","9":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4212"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17802,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions\/17802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}