I visited Rome back in 2015 and it was the first place o had been on holiday that I felt truly relaxed. The first place I visited where I sat in a park for about an hour and observed the people around me, sat and watched people walk past me as I didn’t Al fresco multiple times. I think it had something to do with the relaxed Italian culture, so ever since then, I made it a point to visit Italy once a year. Which I have achieved most years apart from 2017 for various reasons, so with that mantra in mind Hannah and I decided to go to Florence, primarily to see the breathtaking renaissance artwork and architecture. So we sorted out travel and accommodation with last-minute and packed our bags for a warmer climate.

Our arrival to Pisa airport was thankfully uneventful. We found a bus that took us right from the airport to Florence in 70 minutes which somehow was quicker than the train so we hopped on and enjoyed the views of the Tuscan countryside until we got to the hustle and bustle of Florence. The buildings were much more colourful than I expected with bright oranges, yellows and browns. The streets were filled with more and more tourists the closer we got to the centre with cobbled alleyways full of clothes shops and restaurants decorated with cured meats and cheeses hanging from their doors. We passed many gelaterias and museums dragging our suitcase until we reached where we were staying, the Michelangelo loft. The placed looked like a very modern Mediterranean apartment in a cave with high ceilings, clay almost everywhere and the odd smell of candles which emanated from the tap water. We entire our suitcases, at some pizza from the yellow bar, and rested for a full week of fun things ahead we hadn’t yet planned.

There’s not much significance attached to the first Sunday of the month back in London but in Florence, it’s pretty special, it’s the day when all the museums are free. Yes, in London most of the museums are free all the time (hopefully that hasn’t changed by the time you’re reading this). Popular places like the Uffizi and the Accademia museum were all free and we took advantage of it. The queues were long but definitely worth it. The Uffizi, in particular, has the widest array of renaissance sculptures and artwork I have ever seen in my life. Every room of the ‘U’ shaped museum had detailed paintings or sculptures and even the corridors between rooms had ceilings and walls full of artwork. We spent the bulk of our time that day in the Uffizi starring, listening, admiring. The famous David sculpture that took around 3 years of Michelangelo’s life to create was situated in the Academia which was breathtaking to see upfront, there are a few replicas around Florence but the original is definitely much better than the others. There are a few other things to see in the Accademia but not much, in fact, I’m happy we didn’t pay for it because all we really wanted to see there was the David sculpture, then again 8€ for a museum isn’t that expensive.

Fun fact about Florence, in 1966 the river Arno which goes through it had a terrible flood which killed over 100 people and damaged many masterpieces. The place we stayed had a marking above the door that showed how high the water reached and we didn’t know that making existed until on many occasions where we returned home we saw a group of tourists staring at our door. It felt awkward to walk in a few times walking in with people starring but we got used to it after we found out why they were doing it.

Speaking of the river Arno, the river itself was nothing special, maybe only slightly nicer than the Thames but the bridges and the buildings surrounding them combined to create a scene I had only seen in pictures. There was one pedestrian bridge that had buildings on either side of it, each one a different warm tone selling expensive jewellery and ornaments. The street was cobbled and there was always a crowd around a street performer or a group just admiring the view.

One thing that shocked us in Florence, well one of two things was the lack of green spaces, parks and such. Being surrounded by luscious Tuscan fields it was odd to not see more patches of green, and when we did see them, we often had to pay to get into them. The botanical and Boboli gardens were the main bits of green we saw and we were more impressed with the latter. The [] gardens are another testament to the amount of wealth that part of the world had. They were large and full of different, well-decorated sections. The entrance had a beautiful fountain with a large set of stairs behind it, each 20 or so steps were separated with a flat section. There were difference sculptures in the middle of the steps and lots of foliage on the outside. The higher you walked the greener it got. More sculptures are found at the top as well as a lemon orchard with lemons of all shapes and sizes. Finally, we came across a gated circular lake with lemons, flowers and oranges in the centre, as well as a large sculpture with a real heron above it, such an impressive sight.

I can’t talk about a trip to Florence without talking about the food. Definitely some of the nicest ice cream I’ve had (well, I guess that’s the case for any place on Italy), my favourite flavour being the niccola. The spaghetti carbonara I had there is something I remember fondly. As someone who classes carbonara as their 'speciality dish’, the taste I got from the one in Florence was completely different than the one I make. There was so much more flavour, colour, and the spaghetti itself was thicker, adding a different feel to the meal overall. The pizzas were really good and to be honest, not massively different than something I’d get from a good pizza place in London, maybe I haven’t eaten enough pizzas to discern the taste different correctly. Sandwiches aren’t the sort of thing that jumps to mind when someone thinks of Italian food, but people go crazy for it in Florence, we’ll they went crazy for the sandwich from a particular store. All'Antico Viano was a place that had the longest queues I’ve ever seen for sandwich whenever we walked past it. The place was so popular it has three stores on the same street and they were all as busy whenever we were there. We can people with mouthfuls on the pavements earthing them. Mothers, children, students, we had to try one to see what all the fuss was about. I got the inferno and Hannah, the summer sandwich and I’ve got to say, I wasn’t disappointed. The sandwiches were huge, and filled with slices of cured ham, olive oil, mozzarella and tomatoes, held together with soft white bread.

In conclusion, we had a great time in Florence. We weren’t sure if Hannah would be able to fly let alone enjoy the trip because of her operation a week before, but we thank God she recovered quickly, and also got lots of rest.