Florence, Italy

We arrived in Florence in the evening, after a long travel day.  It took us about fifteen extra minutes to find our airBNB host's apartment, as Florence has a system consisting of three different numbering systems for addresses.  They are color-coded, and of course the number we were looking for was in the palest color of all three (and as our host said, "nowhere else in Italy do they have this, only in Florence"). We had a rather lengthy introduction to the apartment with the host, where Kev had to prove he could unlock the apartment door about three times and turn on the gas stove, and as for me, the important information was where the iron and hairdryer were - and whether or not I approved of the bathroom.  Finally around nine pm, after a swift goodbye, our host whisked out the door and we went out for a nice dinner.

Our first full day consisted of exploring the main focal points of the city.  Included in this was the great Duomo (cathedral) which was absolutely breathtaking, the central market, the piazza del Signoria, and the piazza Michelangelo which had magnificent views over the city.  That night we went for dinner at a buffet where you pay 9 euros for a big drink and all you can eat.  However, the food was pretty mediocre, so the all you can eat aspect was lost on us.  We also had to check out a gelateria, which Italy is so famous for.

The next day, we checked into a hostel in the morning, and went for lunch before going on a budget wine tour in the Chianti region.  The guides drove us and fourteen other attendees in two vans, first into the Tuscan countryside to a vineyard up in the beautiful hills.  After getting to try the grapes right off the vines, we arrived at a charming house where a very passionate host gave us a tour and then a wine tasting.  The tasting consisted of three different wines (two reds and one dessert wine), olive oil, a very small tasting of truffles (worth €5000 per pound), bruschetta, 8 year old balsamic vinegar, and finally 3 drops of 30 year old balsamic vinegar on vanilla ice cream (delicious - don't knock it until you try it).  

After the tasting, we got driven to Siena, which is a beautiful small city sort of similar to Florence.  We got some free time there, where Kev and I went for a drink with four other people from our van.  The next leg of the journey was where the 'budget' part of the type was extremely apparent... We basically got dropped off in some fortress in the middle of nowhere, for ten minutes of exploring.  To top it off, we couldn't even see around us because it was already 8 o'clock at night.

Finally, we got to our destination for dinner, which must have been the most entertaining part of the day.  Our host, an older Italian man named Giovanni, couldn't speak more than three words of English (hello, goodbye, and thank you), but still spent the whole night singing, drinking wine, and interacting with all of his guests.  Our dinner was a three part meal, all delicious.  We started with appetizers of Italian meat, cheese, bruschetta and salad, and then had spaghetti (they even had gluten free spaghetti for me), and finally we had dessert with a mousse-like cake and another apricot pastry.  Of course, with this was all the wine you could drink (the bottles were at least 2.5L each).  

 

After a great dinner with great conversations, we got driven back to Florence where we went out with all of our fellow wine tourmates, before heading out the next morning for the Cinque Terre.

Holly