Italy & Greece Tour Part II: Pisa and Florence
My Journey: Pisa and Florence
3/29/2023 On Road to Pisa
We woke up early, which will be the norm for the trip, and loaded up on the bus on the road to Pisa which took us to the edge of Florence. We saw farms, high speed trains, plant nurseries, the scattering of castles, an aqueduct, and other ruins. We took two breaks on the road; one for bathrooms and one 40 minute break 40 minutes outside of Pisa for lunch. I am still salty about stopping for 40 minutes to eat gas station food rather than continuing to Pisa and having 40 more minutes in the town which could have been used to eat there. For the record, we did not eat gas station food and ate lunch in Pisa instead.
Pisa
Finally, we were in Pisa only to rush to do all we wanted before the bus left. This meant sightseeing, purchasing tickets, and eating lunch in just a few hours all while dealing with the never urgent tour guide.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
We parked right outside of Pisa and took a trolly, discussed as a train, to the site. The Square of Miracles is behind a fortified wall. Once you come through the gate house, you are greeted by the baptistery. The tower is on the other side of the square from here. I was deftly struck by the brightness of the marbles the buildings are faced with.
View From Tower
Dez and his dad took the stairs to the top of the tower, and me and his mom looked for food. Once they came down, we ate at a small cafe called Pisa Cafe, outside the Square of Miracles, to have pizza that was okay and what we thought would be scallops, but turned out to be salted pork in a lemon sauce that was also okay. Then, we raced to the “Train” and then back on the bus. We ended up waiting on the bus for quite some time because 2 people on our tour missed the “train” so our tour guide had to find them and then ride back to the bus with them in a taxi instead.
Florence
We arrived in Florence in the late afternoon and had to immediately get ready to got to the Tuscan Dinner Experience with the tour as an additional excursion. The bus took us on a trip through the countryside of Tuscany until we reached Ristorante I Tre Pini for dinner.
The Tuscan Dinner experience was one of the few good meals we had in Italy. Based on the wine consumption at the tables around us, the wine must have been exactable as well.
On our way back into the city, we stopped at Michelangelo Square to enjoy the view of the city at night from a perfect vantage point.
View From Piazzale Michelangelo
That night, Dez and I went exploring the town by foot looking for some gay night life. We checked out a few bars and ended up spending some time in one of them where I enjoyed some Jack Daniels and Dez tried a local drink called a “negroni” that neither of us were able to finish. We were probably too early in the week and the night to see much going on. Eventually, we headed back to our hotel after stopping at a convenient store to pick up some Coca Cola and Pepsi to last us for the next few days.
3/30/2023 Florence
We began the day by walking with the tour guide to the Piazza di Santa Croce where the Peruzzi Firenze “Leather Factory” we were scheduled to see is. The plan was to see a demo at the factory and then to have time to shop. One of the things Florence is known for is leather goods and the other is gold. The demo was only like 5 minutes and they basically just showed us how they guild the leather with gold. After the demo, we were given a much longer sales pitch. To be honest, they did have some nice belts, one of which came home with me, and my partner and I both found some other new leather goods. When you are from the states and buy anything over 50 euro, they should give you a VAT Form to have part of your taxes refunded. Getting forms and customization done took time and we definitely felt rushed as the tour was moving on.
We caught up with the local tour guide who took us through the streets to the Duomo. While the tour guide was informative, they also fed into some tropes about medieval and renaissance European life. With many of these Italian sites, there is a definite focus on the the religious aspects of the historic sites. When seeing the Duomo, I highly recommend the episode of Engineering an Empire that discusses the engineering history of the building’s great detail. As a matter of fact, while that documentary series is probably a bit dated, it is very well done and should be on your watchlist if you have not seen it before. I was very impressed by the color of the duomo, baptistery and bell tower. Contrasting marble colors are very striking in person.
Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
From here, we headed toward the location of the Uffizi Gallery. In the area outside the gallery, there are quite a few statues to enjoy. Then, we took a short lunch break at All’Antico Vinaio before taking the optional tour of the gallery.
Piazza della Signoria
Our tour of the Uffizi was done by a local guide who gave us a very detailed tour. Besides an abundance of statues and paintings, the gallery itself is in a historic set of buildings, like many places.
After our visit to the gallery, we visited the Gold Market located on a Medieval Bridge, the Ponte Vecchio. I had really wanted to buy some gold while there, and while there were some reasonable prices, there was not a lot that I found to be uniquely Florencian aside from the reproduction coins, which just ended up giving me an idea!!! I did spend a lot of time looking at gold.
After shopping, we headed to the leather factory to pick up our goods and then were off by taxi to the Accademia Gallery to see the Statue of David. Dez had done a good job of locating some last minute tickets on Tickitaly.
This was the first museum in Italy, and the only one in Italy, that I think did a good job of telling a story. While there are some other things to the museum with its collection of paintings, icons, instruments and other things, it has a clear mission to introduce you to the statue and help you to understand the process of sculpture. Your introduction to sculpture is a clay previsualization of the Rape of the Sabine Women, then a hall leading to David flanked on both sides by incomplete statues of Michelangelo. Then, you finish with a gallery of other statues, including many examples of plaster models.
The museum was closing as we left giving us some alone time with David.
The David
We then walked back to the hotel and while doing so, we looked for a place to eat. We found a place that advertised “American Style Pizza” which just meant salami. That was the last time I tried a pizza in Italy and that was the worse pizza I have pretty much ever had. Just one more disappointing Italian meal. By the time we got to the hotel, we were ready for bed.
Lessons Learned
Hotels in Italy don’t actually give you control over your AC if they have it.
“American Style Pizza” does not mean American Style Pizza.
When a tour advertises a factory tour, know that means a 5 minute show and a 20 or more minute sales pitch.
As with any busy space market or tourisst attraction, keep your guard up. Street vendors and wandering characters can be an opening for a scam or pick pocket.