First stop: Il Duomo
Spot the tourists...
In the week leading up to our getaway we had been constantly checking the weather forecast for Florence…and every time it said rain. Yet when we hopped off the train, we were greeted by lovely blue skies!
Now I'm not gonna lie - this trip was never going to be a culture/museum-filled adventure. Jeff had one agenda for going and one agenda only. The San Lorenzo market. This market is the best market in the world. I had already been approx. 8273 times with my famiglia when we were on holiday in Tuscany. 7 years in a row. And every time we would head straight to the market and buy as much as possible. Pashminas, belts, bags, wallets, jewellery..you name it, we bought it. And all thanks to my Mamma's insane skills at haggling. Well now it was time for the student to become the master. Sadly I am nowhere near being a master yet as some charming bag seller decided to bollock me for asking for lower prices. I decided not to let this dampen my spirit though as we came away with 4 clutch bags, 2 'ciao bella' t-shirts, earrings, rings, another bag aaaaand I think that's it. And because I was so absorbed by all this shopping, I took zero photos.
Anyway - you know that amazing unexpected weather we had? It went. Just as we bought our last bag, the sky suddenly went an ominous grey colour and it started raining and thundering! We scurried into a cafe and took refuge with a cappuc and spent an hour admiring our lovely new things! Once it had stopped, it was time to wander round to find some supps.
Piazza Santa Maria Novella
Basilica di Santa Maria Novella
The post-thunder sunset was so beautiful. Must have been some pretty delighted shepherds somewhere in the Tuscan hills.
Florence is actually quite a small city, so it didn't take us long to find somewhere to eat. We all know that I don't care that much I am obsessed with food. Since coming to Italy I really have eaten some amazing things. But I do have some rules for finding a great place to eat.
1. The menu should be handwritten.
2. The crockery shouldn't match.
3. The tables should be squished together and higgledy-piggledy.
4. The restaurant itself should look like a house/hospital wing/generally not presentable.
I'd say if you can get at least two of these in a restaurant, you're gonna have a good time. As it happens, we found all 4 in a cute trattoria and had the BEST meal.
Pecorino con miele e pinoli
Pappardelle alle cinghiale
Before we even found the trattoria we knew we wanted something with cinghiale (wild boar) and the main course did not disappoint! It was so rich and delicious and needed absolutely nothing added to it.
Torta al cioccolato
This was like eating 11 of the most velvety truffles in a row. My kind of pudding.
After supps we needed to fare un giro as we had eaten sooo much. Hannah had been to Florence the weekend before and told us about a cocktail bar near Louis Vuitton which was a must apparently. She wasn't lying. It was quite chilly out, so finding the poshest green house I've ever seen with even posher cocktails was wonderful.
Spritz for Stefy and Fashion Colle bursting with raspberries and fresh mint for me.
The people in this bar were the epitome of chic. The infamous Italian style is certainly not a myth. Boys and gals alike looked so effortlessly cool…it was a bit depressing. Whilst sipping on our drinks we did some boyfriend shopping too - I think we found at least 3 potential suitors each.
Before heading back to the hostel we wandered round the streets and did some window shopping in the likes of Prada and Gucci and then found ourselves on the Ponte Vecchio where we found our engagement rings that the potential suitors would one day buy for us. An enjoyable and practical trip!!
We then headed back to our hostel, which I'm not going to talk about as it takes away the lovely chic feel of the trip. Let's just say it was hard to get our beauty sleep for the next day's adventures thanks to a snoring man...
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