Mi Nuevo Amor: Italia (Part 2: Florence & Pisa)

Hello, again!

Here's Part 2 of my time in Italy, starting with my arrival in Florence.

We got to Florence at about 9P on Saturday night. After getting a little lost (who knew Florence had TWO train stations??), we made it to our hostel. Our hostel was super nice. We were in a 6 person room, but we had a private bathroom for our room (rather than sharing a bathroom with the whole floor). The hostel also had a restaurant/bar, which we ate at on Saturday night, since we were too tired to go hunt for other food.

Dinner on Saturday night, salad with artichoke hearts. yummm.

Sunday:

Sunday we woke up and decided to rent bikes for the day. The hostel we were staying at (Plus Florence) actually had a travel agency working with it, so we just had to go down to the agency's desk (which was in the hostel's lobby) to rent bikes. Really easy! 15 euros for the whole day.

We started our day at a big market. 

Amanda, Kaley, me

Navigating.

We biked to a cathedral (Opera di Santi Maria del Fiore) which was this pink and blue building (complete with a dome!) in the middle of the city. We climbed up to the top of the bell tower and saw some great views. I didn't realize until this trip that Florence is sitting in a valley in between a bunch of mountain ranges, and it was cool to see all of the mountains from the top of the cathedral.

After the cathedral, we biked to the museum where the famous David is. However, the line outside was really long, and we decided we'd prefer to just keep biking around the city. So we didn't get to see David, but I think it was worth it to not spend 1/+ hours in line.

Had lunch at a place recommended by the guide book (thanks again, Laur and Pat!) It might not look good, but it was delicious! It was mushrooms with the restaurants most popular dish, a meatloaf-type thing. Idk. The waitress described it to us as beef stuffed with chicken and veggies. Really really good. 

We biked all over the city, saw some great architecture and churches. Then we crossed the river that kind of borders the city center and starting biking through a hillier area of Florence. We wanted to try to bike out to the countryside, but we figured out that the countryside was a little to far to bike to. So instead we just went on a short ride. We ended our ride on top of a hill that overlooked the entire city, and watched the sunset with a bottle of wine and live music.

View of Florence. Cathedral on left (with big red dome) has bell tower that we climbed.

After the sunset, we biked back to the hostel and got ready for dinner.

Amanda and I split a Florentine steak, which we'd heard about a lot and HAD to try before leaving. It was really good! 

Had some veggies with my steak. 

Monday:

On Monday we got up early to go on a tour called The Grape Escape, which was also run by the travel agency that worked through my hostel. We got on a bus at 10A and headed out to the countryside (to Chianti and San Gimignano) to tour vineyards and taste wines.

At the first winery, we had a very friendly Italian guy teach us the proper way to taste and try wine.

The first wine tasting. 

HUGE wine glasses to maximize the tasting experience

At the first winery, we tried about 5 different wines, two types of olive oil, and a balsamic vinegar. All were REALLY good.

At the second vineyard, went on a tour to learn about how wine is made!

Looks like typical machines on a chemical plant. maybe I'll just use my degree to work on a vineyard...?

View from the second vineyard

We got lunch at the second vineyard! Also got to try more wines.

After the second tasting, we went into the town center of San Gimignano to have world champion gelato!

We got rained on in San Gimignano :(

After getting home and drying off (we all got soaked in the rain!), we headed out to our last dinner in Italy.

We all split an antipasti: cheese (I forget which kind) with truffle honey and greens. Really good!

Amanda and I split two dishes: piper fish with zucchini and mushrooms and a dish with beef. 

Ended the meal with cheesecake, probably the best I've ever had.

Tuesday:
Tuesday morning we woke up and checked out of our hostel, then headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Pisa, where we'd be catching a flight back "home" to Sevilla.

We got to Pisa at around 1P, and had lunch at a place near the tower.

Mixed veggies. 

Gnocchi with pesto, split with Amanda

Mixed smoked fish, might look unappetizing (especially to you, Russ!) but it was REALLLY GOOD. It's fun to try new and weird things :)

The leaning tower was actually built to be the cathedral for this church. Little did they know, its foundation was on unstable soil (hence, the lean). It looks so out of place next to the other normal buildings. 

After our mini photoshoot in front of the tower, we caught a city bus back to the airport and then headed back to Sevilla, arriving late on Tuesday night.

I absolutely loved Italy. I preferred Rome over Florence, even though Rome was AMAZING, but Florence was even more amazing. Although Rome had all of the amazing sights, I loved the feel of Florence. I loved riding bikes through the winding streets of the city and watching the sunset on a hill. I absolutely fell in love with Florence.

I learned some cool things on this trip that I want to share with you:
1. Having a travel book is REALLY helpful (thanks again, Luckeys!).
2. Riding bikes is a great way to see more of a city. I feel like we saw way more than we would have if we had been walking in Florence. Plus it's more fun :)
3. Sharing food is a great way to try a lot of things. I split dishes at almost every restaurant we went to, which was awesome because it meant I could try a bunch of different things.
4. On a less happy note.. .pickpocketing is for real - Gabi got her wallet stolen out of her purse at the metro station in Rome. Something to be aware of, I guess.
5. Taking advantage of tours is a really great way to maximize the experience! I got way more out of the Vatican City tour than I would have if my friends and I had gone in on our own. Also, the touristy double-deckers are actually really helpful, because as you drive through the city, a guide tells you about the history behind what you're driving past. Which you wouldn't get if you were just walking.

You might be wondering about food - I absolutely loved everything I had. Every dish was AMAZING. Everything tasted so fresh, especially vegetables. I didn't eat nearly as much pasta and pizza as I thought I would because I was too busy eating the meat and vegetables. And although Spanish food is really good too, I think I prefer Italian.

I've also decided to go back to Italy when my school semester is over (before returning to the US) because I loved it so much. I'm thinking I'll go somewhere south, maybe Sicily. If you have any recommendations for where to go (I'll be there for Christmas), let me know!

Thanks for listening. :)