We like Rick Steves’ books and often use his tours as the basis for our explorations. Today, we took two of his Florence tours: the Renaissance Walk, which is an overview of Florence from the Duomo to the Arno (and a bit beyond) and the Duomo Museum tour. We also visited the other sites covered by the Duomo’s Ghilberti Pass (the Bapistery (which is being renovated) and the Crypt of Santa Reparata (inside the Duomo itself – having the pass meant we didn’t have to stand in the very long line for free entry to the Duomo).

I took many, many pictures. Here are some of the best.

From our AirBnB to the Duomo

Around the Doumo

From the Duomo to Piazzza della Signoria

Piazza della Signoria

Outside the Uffizi Gallery

Ponte Vecchio and Oltarno

Returning to the Duomo

The Bapistery and the Cathedral itself

Duomo Museum (much of the art you see on the Duomo buildings isn’t original – the originals are in the museum!)

And one last Golden Hour photo on the way back to our AirBnB

It was a rather full day.

We’re going to be in Florence for a few days. The obvious way to get to Florence from Venice is to take the train – it’s comfortable, fast, and cheap. But our travel agent, Dave Natale, suggested we do something else – take a DayTrip so that we could explore a bit of the countryside on our way to Florence.

Duccio, our driver, picked us up at the port just before 9am and we began our adventure. We’d chosen two stops – the first was about an hour down the road in Arquà Petrarca, home of Petrarch‘s house and tomb. We visited both; we also enjoyed a cappuccino at the local bar.

Our next stop was about an hour later in Ferrara. When we told our cruise director that we were stopping there, she suggested we try a local specialty, Cappellacci di Zucca (a pumpkin-stuffed pasta with sage), and our driver said we should have it at Al Brindisi, which claims to be the oldest tavern restaurant in the world. The visit was a success, though I’m not sure that their musical instrument collection really fits the “old restaurant” theme.

We also made a short trip through Ferrara’s old Jewish Ghetto and wandered around the downtown for a while. It was a busy weekend in Ferrara – they were holding an “Open Monuments” event, giving free admission and guided tours to twenty or so of their ancient buildings; unfortunately, we didn’t have time to take advantage. There was also a Dark Arts festival featuring Goth and Steampunk cosplayers, and as we drove out of town, we saw signs for a tattoo festival, too. An interesting place indeed!

It took another couple of hours to reach our apartment in Florence; the only real sight we saw on our way was one of the old city gates.

Taking a DayTrip was definitely more interesting than taking the train would have been, but it did take a lot longer and cost significantly more.

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting settled; Florence is a busy place (our apartment is just across from the main train station), but we did manage to find a quiet spot for dinner and a supermarket to pick up breakfast supplies.

Tomorrow, we start exploring the city; we’ve bought tickets for the Duomo complex for tomorrow and have Uffizi tickets for Tuesday. Onward!