Florence: Simple food, chiante and a lot of art

As sad as we were to leave Barcelona, it seemed that we were heading off at just the right time. We left Las Ramblas Home at 6:30am in heavy, pouring torrential rain! The rain in Spain apparently does not fall mainly on the plain. We caught the bus from Placa de Catalunya to the airport and were quickly on the way to Florence. Our flight was reasonably short and very comfortable. Meridiana were great! After dropping off our bags with the very cranky hotel reception (expect a poor online review later!) we went for a walk around the town. Despite the cruddy room and nasty manager the hotel was very well located in a small square filled with bars and restaurants and close to many markets including the local food market. We stumbled upon a sandwich bar which we later found out is known to locals for its incredible belloti. I had a roast beef roll which was delicious but really nothing compared to the phenomenal taste sensation that was Eliza’s rabbit roll. Oh. My. God. I have never tasted anything so delicious. Both of the rolls were dressed with the oils and juices of the meats as well as some rosemary. Utterly heavenly. Once we got over the incredible pleasure bordering on sedation caused by these unbelievable sandwiches we managed to walk around the city. We saw Saint Maria Novella Cathedral, the Duomo, St Lorenzo Basilica, the statue garden outside the Uffizi, a number of beautiful piazzas, more gorgeous old churches and my personal favourite, the Ponte Vecchio, a street with shops and houses that extends right across a bridge on the river. We stopped to feed each other fresh raspberries and generally carry on like honeymooners – cuddling and enjoying the incredibly romantic atmosphere.





After the long walk back we had dinner in the square - our first pizza in Italy! It was simple, thin and crisp, and accompanied by a bottle of local Tuscan chiante.


The following day was Saturday, a particularly busy day in the city especially for the Ufizzi. After waiting for 2 hours we finally got in and wallowed in religious paintings galore. We saw a lot of recognizable paintings including the “Birth of Venus” and many others by Botticelli, Da Vinci and Rembrandt. After this we went on a hunt for the rabbit belloti, but were only able to find pork and turkey. They were no rabbit but still good. Then we headed off to see the statue of me at the ‘Gallery del Academia’. I looked pretty damn good. Seriously, rounding the corner and seeing this massive, magnificent statue was pretty awe inspiring. David is the best. You can't photograph the real David, but there is a copy in the square. Here we are together.


What could have topped this day? Only a well priced and yet marvelous and authentic meal! We found ourselves in a backstreet off the square and ordered some bruschetta, Italian beer and wine. I even enjoyed the tomato! We then had some beautiful pasta – I had spaghetti with tomato, oregano and chilli. Eliza had pesto gnocchi. They were so simple but light, fresh and satisfying. We only realized later that we had eaten meat free! It was so good, it didn’t need it.


Afterwards we shared a gorgeous tiramisu and a silky caramel pannacotta, accompanied by a limoncello and a grappa. The limoncello was definitely the winner!


In the morning we packed our things together in preparation for the trip to Rome and hit the fantastic markets and shops one last time. Eliza bought me my wedding gift – an awesome, roomy sling-over-the-shoulder type bag made of real Florence leather. It smells so good and the interior is genuine suede as well. It’s so nice! We will find an appropriate wedding gift from me to her somewhere along the way on this trip too. We then jumped on the fast train to Roma and watched the hills of Tuscany pass us by.