Everyday when I go into city centre aka Duomo, I have to cross this bridge with this lovely view.
Galleria dell'Accademia, Firenze
I walk past this place everyday and feel sorry for all these people queueing.
Everyone comes here just to look at the statue of David by Michelangelo.
There are queues into most of the famous museums in Florence.
One of the tips on going to Florence is if you're there for 3 days, it's definitely worth buying the Firenze card which cost 50 euros, lets you into all the state museums plus transport. Best benefit is you get to skip queues. I know if might sound like a lot of money but I reckon it's worth it, as entry into the museums are nearly 10-11 euros and if you try to book in advance they charge you another 4 euros or so. Therefore even if you were to go into 4-5 museums it would definitely be well worth your money.
It was a Sunday and I wanted to go to some restaurants and all of the places were closed!!!!
So i walked and walked and finally found this place!
I Fratellini
Famous panini shop in Firenze. Located in one of the street between Duomo and Uffizi. It's a hole in wall shop serving all different types of panini you can think of. Also serves very cheap glasses of wine.
Very long queues here as well.
I think I spent a lot of time queuing in Firenze.
Perfect place for having a snack when you're tired from all the walking.
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| Panino with Porchetta |
Gelateria Venchi Firenze
This place is full of people as well, the gelato is actually really good, but the lady serving was so bloody rude!! At first she said I could have 3 different flavours of ice cream but after I ordered 2, she said I was too late to order the third flavour and refused to give me another flavour. What a puttana! Merda.
But the gelato was so delicious, creamy and rich, literally melt in your mouth. Perfect for a sunny day in Firenze :) Venchi is a chocolate producer in Italy.
Da' Vinattieri
I was wandering around the streets, and came across this hole in the wall shop selling lampredotto.
I've been wanting to eat this for a long long time.
In case you're wondering what lampredotto is, I've copied this from wikipedia.
Lampredotto is a typical Florentine peasant dish, made from the fourth and final stomach of a cow, the abomasum. "Lampredotto" is derived from the Italian word for lamprey eels, lampreda---once very abundant in the waters of the Arno River---as the tripe resembles a cooked lamprey in shape and color. It consists of a thin part, the gala, and a fat part, the spannocchia. The gala is characterized by small, purple ridges (called gate) with a strong flavor. The spannocchia instead has a more subtle color and softer taste.
It is cooked in water along with tomato, onion, parsley and celery, and then seasoned.
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| Lampredotto |
It was delicious! I know a lot of people might find it disgusting to eat cow's stomach, but I can assure you that it's very good. It's so juicy and full of texture and flavourful.
The only thing was I felt it was a bit too salty for my taste. That was one thing I discovered about Italy, there were some places with lovely food, just occasionally being flavoured with too much salt. I don't know, perhaps they have stronger taste buds in comparison to me?
But I saw all the lovely meat- salami, procusitto in the window display and he was busy making panini.
There was also a very very huge jar of Nutella for making sweet sandwiches.
I was tired after all the endless walking and food eating and decided to go home and I met with Kasha- beautiful Polish girl who does biotechnology and has been working in a lab in Firenze for a couple of weeks involved in cancer research.
She has just been back from an open air market and she asked me if I wanted to visit one.
I was very excited, as I've been researching markets to go to in Firenze.
So here I present you: Mercato Fortezza da Basso
They sell all kinds of antique coins, furniture, jewellery; you name it they have it here.It is situated in this lovely park with a beautiful pond in the middle surrounded by lush greenery.
Seriously these dolls are the stuff of childhood nightmares. LOL
Fortezza Antique Market
Every 3rd Saturday and Sunday of the month, all dayViale Filippo Strozzi
Info 055.328.3550
We were chatting about everything about our life and work.
I don't know how is it I barely know all these people, but it's so easy to talk to them. We just have good chemistry I suppose :)
By the way, this is Basilica de Santa Maria Novella, it's near the train station.
This city is small but just absolutely beautiful.
As Dostoevsky once wrote in his book the idiot, "Beauty will save the world"
Coincidentally this book was part written in Firenze.
Don't you think the ceiling of the Florentine apartment are just amazing. Sorry the picture doesn't even do it justice. I love the chandelier hanging from the ceiling as well. The apartment has really high ceilings.
The very wonderful Kasha and Alessandro made me dinner!! Sooo nice! After I had all that food for lunch as well! I didn't want to eat anymore, but they insisted on making me dinner. They are so fabulously nice. I don't even know what to say. Alessandro's friend Mattia was over visiting, and 4 of us sat around chatting and drinking white wine and limoncello. I love these people!
Kasha was trying to take pictures of me sleeping!! So I took pictures of her in her pyjamas!
I was so lazy and tired and I ended up falling asleep on the couch outside and getting bitten by a million mosquitoes!
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