Thursday, September 27, 2012

Italy: Day X (Florence)

Thursday, July 28th:

The Duomo:


            Today Max and I decided to really take in the glory that is Italian Renaissance art. The weather was finally beautiful today so we spent the first part of the day walking around the southern part of Florence where we had not previously visited. We spent time in another major site in the city, Piazza Della Republica and the adjacent Piazza Della Signoria. These piazzas are great meeting places and are filled with restaurants, a few carnival-style rides, and marble statues. One of the “fake” David statues remains here, as this was the original location of Michelangelo’s masterpiece. Piazza Della Signoria is also overlooked by the magnificent Palazzo Vecchio, which we did not visit in favor of the neighboring Uffizi Museum.

Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi Museum, and Piazza Della Signoria:


            The Uffizi Museum is one of the oldest and most recognized art museums known to the western world. The museum is quite large and daunting, and houses artwork collected mostly by the Medici family when they ruled Florence and Tuscany. With works from Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt, this museum could be confused with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode; is an art lover’s dream. Max and I spent hours wandering around the halls, and my favorite painting had to be Botticelli’s Birth of Venus known across the world. We had a coffee at a café on the roof of the museum before wandering across the Ponte Vecchio to the Medici Palace known as Palazzo Pitti.

Palazzo Pitti:


            We stopped and had lunch at an unnamed café near the Ponte Vecchio first. I had a Caprese salad and Parmesan Risotto with cold beef for a quick meal before we were again on our way. The Palazzo Pitti stands as the most massive building across the Arno in Florence. The palace stood as one of the main homes for the powerful banking family known as the Medici. The Medici produced four popes, and managed to hold power over Tuscany and a vast portion of Italy from the late 14th century until 1737. The palace is rather large and impressive, and also holds the family’s private art collection. Must be nice to wake up and get dressed next to your own personal Raphael portrait…

The Duomo from Piazza Michelangelo:


            Following our palace visit, we walked over to the famous Piazza Michelangelo which overlooks the entire city of Florence. Many of you have probably seen this spot in pictures of friend’s travels, as it truly is the most spectacular sight in the city. There is also one of the “fake” David statues, made of bronze, in the center of this piazza. We spent a while admiring the city and the Tuscan landscape that stretched in all directions before heading back towards the hotel for a bit of rest and to get ready for dinner.

Myself at Piazza Michelangelo:


            For dinner, we made our way across the Arno again to a place called Trattoria Sabatino. This restaurant was unique as it was basically a large family kitchen and they cooked whatever they felt like for that day! We talked to a few British guys while we ate a form of Gnocchi with potatoes, and salami, as well as Tuscan Roast Beef in a light garlic gravy sauce and drank a few Italian beers. After dinner we met up with our friend Drew Morgan from Rome near the Santa Maria Novella church but not before having a hilarious and bizarre interaction with a drunken Italian fellow who was trying to make some new friends. We headed to the Birrificio Artigianale Mostodolce pub from the night before where we sampled just about everything they have to offer. We also got into a hilarious argument with a Canadian traveler regarding the treatment of Native Americans/Canadians. Weird what you can get yourself into! Tomorrow we will hang out in Florence for a bit before heading to the floating city of Venice!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Italy: Day IX (Florence)

Wednesday, July 27th:

The Duomo of Florence:


            Wow! Today was another epic day, this time exploring the center of the Italian Renaissance that is Florence, Italy. With tons of sightseeing to do with little time, we woke up fairly early and skipped breakfast to get out the door. The weather was a little iffy this morning, but we walked over to the Santa Maria Novella church right near our hostel and explored inside the first of the many noteworthy churches in Firenze. On the outside, facing the train station, is a large bell tower and yellow bricks in interesting architecture. Walking around to the front, visitors are greeted with the massive marble façade that makes the other side seem very lackluster. Inside, the church is filled with Christian frescoes from the 14th and 15th centuries covering seemingly every single wall and ceiling nook. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we were able to inside more churches later in the day.

The Facade and Bell Tower of the Santa Maria Novella Church:


            Next we made our way over to the Duomo, the massive church that stands as the city center. The piazza surrounding the Duomo is always packed with tourists, and there was a long line to do nearly everything touristy in that area. Giotto’s Bell Tower stands next to the Duomo and its baptistery and visitors can climb to the top of it if they please. The baptistery also has some of the most beautiful doors I have ever seen, cast in gold and bronze, depicting major events in the history of Christianity and its founders. We headed inside the Duomo first, as it was the only location without a line at the time. Inside the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, as the Duomo is really called, the church is one of the biggest I have ever seen. Brilliant marble work on the floors immediately catches the eye, as do the enormous stained glass windows in all directions. The massive dome that gives the cathedral its name is also painted on the inside. It is a lesser known version of the Last Judgment of Sistine Chapel fame, however the scale and detail is just as incredible. We wandered around the sacred halls before grabbing some Lasagna and Proscuitto and Melon and waiting in the long line to go to the top of the dome.

Florence, and the San Lorenzo Church from Atop the Duomo:


            We waited for what seemed like two hours in line, in the rain, before finally getting to climb the dome. What a workout! Four hundred and sixty-three steps later we finally took in the view from the highest spot in Florence. Although it was a foggy and rainy day, we could still see all of Florence’s beauty in every direction. It seems as though the city has not changed since its height in the Italian Renaissance. Beautiful colors and tile rooftops stretch in all directions, and immaculate churches sprouted up every few blocks. We took in the scenery (and rest) for about a half hour before making our way back down to head to the next church, the Santa Croce church.

Santa Croce Church:


            Santa Croce was being worked on while we were there, so we did not get to see the main altar in its usual beauty, but the church offers tons of frescoes and sculptures all over anyways. We got to see some works by Donatello and Raphael before heading to the back of the nave where the church’s history has been cemented. In a row are the final resting places of Galileo, Michelangelo, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Dante Alighieri. Talk about an impressive lineup! Michelangelo even designed his own tomb before he passed away. It is pretty impressive to stand and admire the tombs of four of the most influential men in the history of Italy and the world.

The Tomb of Galileo Galilei:


            As the rain finally lifted we made our way over to the Ponte Vecchio. As the story goes, Hitler destroyed every bridge in the city of Florence during World War II, but refused to bomb the Ponte Vecchio as it was just too beautiful. It just may be one of the most photographed bridges in the world, as tiny shops line both sides of the bridge as it crosses the Arno River. We took some photos and wandered around the shops before walking back across the whole city to reach the Galleria dell’ Academia before it closed.

The Ponte Vecchio Bridge:


            The Galleria dell’ Academia is one of the major art museums in Florence, and more importantly, home of Michelangelo’s David. The David is one of the most recognizable and famous sculptures in the world, and it stands tall over its visitors and the other artwork in the museum. As we were on a bit of a speed run, I did not take in much of the other art in the museum, but did manage to snap some sneaky pictures of the David under the eyes of the security guards before the museum closed. Another funny note, there are three David sculptures in the city of Florence, but only one (this one) is the real famous one.

Michelangelo's David:


            For dinner we found an awesome pizzeria called La Divina Osteria. I ate some Bruschetta, Fiorentino Pizza with salami and roasted peppers on it, and enjoyed some Vernaccia di San Gimignano white wine from the nearby city of San Gimignano. We spent a lot of time at this beautiful restaurant…I believe Bertuccis is perpetually failing at trying to look like this place. We also managed to find an awesome brewery pub called Birrificio Artigianale Mostodolce where we drank a bunch of local brewed beer before heading back to sleep. We vowed that we would return to the brewery the next night, but for tonight we were wiped and ready to sightsee some more tomorrow.

The Last Judgement Inside the Duomo:


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Italy: Day IIX (Positano, Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Florence)

Tuesday, July 26th:

The Beach at Positano:


            We woke up this morning to one of the most beautiful seaside places I have ever seen. Positano really is just that gorgeous. All the eye can see is cliffs, beautiful blue ocean, and colorful houses built into the hillside. Max and I had breakfast at the hotel before venturing down towards the beach at the bottom of Positano. All of the roads, save for the one main winding one-way road, are not actually roads but tiny, steep staircases. We made our way slowly down to the beach, and explored the shops in the area. We also stepped inside the one main, colorful church in Positano called Santa Maria Assunta.

Positano and the Church of Santa Maria Assunta:


We hung out at the beach for a little bit before deciding to hike up the stairs (quite the workout, seriously) back to our mopeds to cruise the Amalfi Coast road. The road winds along dramatic cliffs for twenty miles from Sorrento to Amalfi and Ravello. We had an afternoon train to catch all the way back in Napoli, but we spent the rest of the morning and midday cruising along the road through tunnels and around the massive and scary buses. Each tiny city looked like a little rainbow gem stuck into the coastal cliffs! We got a pretty good handle of the mopeds too which allowed us to fly around the tight corners going much faster than cars are able to. We got almost to Amalfi before turning around and heading back to Sorrento. In Sorrento we returned the mopeds, gathered our stuff from the hostel, and headed back on the Circumvesuviana train to Napoli where we ate some pizza for lunch and waited for our train to Florence!

Positano, the Amalfi Coast, and the San Gennaro Church in Praiano:


We arrived in Florence pretty late at night, but checked into our hostel called the Luna Rossa, and headed to dinner. We were recommended to go to Il Contadino by our hostel host, and it was definitely not a let-down! I ate Fettuccine Bolognese with Mushrooms and Black Olives with a salad and some Roasted Rabbit. We also drank some local red wine and finished our meals off with a cappuccino (I am really getting used to this). After dinner we wandered around the center of the city, the massive Duomo cathedral, before meeting up with Max’s friend Pat and his friends from their study abroad program. We got drinks with them before heading to a club called Astor and partying through the night. We also hit a couple other nameless techno clubs in Florence through the night (I think one of them was called Twice?), and headed to bed in the wee hours of the night. The club scene in Florence is very interesting because it is very American (see Jersey Shore…), but it was a welcome night after interacting with lots of foreigners. Tomorrow we will start our sightseeing!