Leaving the country, time for the city.

This was another day where we once again surprised ourselves and managed to fit all our belongings and newly purchased souvenirs into our bags.

It was then time for the last espresso in the comfort of Rosalinda's lounge room where we expressed our thanks and discussed Stefano and his trip to Australia in 2019. 😜

In the past week whilst at La Maesta we had three opportunities to have local Tuscan meals with Rosalinda, Stefano, Lilla and Virginia. The meals were made with locally sourced ingredients and made with love using unwritten recipes handed down from generation to generation.

Our first meal consisted of a bread soup Ribollita followed by Osso Bucco. The Ribollita bread soup was just amazing and was similar to a minestrone soup but had been thickened with bread being added. We both had tried Ribollita while out at other places this trip, but none were as good as La Maesta's. Normally I am not a fan of Osso Bucco, but with the local herbs and Lilla's love added it was amazing.

The next evening started with handmade ravioli and then followed with bbq steak cooked over a wood fire, which was sliced and then drizzled with rosemary and peppercorns that had been heated in a pan to release the aromatics. This evening was finished with a giant Tiramisu. So lovely and fresh from the kitchen.

Last night, our final meal, we were presented with Lasagna and then roast chicken and potatoes. The flavours of the food are unbelievable and no matter how much I try, doubt, I could ever replicate.

We loaded our bags into the Pope Mobile and then made the short journey to the closest train station to La Maesta, Castiglione Fiorentino, just 10 minutes away.

As we also found yesterday, purchasing tickets is very easy on the automated machines, we just needed to select English then where we wanted to go and follow the prompts for payment. The machines accept credit cards and cash too.

Just purchasing the ticket is however not the end, each ticket must be validated by putting it into a little machine on the platform where it gets a hole punched in it and the date stamped.  Without this validation, the ticket inspector will issue a fine.

With the train journey over we were in Florence, and it was a little bit of a shock, being in a bustling city for the first time in a while and it is always crazy around the central station too.

After dropping our bags we ventured out and explored the city by foot, this visit to Florence we will be visiting some favourites but also covering some of the places we had missed in the past.  First stop was Mercato Centrale a food market with an upstairs food court where cooked produce can be purchased.  This place always has fresh food and amazes me of the things I have never seen before. 

There are parts of animals that I never thought could be or should be eaten.

Leaving the market we then walked the gauntlet of men selling poor quality leather and scarves.  Passing through one man said "I have nice scarf for you, special price", Katie replied "I'll come back later" where he promptly returned with "I will wait for you". I hope he isn't waiting, we didn't return. 

Another said "I have jacket for you, half price, and in your size, big shoulders," courteously I replied, "No, grazie".

Next stop was the Duomo, we never get sick of this building. It's big, it's impressive and I still can't believe how arduous the construction would have been without today's modern building techniques. It is a world treasure.

Whilst the skies were still blue and the sun shining, we walked over to Basilica of Santa Croce. We had visited the exterior before but with research since that visit, found out about the impressive interior and also the tomb of Michelangelo.

We paid the 8euro entry (each) and were impressed by the interior and very high ceiling. 

I was then met with slight disappointment as Michelangelo's tomb was covered in scaffolding and was in restoration.

Our walk then took us down to the Arno river and then we returned to our room via some 'human Xerox machines'.  This is what I call these artists, they don't create any original works and basically reproduce the same images over and over. You can find them in any tourist place, it could be Venice, Rome or here in Florence.

 

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