What do I love about Tuscany? The food, the people, the
places, the atmosphere, the history….shall I go on?
Every year as we are
planning our holiday Grumps asks where I’d like to go, and I always ask ‘Can
we go back to Florence?’ So far my pleas have been in vain, but one of these
times I will be prepared with accommodation ideas from villas in Tuscany.
On our last visit we arrived in Florence by train as we were on
a cruise around the Med. We docked in Livorno and took a train to
Florence. Unfortunately because Livorno is a couple of hours from
Florence, this cut down our browsing time considerably.
Sadly on that visit we didn’t have time to visit the Uffizi
Gallery, which was a real shame because the gallery hosts some amazing art,
including Michaelangelo’s ‘David’.
I took these pictures outside while I was trying to work out
whether to join the queue for entry or spend more time wandering the streets
and soaking up the atmosphere. The streets won!
I love the shops, particularly those positioned along the Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Florence across the Arno River near the Uffizi Gallery.I left a few sticky finger and nose marks on the windows of the jewellery shops, lusting over the gorgeous gold and dazzling diamonds.
Another inspirational building in Florence is the facade of Santa Maria Novella. I absolutely love the intricacy of the patterns and how symmetrical the building is.
The architecture in Florence is stunning. If I was just starting
out on a career path now I’d love to be an engineer or an architect because I love to know how things are planned and built. I’m
always fascinated by Brunelleschi's dome (the Duomo of Florence) because at the time, his technique of
building an unsupported dome was completely ground breaking.I'd love ot understand the techniques he used, but as I don't have any architectural expertise I just look at it and wonder.....
Anyway, enough dreaming of our last visit!
I’ve been checking out the accommodation available from villas in Tuscany and I’m armed and ready with details of a fabulous converted barn, within walking
distance of the centre of Florence. Check it out here:
Sadly, my holiday for this year is already booked (and it's not back to Florence, or even to Tuscany), instead we are soon off to Lanzarote. I'm sure it will be great, but equally sure it won't provide half as much inspiration as Tuscany does!
I wrote this post as an entry to a competition hosted on a fabulous website called Tuscany Now. Check out details of the competition here. Fingers crossed!
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