Eat, Pray, Love Italy Day 2: Florence

After a peaceful sleep, I woke up early on Thursday because I really wanted to visit a couple of places in Milan before I left. After I got dressed, ate breakfast and packed my things I headed to my first stop, the Duomo, or cathedral, of Milan. Milan’s Duomo is one of Italy’s most breathtaking cathedrals. It is the fourth-largest cathedral in the world and the biggest in Italy. It’s also the world’s largest gothic-style cathedral.

When I finally arrived at the plaza, I examined the intricacy of the outside of the cathedral. Its gothic features definitely stuck out. The cathedral was huge and it was covered with several pointed arches and flying buttresses. Although very beautiful, it certainly had a very frightening feel to it. Next, I entered the cathedral and walked around inside. It was full of elaborate artwork, long columns, stain glass windows and other things that you would normally find in a cathedral.

Once I walked back outside I debated between whether or not go to the roof of the Duomo. I heard that there was a beautiful view of Milan from the roof but I couldn’t decide whether or not I wanted to pay the 7 Euro fee just to go to the top. Eventually, I decided to go just because it was my only real cultural activity in Milan. Once I climbed the many steps to get to the roof I was somewhat impressed. The top of the cathedral was beautiful. It was full of marble pinnacles and statues that overlooked the city. Although the views of the city from the top of the Duomo were nice, I think that I would have enjoyed them more if I had been there during sunset. I was glad that I went up to the top but I still don’t think that it was worth the fee.

After leaving the Duomo there was one other thing that I wanted to see, Castello Sforzesco, the castle in Milan. For some reason, I’ve been kind of obsessed with seeing castles since I’ve been living in Europe. I think that they are really neat. Walking to the castle from the Duomo took about 20 minutes and I was able to observe a lot of the city during the day. I noticed that the local people dressed very nice (which was expected) and that the city was really small but also lively and beautiful. When I finally made it to the castle I walked around the outside of it. I wasn’t really concerned about seeing the inside and I didn’t really have a lot of time to do so anyway. As soon as I finished taking pictures I headed back to my hostel to check out and get my bags. Next, I headed to the train station to catch a train to my next destination, Florence.

Florence (Firenze)

I was so excited to go to Florence because I had heard from several people that it was one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. The train ride from Milan to Florence took about 3 hours. Once I arrived I found my hostel (which was also easy to find), checked in, emailed my family again and headed out. I got a map of the city from the front desk and had somewhat of an idea as to where I wanted to go. The first thing that I wanted to do was find a place to eat at; I was starving. I stopped at the first restaurant that looked decent and I ordered pasta, bread and a glass of wine. The waitress sat me at a table at the very front of the restaurant where I was facing the open door. Therefore I could see everything that was going on outside and I was basically the first thing that people saw when they were walking the past the restaurant. I felt so much like Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love. The pasta and wine were great but I quickly learned that plain bread was not one of Italy’s specialties.

When I finished eating I decided to walk around the center of Florence and see some of the main attractions. First I walked around the main market where venders where selling bags, clothes, artwork and souvenirs. Although I would have loved to buy some of the stuff that I saw, I knew that I had no room in my backpack to bring anything back with me to Spain. After walking around the market I decided to make my way over to the Piazza del Duomo to see the Duomo of Florence.

When I finally got to the Duomo the first thing that I noticed were the herds of tourists surrounding the plaza. I could hardly take in the beautiful, massive cathedral that stood right in front of me. I walked around the outside of the cathedral and examined its dome, its facade and its bell tower. I really loved the color of it; it’s not something that you would usually see in a cathedral. I wasn’t really interested in going inside. Afterwards, I decided to get some gelato from a nearby gelato shop, sit on some steps outside of the shop facing the Duomo and people watch. Although the tourists were pretty annoying, they definitely kept me entertained.

After eating my gelato and watching the crowd I decided to make my way to some other areas of Florence. I walked around the center for a little while longer. While walking around, I unintentionally came across the Piazza Della Signoria, where some kind of ceremony happened to be taking place. Next, I walked to the river to see Florence’s most popular bridge, Ponte Vecchio. This is the only bridge that survived the Nazi bombings in WWII. It is also one of the brightest and most beautiful bridges that I had ever seen.

After walking across another bridge, I decided to make my way to Piazzale Michelangelo. I was told that this was the best place to get a view of the city and watch the sunset. It took about 20 minutes to get to the Piazzale from the bridge. While climbing a hill to get to the top I came across a very beautiful garden that had fresh flowers and plants, green grass and bushes and many benches to sit down on and enjoy nature. I spent a little time there but left very quickly because my allergies started acting up.

When I had finally reached the top of the hill and walked over to the Piazzale Michelangelo I was dumbfounded by the view of the city. From the top of the hill I could see every place that I had visited earlier on that day: the Duomo, the bridge, the Basilica; everything. The city looked more beautiful than ever. As if that wasn’t enough, there was also a musician at the bottom of the stairs playing music for all of the people who were sitting on top of the hill. I sat down and took in everything: the view, the music, the people and the beauty of it all. This instantly reminded me of the time that I watched the sunset from Montmartre hill in Paris, but this was even more beautiful.

At that moment I realized that I had seen everything that I needed to see in Florence. I no longer cared about visiting any other place. The view from the hill was so beautiful that it had me in a trance-like state. Although it was still a little bit early, I decided to stay there and watch the sunset. While sitting on the hill and watching the sunset I never felt alone or bored. I was surrounded by people from so many different countries who spoke so many different languages and, to me, that was so interesting. I always had something to look at and something to think about (and I also had a small bottle of wine to drink that I had bought from one of the food stands).

When the sunset finally went down I didn’t really want to leave. I could have stayed there forever. I decided to go eventually, mostly because I didn’t want to be stuck trying to find my hostel late at night. It took me about 45 minutes to walk back. I told myself that if I found a quick place to eat at then I would eat something but if not then I would be fine. I wasn’t too hungry. I didn’t really find a place that I wanted to eat at so I decided to go back to my hostel. When I finally got back, I took a shower and crashed.

My day in Firenze was fantastic!