I'll begin by saying why the Florence posts are titled "vici" rather than "veni" or "vici" (and as a former latin student and somewhat self-proclaimed nerd about these things, it is pronounced "weni, widi, wici"). I'm still in the midst of figuring out Rome and am just now, one month later, beginning to feel like I've conquered some parts of it. Florence is much smaller though, and in less than 48 hours I was very comfortable in my surroundings and knew my way around quite well. Additionally, I conquered some tourist attractions and some really, really good food.
Now to begin our weekend.
Very early on February 3, Teryn, Courtney, Ilana, Sarah and I made our way to Stazione Termini to catch the 7:30 a.m. slow train from Rome to Florence, with an anticipated cost of 17 euro. With five minutes to spare we approached the ticket counter only to learn that there is no 17 euro train at 7:30 a.m. and that the next would be departing at 9:40 a.m. So we waited.
It took four hours to get to Florence but it felt much longer. Once we were off the train at the Santa Maria Novella train station, we bought a map from a cart, which proved to be less necessary in Florence than a map is in Rome. All we had to do was walk straight down Via Panzani/Via de'Cerratani, which dumps you at the foot of The Duomo. From there it was a short walk down Via del Proconsolo to our hostel.
I found the hostel through hostelworld.com, the student-traveler's lodging bible. I booked a hostel for five people, called Alex House. I highly recommend it to others, even families. It was a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen, bathroom (with a modern shower!!) and balcony. Our accommodations were more charming than expected, and being our first stay in a hostel, the Alex House has skewed our view of all other hostels. It was a little more expensive than a typical hostel (22 euro per night versus the usual 15-17 euro) but well worth it. It was a really quick walk from both The Duomo and The Ponte Vecchio. The address is Via Borgo dei Greci, 13 for anyone who might be interested in staying there.
Lucky for us the Florence chocolate festival was going on just up the road from our hostel during our visit. I'm not a huge chocolate lover, so to me, chocolate is chocolate. However, some of the chocolatiers did some pretty cool things with their goods.
After sitting for so long on the train, our legs were itching to get moving. They certainly got what they asked for. We walked to Piazza del Duomo to take in some of Florence's most famous architectural marvels.
The Duomo was beautiful and all, but the view from the top of The Duomo bell tower was the real show stopper. Four-hundred and fourteen steps later, Florence was sprawled out before us. The view was well worth the 6 euro and the butt work out.
After our climb we were so tired and recharged our batteries with some nachos, burritos and margheritas at Tijuana's. We showered, suited up for a night on the town, and then crashed, ready to do it all again the next day.
No comments:
Post a Comment