Last Day in Florence and Travel Day

We have been busy. Lots of sightseeing plus a long travel day from Florence Italy to Barcelona Spain. I’ve neglected the blog updates as Pat and I have been enjoying the daily travel life. I will get caught up before the upcoming cruise though. In this update, we walk uphill to the outskirts of Florence, then up to the top of Michelangelo’s Plaza. What a view!

Piazza Michealangelo

This walk has been on our list all month and we finally made it! Rick Steve’s says that it is a can’t miss while in Florence. Some history of the place first. It was built in 1869 and designed by the architect Giuseppe Poggi during the urban renewal of the town. At the time, Florence was the capital of Italy and the middle class strongly wanted to show its rebirth.

The piazza is dedicated to the great Renaissance artist and is home to copies of some of his famous statues in Florence: the David and the four allegories of the Medici Chapel of San Lorenzo.

It is a long way up with an inclined walkway and stairs. We made it no problem and walked all around the piazza.

Then we walked to the back past a large cathedral to a cemetery that was all above ground and some of the most elaborate crypts I have ever seen. And many of them packed in side by side. Some dates go back to the 1500’s and some are current. It appears they are family crypts and they continue filling it up with new relatives.

After a tour of the cemetery, we dined at the Michealangelo terrace. Wow, what a place up on the mountain top overlooking the city of Florence! A little on the pricey side but how often can you dine on top of the city.

Anniversary Dinner

Actually, it’s not our anniversary quite yet, but this was one of those places that we usually reserve for special occasions. Osteria Vecchio Cancello. And it was our last day in Italy, so there you go! We had the special Florentine Steak and a couple of first courses. Very good and a beautiful, cozy little place only three blocks from the apartment. They bring the huge T-bone to the table on a scale to show the 1.1kg weight. A steak for two.

Travel Day

Unfortunately, our time in Italy comes to an end. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay but at the end were ready to move on as we felt we had explored nearly everything and ready for another adventure. We met our goal of living like a local in Italy, learning how to navigate the narrow and hazard filled streets, learning how the grocery store process works, and even down to the local coffee shop girl asking how many more days we had left.

Travel days are never much fun and I’ll skip most of the tedium here. Needless to say, it was up early, walk 10 minutes to train station, taxi to airport, check in, flight to Rome, layover two hours, and then flight to Barcelona. Arrived at apartment just after dark, tired and hungry.

The Airbnb apartment is great. The check in process was quick and easy. The next step was finding a dining place at 6pm, because I was tired and hungry. We quickly found out that our part of town is residential and mainly bars and coffee shop/bakeries. The restaurants we found did not open until 9pm. Yes, a culture difference here from Italy where every block had 2-3 excellent restaurants with at least one open at that hour and most opening by 7pm.

We decided to go to the local grocery store and make our own dinner until we could figure out the timing and locations of dining establishments. We do eat dinner in most of the time anyway, so no big deal.

Wrap Up

Thanks for following along! Leave a comment if you wish. In the next update, we fully explore more of this beautiful Spanish city, and will we find good restaurants? Tune in next time. Take care and God Bless.