Florence
Like a mullet - busy(ness) in town, party out in the surrounding hills
Summary
Distance: about 105mi totalClimbing: around 8000 feet total
Descending: same
Difficulty: variable
We did several rides around town, but this was the nicest
Link to photo gallery from this trip
Lori and I in front of the famous Ponte Veccio
When we were on them, bike paths were sometimes, even often, good! Certainly it was nice to go under a very busy 8-way intersection through the bike tunnel (where much signage and road furniture really begged and pleaded with you to walk instead of riding, but we saw that few other cyclists were doing that and so we didn't bother for the most part ourselves). But the city, while bike friendly by the percentages with paths and cycletracks, was hard to get around inside of - unless you just rode fearless amongst the cars, splitting lanes and dodging Vespas.
Fortunately our host was Paola, a sweet old lady who had a lot to say and was excited to get us settled in her rooftop apartment, which was cute and full of her needlework. The rooftops - 2 of them! - offered pretty incredible views of the city and so we spent some time out there, reading and drinking beers and watching the world go by.
Once we were settled in, we had timed entry tickets for the major cathedral in town that afternoon, known as the Duomo, so we hustled over there & found some questionable bike parking. It was hot and we were a little cranky, and we were almost too late for our entry time, which was the last one of the day (and things were being booked many days out). Fortunately, the woman working at the entrance was quite kind and helped us untangle our e-tickets, was gracious when my not-allowed backpack just got stowed in my pocket rather than put away somewhere, and we started up the 463 steps up to the tippy-top of the dome at the back of the pack of tourists.
The view from the top was pretty epic, but this shot was one of my best of the trip
We passed some folks on the way up, which was a challenge in itself since the stairways were quite small and it was hard to find places to actually squeeze past. But then we were at the top, on top of the world, and then we started the long walk down, down, down.... We later visited a neighboring interesting museum about the cathedral, with many details about construction but also just Catholic relics - often pieces of saints bodies! Never have I seen so many reliquaries with bits of old dudes (mostly dudes) in em!
After some snacks, we eventually ended up at a pizzeria that was basically the closest restaurant to the apartment, ate some decent food and met our favorite beer of the tour, Messina salted beer which did not taste very salty but sure did go down smooth on a hot day!
Stopped by a Rothko exhibit wherein I found more to like than I thought I would. Lori loves Rothko and there was a huge exhibit inside of a cool clan castle right in the middle of town.
Day 2, Lori found a neat bike route out in the hills around town that we set out on...and climbed 2000 feet straight out of town. While the hill was kinda straight up for 10 miles, it was also "where all the cyclists were" - we got passed by a few cars, but more than that, we got passed by dozens of cyclists, and saw some delightful, idyllic countryside. I liked this route so much I rode up and back down it on the last morning before we left town...
The last day in Florence, we tried a different bike ride in the other direction out of town (which was still nice, but less bike-crowded. It was, to be fair, no longer the weekend). And, we also had the joy of laundry washed in a washing machine and dried in the Tuscan sun.
The last evening in Florence, we found a hole in the wall, run by one older fellow who spoke no English, to eat at. The language barrier was a bit high but since we decided to order the steak Florentine, the proprietor wouldn't hear of any appetizers and just put a huge hunk of meat on the grill. Since we were the only folks in the restaurant, it was clear that Lori and I were intended to eat the entire side of beef, and we tried valiantly, and failed. The owner showed his chagrin at our failure and rejection of take-home leftovers. The owner was still gracious enough to bring us some free orangecello and orange cheesecake for dessert, and we went home full and happy.
The place was, overall, pretty choked with tourists. We were definitely part of the problem. But we enjoyed the food, the beer, the sights, and Paola's hospitality. It was hot, but temperature could be rather higher to be more like what I'd consider really hot. Glad to report that the historic heat wave was on a different part of the continent than we were!