florence

Getting the train from Venice, I arrived to the leather shops and markets of Florence! 

Conveniently I was staying at a nice hostel right next to the Duomo! It was completed in 1436. Unfortunately this photo misses the huge brick dome on top, however the distictive fasade and Giottos tower are pretty amazing as well. The whole building orients you, if you get lost, just head for the Duomo - you can usually see it.

From a distance! Its easy to miss the significance of domes and how difficult they are to construct, especially at height in the 13th century. Brunelleschi had to do all kinds of clever tricks to build it, as well as convince others that he was the man for the job. To this day it is still the largest dome in the world which is constructed of brick.

Inside you can see the paintings on the inside of Brunelleschi's dome, which was started by Giorgio Vasari in 1568. It took the small team of artists 10 years to paint this, but unfortunately the scale and detail is very far away from the viewer to appreciate! But I guess you can't steal the show from Brunelleschi - you can really feel his presense here, the years of the work put into this cathedral... or maybe its because he is buried in the basement!

After the strangely quiet streets of late November Venice, in Florence it felt as though there were thousands of tourists all of a sudden! The streets are very well suited to the traffic, and in tandem give the place a nice lively feel.

Random street art guys - unfortunately no perspective distortions!

Lamb! You quickly get used to seeing all of the religious stuff in Italy.

This is the Basilica of San Lorenzo, which having been consecrated in 393, is one of the oldest cathedrals in Florence! The existing design is by Brunelleschi, and the building houses various other archectectually interesting works such as the Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy and Michelangelo's Laurentian Library. The libary contains thousands of old books collected by the Medici family. This mostly escaped my attention however, I just gawked at it like a silly tourist!

Garden inside the Basilica where no doubt members of the Medici family moped about while owning everything. Nearby was a cellar containing various antiques and religious artefacts. This area of Florence is very much covered in stone, tiles and markets, it seems a shame this garden isn't more public and accessible.

Money wall! I believe this is left over from a public street artwork.

I just need a ladder.

The streets are really quite nice for walking! And the city centre isn't very large so it's quite comfortable. I made my way towards the Uffuzi Gallery.

There are some cool statues on display at the Loggia dei Lanzi - this is Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus. Beating him with a club.

The Rape of Polyxena.

Its quite a nice sculpture to explore actually - lots of angles to see from.

Perseus with the head of Medusa!

I always think these Medici lions look sad, probably because lions should look ahead ready to kill and eat things. But no, eyes up to heaven.

A short walk away is the Uffuzi gallery, which I went to the next day. In 1560 it was originally an office building! (Uffuzi means Offices) designed by Giorgio Vasari, who was an archetect as well as a painter (he was one of the small team painting Brunelleschi's dome as well).

Nearby stands the Ponte Vecchio. Above the bridge, there runs part of the Vasari Corridor, which connects his Uffuzi Gallery to the nearby palace Palazzo Pitti, draped over various houses and towers in its path.

Walking accross the bridge.

The brown river Arno!

I found a nice little lookout point and climbed out to it for what was actually some rather mediocre photos. It was a nice place to stand for a while though, watching the river splashing below. It was also a little resting point before climbing up a popular lookout nearby.

A green mouldy David greeted me after a brief climb to Piazzale Michelangelo! As you might expect, there are actually a few davids positioned around town.

The view from Piazzale Michelangelo as I caught my breath after the brief climb.

Further up the hill is the San Miniato al Monte, where the view is slightly better! Unfortunately the church was closed on this seemingly regular day - I think it was a Monday.

Looking away from the city, its almost a picture of Tuscany! My quick tour of Florence sure has given me the appetite for more, and I hope to revisit Florence some day, armed with more time and organisation. As for now, onto Rome!