Day 19 Florence
Dinner last night was a bit of an experience at La Spada. It was a place specializing in meat and they took their meat very seriously. A lot of it was aged and different cuts were available. Everything was first cooked over an open fire and then there was some kind of finishing off in an oven. Great hunks of meat hung from hooks around the kitchen and the chef made a great show of hacking off hunks with a broad bladed knife that looked like a machete.
We called the waitress over and confirmed what we were getting in set menu 2 and waited. When the food did arrive we were completely confused as there was an antipasto we didn’t expect and instead of a mixed roast (rabbit, pork, lamb and beef) we got an enormous slab of meat as big as 2 palms. I saw a little bit of pink and sent it for a bit more time in the oven. I know that restaurants hate people ordering meat well done but it’s what I like and I’m paying. At least we got the dessert we expected. The meal was very tasty so we didn’t make a fuss but there was WAY too much and it would have been nicer if we got what we ordered. It was clearly very popular with locals and a steady stream of them came in looking for a table only to find they had a long wait for one to come free.
The saying “beautiful one day and perfect the next” certainly applies to Florence. We woke to another crisp, sunny morning here and the blue skies just stretched forever into the distance. Breakfast was again at our local café with an extra croissant today, and after that we walked across the nearest bridge over the Arno to the West Bank. We walked past a spillway that the local authorise had constructed on the Arno to level out the water’s passage through the city. This was a massive construction as least four metres across and the full span of the river. Someone had painted in gigantic white letter across the top “I love Riki”. Probably some love Loren teenager we thought.
It was Sunday morning and I wanted to visit the church that we saw whenever we opened the shutters of our room on the river side of the building. We made our way through residential streets that looked less than prosperous. In one of the streets there was a little shine attached to the front of one of the buildings. It was to Riki! Apparently Riki was a young dark haired man, who had died some time ago. He had a vague resemblance to an Elvis impersonator and was clearly the love of someone’s life.
The Carmelite church we were heading for was open but nothing was happening so we wended our way on to the next one a few streets away where the service was in full flight. We bagged our cameras as we know they don’t like tourists during religious events. The gypsy beggars were already out and we tipped a couple of them a coin as they were quiet and respectful.
We knew this was going to be a long walking day today as we had planned a route that would give us a panoramic view of the city from nearby hills whilst avoiding renaissance museums and galleries. We walked next to great sections of the old city walls and found the most gigantic gate which would have kept people safe in days past. This barely figured on the tourist map even though it was a UNESCO heritage site. Next to this was the Boboli Garden that is next to the Pitti Palace but instead of going through there we walked through the public park next door which led us through the garden of the Institute of Arts.
We walked through the institute garden to a clearly very prosperous area as we wound our way uphill towards the Belvedere. Estates were high-walled and large. The streets were no wider than a lane way and were beautifully cobbled. There were some people spilling out of a high church and well dressed groups of day trippers also taking the same path. We noticed them entering a gateway just opposite the Belvedere fort so we followed them thinking of it as a brief diversion. It was the Bardini Villa and horticultural gardens. This was such a find. The villa and its grounds had been restored and become a modern gallery. The work of Llewellyn Lloyd was showing over three levels and both Johnny and I loved his work. It was refreshing to see some modern art. The house was lovely and so were the paintings but the views of the city of Florence were breathtaking! The gardens were also wonderful with an enormous stone outdoor staircase giving access to various terraced areas. There was also an orchard, market garden and a huge rose planting. The paths wound us through the estate leading us to so many little rooms and areas within the garden.
Eventually we exited the estate in the familiarly narrow winding streets of Florence and discovered another treasure a short distance away. From the outside it looked like a jewellery workshop, but the artist working in there, Allessandro Dari Gioielli, was constructing the most wonderfully intricate and complicated music boxes with moving parts that looked like watches. The creations were tangible flights of fantasy.
From here we headed towards the Michaelangelo Piazza which would give us a different panoramic view of the city. We’d had a coffee and a nut bar at the Bardini but we were now ready for a bite to eat. We passed a little hole in the wall place no bigger than my car, but it had a long line of people ordering panini and a glass of wine. We joined the line and were not disappointed. The panini with mayo, ham and egg was delicious and we ate it as we walked along the road.
The way up to the Michaelangelo Piazza was by way of a mountain of oversized steps. We heaved ourselves up ever upwards and gratefully found a staging post terrace half way up. After a short rest up we went again. The Italians here stay slim not because of the Mediterranean diet but because of these buggering steps. When we got to the top we could immediately see that it was worth the suffering. The view across the city was completely beautiful and afforded us a great view down the river where the still water mirrored the long sequence of bridges. The landscape was bathed in autumnal colours. A couple of young artists had set up their easels and were vainly trying to paint the glory that was before them. A singer and guitarist used the wide stairs as his private auditorium and performed with enthusiasm and strong applause for the day trippers. Oh yes, and there was a bronze by Michaelangelo, a copy of his legendary marbled David, but this one was in splendid towering isolation and looking into the distant Tuscan hills.
It was a long walk back to the hotel over the next bridge and along the river walk that took us under the Ponte Vecchio and back through the streets thronging with tourists. Everyone, locals and visitors had come out to enjoy the golden sunshine and a drink in one of the many cafes that lined the riverbank. It was lovely to see so many people walking hand in hand on a lazy Sunday afternoon, in such a beautiful place.
As always, my primary concern when we got back to the hotel was to check that the internet was working and to complete the blog. No, the internet was still down but Aurelia felt very confident that it would be up by tomorrow. I think she has a vested interest in getting it up and running as she needs it for her business.
The sun has set now and the warmth of the day is just as memory as night closes in and brings with it a chill. The evening temperatures are expected to fall to one degree overnight.
We had a lovely dinner not 50 yards away from the hotel. We were both a bit tired of big meals and planned on something simple so the Trattoria Tre Merli seemed to fit the bill. When we bowled in at 7.30 the atmosphere in the restaurant seemed cool and the waiter a trifle unsmiling. What the hell, all we wanted was a quick meal. Johnny ordered a little plate of bruschetta and pate to share and then a tagliatelle with wild boar sauce. I had a hamburger. I guessed the Italians are very literal because what arrived was a lonely hamburger and a sprig of parsley. I asked the waiter if there was a roll, or maybe chips. The poor guy was all apologies. He had a problem with the people that left as we arrived re the temperature of the food and though he had returned it to the kitchen, they had refused to pay for their meal. The cost of that meal would come out of his wage. With all this happening he had forgotten to tell us that sides should be ordered with the burger. He hurried up the kitchen to get me a plate of deliciously crispy roast potatoes. The meal was actually terrific and that little chat we had with him helped him to relax. We found out that this was his last night there. After 14 years as a waiter and 8 at this trattoria he had had enough, given his notice in and was going to Germany to restart his life in a job where he could see his wife and daughter for more than a couple of hours a week. He has a brother in Stuttgart and a sister in nearby Switzerland so he thinks that things will be ok. When we ordered a dessert, I joked with him that we weren’t paying the bill because the creme brûlée was not cold enough. He had a laugh with us and brought out complimentary glasses of liqueur. He was a good guy and we wished him good fortune with the move. It was a very good night.
Tomorrow after breakfast we check out and pick up a little car that we will use to explore the Tuscan countryside for a few days. Ciao.
