Florence and Venice

Florence

From Pisa, I took a bus to Florence! Everyone I know who had been to Italy made a point to tell me how much I would love Florence, and it did not disappoint! It was bustling without being too crowded, historic while maintaining cleanliness and modern amenities, and had a lot to see without being too big. Florence proved to be one of the more expensive destinations, so I was in an Air BnB that was about a half an hour walk from the historical center of the city. Florence was my only Air BnB that was like true homestay, and I stayed with a young couple who had lived in Florence all their lives. I had been looking forward to that stay most, but sadly they were not the chatty type, and I didn’t see them around much the whole time I was there.

I didn’t get into the city until dark that night, so I just spent a little time walking around before picking a restaurant for dinner. I ended up seated next to an Italian father and son who struck up a conversation with me because apparently I had pretty skin (?). I realized pretty quickly that they were really wealthy and honestly pretty snobby. The son spent most of their dinner on the phone, which I think is just the rudest thing, and I found out at the end it was even his father’s birthday! Anyway, that meal was mediocre and so was the company, but it was a good reminder that Italy isn’t just magical fairy land 100% of the time.

After dinner I spent some time wandering in and out of the many leather shops. Florence is extremely famous for its leather, and there are stores everywhere bursting at the seams with gloves, belts, and handbags. Of course, most of it is fake, but I had read some articles beforehand about which shops to visit to touch some true Florentine leather. In my wandering, I passed a tiny restaurant called Cantinetta Allegri that looked just small and out of the way enough to serve incredible food, and I stopped to glance at the menu thinking I could eat there the next day. Since it was still early on Italian time (Italians don’t eat until 8:00 at the absolute earliest) the place was empty, and the young chef came out to invite me in for a glass of wine and a chat. I ended up making friends with him and the restaurant’s sole waiter, who were both in their 20s and ran the restaurant themselves. I stayed for a couple of hours talking with them about everything from how long it takes Italians to eat to the difference between champagne and Prosecco, and they treated me to a glass of Prosecco, a glass of Chianti wine, bruschetta, and prosciutto. I was right-the food was excellent!

The next day I began the morning doing another free Rick Steve’s Audio Europe walking tour. This one was Renaissance themed and took me to the Duomo, the David Statue (or standing outside looking at the free replica in my case), and into a few churches along the main street. I’m not much for art and didn’t want to pay to go look at any while I was in Italy, so this tour was the perfect way for me to feel like I was getting some culture. What amazes me most about Italy, and really Europe in general, is how much time and expense artists put into religious themed-art. Churches here are not just churches, they’re palaces. Actually this makes sense. If you’re religious it’s probably the most valuable aspect of your life, but we don’t always treat it that way so obviously in the US. Anyways, I spent the early afternoon sitting in the sun under the Duomo listening to a street musician play majestic music, and it was one of the loveliest parts of my trip.

For the afternoon I had signed up for another cooking class, this one in pizza and gelato. The group was made up of about 10 people, all American, and we had such a great time! By this point in the trip I was pretty starved for some good female company, and I met one student who was studying abroad in Florence and several other older ladies traveling on their own that I ended up chatting with the whole time. The class took place on a hillside just outside of the city, and the view of the surrounding Tuscan hills was breathtaking. Thankfully, we were given wine and bruschetta and allowed to take in the sights for a bit. The campus was complete with an outdoor pizza oven and an indoor kitchen and a dining room, both made completely of windows so that we didn’t have to miss out on the incredible views. We stared by making gelato so that it would have time to chill, which turned out to be remarkably easy with all the right equipment. They even provided our recipes to us in percentages: true professional baking format! While we didn’t use this method, our instructor demonstrated how to make gelato with liquid nitrogen, and it looked like a crazy smoking science experiment. It was ready almost instantly. Apparently you can try that at home, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon for me!

We had two different instructors for the class, and the second brought us outside to begin making our pizza dough. He was the absolute biggest character and had us cracking up the whole class. He referred to the dough as a baby and kept telling us to “squeeze the baby,” “pound the baby,” and “toss the baby.” He also kept openly flirting with a man who was there with his wife on their honeymoon, and everyone was making jokes about it by the end (you can see a video of his antics in the “videos” tab). Everything we made turned out delicious, but I think my biggest lesson from this class was that Italians do NOT slice their pizza. They serve it whole on a plate and just cut bites out of it with a knife and fork. I got to go home with all the recipes and even got a tip on which brand of yeast to buy in Italy and bring back with me!

My last day in Florence was super relaxed, which was just what I needed at this point in my trip. I spent the morning just walking around the different shops and along the river and decided to eat lunch at the local indoor market place (think Reading Terminal if you’re in Philly) like a real local. Embracing the whole trying to be a local thing, I ordered tripe in tomato sauce, which is beef stomach and apparently a famous dish in Florence. It wasn’t bad, just a little rubbery for my taste, but it was cheep and was a break from the insane amounts of pure carbs I’d been eating for a week! Luckily I followed it up with some incredible gelato from Eduardo’s. This day honestly just disappeared on me, and I spent the rest of it alternating between wandering around the city and reading my book in sunny spots. I also bought the cutest little Tuscan sunflower watercolor painting from a street artist that I plan to hang in my bathroom at my future apartment.

Since I had been a bit underwhelmed by the food in Florence thus far, I really did my research to find the best restaurant for dinner, and it paid off big time! I walked quite out of the way to Trattoria II Contadino (hot tip: I learned that Trattoria usually means home-cooked food and reasonable prices!). They had an incredible deal that gave me two courses for 13 euro, and it was one of the very best meals of the trip. I started with a cheese plate and then had the gorgonzola gnocchi, which was buttery and absolutely mouth watering!

Quick Recap: Florence

Food: Eduardo’s- Gelato

Trattoria II Contadino-gnocchi

Cooking class-Walkabout Florence Tour on TripAdvisor

Accommodation: Air BnB

Activity: Rick Steve’s Audio Europe- Renaissance Walking Tour

Venice

The next day was a big travel day as I finally headed to my last stop: Venice! The bus ride that day felt particularly long and not particularly smooth, and by the time I got to Venice I was feeling pretty beat and really lonely. I had done some research on the bus about where to get pizza, but it turned out to be a total bust (do not try Pizza 2000). The city itself was breathtaking, of course, and I spent the evening wandering around and marveling at how beautiful everything was. Venice was the only city that was exactly how I’d pictured it, and it was amazing to climb all of the tiny bridges that stretched over the tiny canals. But everywhere I walked, couples strolled romantically together or families on vacation stopped to take pictures. The solo travel was starting to get to me, and as I sat and ate a whole tiramisu by myself (not good enough to be worth it, I might add) and watched a rat scamper next to me and jump into the canal, I have to admit I was feeling pretty darn homesick. (I know, how privileged to be sad while eating dessert in Italy, but I was a little bit). And of course it didn’t help that my family was celebrating Thanksgiving that day at my house. I went back to my hostel pretty early that night thinking I would just call my parents and head to bed early so that I could wake up in a better mood to explore Venice!

Unfortunately, this also happened to be the worst accommodation I booked on the trip. Venice is just so darn expensive that I really had no other option, but the place definitely had a funky odor and had no area to lock any belongings. I was also stuck sharing a room with just two boys the first night- inherently untrustworthy creatures, I assumed. However, as I tucked in and planned to spend what little I had left of my evening watching a Christmas movie on Netflix, one of my roommates came in, and we struck up a conversation. It turned out that he was a German architecture student who had come to Venice for an architecture exhibit happening that weekend, but his friends had all had to leave the day before, and he was on his own. We ended up going for a beer and some ice cream and had a lovely chat that lasted for hours. Sometimes it blows my mind the way things are provided right when I need them most, and not a moment too soon.

The next morning I woke up knowing it was the last day of my trip and determined to soak up all of Italy that I could. I must have walked for hours just winding around all of the little streets and crossing the tiny bridges. It’s pretty much impossible to have any sense of direction in Venice because everything twists and turns so much, so by the time I was ready for a break I had no idea where I was. I ended up at a tiny coffee shop next to one of the canals that caught my attention because it was playing American Country Music! In Italy! I sat there for hours reading and drank two whole pots of tea while I watched pedestrians and boats go by. It was the perfect afternoon to end my trip. I then walked just across the street to grab my last Italian pizza, and while it was good, the staff was a little rude and made me sit outside even though it was cold. I’m assuming it was because by this point in the trip I’d been wearing the same pants for a week, hadn't used hair conditioner in 10 days, and didn’t look great, but they didn’t need to be so obvious about it!

Walking home turned out to be a challenge since I’d lost my way so badly earlier, and my walking directions kept trying to take me on a water taxi that I did not want to take and did not want to buy a ticket for. By some crazy coincidence I ended up meeting another student trying to follow the same walking directions who was from the British Virgin Islands and was able to walk the whole way while chatting with him, which made the time go quicker and made me feel a little less lost.

Overall, Venice was a beautiful city and I’m incredibly glad I saw it. I had dreamed of visiting since I was little and first found out a city could be built on water, and the architecture did not disappoint. However, in my opinion you don’t go to Venice to get a true feel for Italy, and you definitely don’t go to Venice to experience true Italian cuisine. All the cities I visited were touristy, but this one was truly all about the tourists. But if you need a perfect romantic getaway or just want to see a truly unique and beautiful city, Venice is a great spot!

Quick Recap: Venice

Food: Nothing worth writing home about

Accommodation: Venezia Ormesini1 (DON’T STAY HERE IF YOU CAN AVOID IT)

Cheers!

Summer