Florence was our next stop after Venice (for which there are now photos added, below). We stayed 3 nights there and spent our days doing the usual touristy things while taking in some of the finer local cuisine! After wandering up and down our street searching for a great little restaurant called Osteria I Brincello that Matt found on Tripadivsor (a god send of a website by the way!) we realized that it was quite literally directly across the street from our hotel. Ok, so they're not always spot-on with the locations in the map feature! Our food was simple yet delicious, the way most Italian food is, and I enjoyed what was probably the best tiramisu I've ever had! We stopped to enjoy the varied goods offered at the street markets on the way to Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Duomo and continued on across the Ponte Vecchio.
Basilica, no photo of the Duomo just yet... sorry.
Ponte Vecchio, the whole bridge is filled with jewelers shops on the inside!
Next we were off to Pisa. There's a tower there, it leans and well that's about all there is to see there. Seriously.
Obligatory tourist photo...
After Pisa, it was off to Naples. Naples is total dump. I have never in my life seen so much garbage in one place! It just went on and on and on...
This picture shows exactly what you'd see on nearly every block. We especially liked this one because the guy in front of his garage had to actually clear a path in order to drive in and out.
But, it wasn't all so bad. We had pizza at a restaurant that's been around since 1870. 1870!! Naples is the birth place of pizza and Pizzeria da Michele knows what they're doing. The menu offers either Margherita or Marinara pizza and beer, water or Coke. That's it, that's all.
Note the pic of Julia Roberts on the wall. This is the restaurant used in the movie Eat, Pray, Love for the Pizza scene!
Another plus side to Naples was the view from the hill top, which was incredible!! Mount Vesuvius in the background!
Speaking of Vesuvius... we took a day trip to Pompeii and seeing the ruins left by the Vesuvius eruption was mind blowing! The city was buried in 79 CE and parts of it are still full of vivid colours and elaborate details. We saw the famous (and eery) casts of bodies that were made by pouring plaster into the hollow spaces in the ground left after people decomposed. Lovely, I know. We also saw what's left of the basilica, forum, temples, homes, acquiducts... and a brothel!
And... that's that! Next update will be a Roman/Parisian hybrid. Cities like Rome and Paris deserve their own blog posts :)
Ciao!!
Good job with the tower shot! Very cool about the pizzeria, but what's up with garbage?
ReplyDeleteMmmmmm....that pizza looks so good! I like the garbage shot...hehehe. (I can't believe people live like that though! Today I got a bit of a sunburn at the beach!! Summer is waiting for you guys here in Vic...finally! : )
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