First Time in Florence

We only spent 3 days in Florence – definitely not enough for a ‘proper’ visit to the beautiful capital of Italy’s Tuscany region! So we stuck with the top sites recommended by trusty travel sites and forums since we had so little time in the city.

We’ll definitely be back!

Florence was our next stop after Rome.

Where we went in Florence

The Duomo

This was the cathedral with the most gorgeous exterior of our Italy trip – and the entrance was free!

The Ufizzi Gallery

The Ufizzi Gallery is huge! If you really take the time to admire and read more about each piece of art that’s hosted in the Gallery, it’ll probably take you weeks to complete your visit. We spent about 4 hours on our visit, and only covered a fraction!

One of the pros of travelling during the COVID pandemic is that the tourist sites are less crowded than they were pre-COVID. There was a long queue to get into the Ufizzi Gallery and crowds of people surrounding the most famous art pieces when we were there, so I can only imagine how packed it must have been pre-COVID during the peak season!

Ponte Vecchio

Fun fact: Only goldsmiths and jewellers are allowed to have their shops on the Old Bridge because before 1593, industrial waste from previous butcheries and tanners caused a putrid stench in the area.

Day Tour with Walkabout

Since we only had 3 short days in Florence, we decided to go on a day tour to the surrounding Tuscany sites to save time travelling. We booked the day tour with Walkabout after my sister’s recommendation and the good reviews we read online.

It was a little confusing finding the meeting point, but after we got to the spot, everyone was accounted for and we walked a short distance to the tour bus. The tour guide was great! She had little stories and interesting bite-sized info to share while we were on the road to Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa. But there were also times she let us rest our eyes (especially on the way back to Florence and after lunch).

Siena

Our first stop was to Siena, known for its medieval brick buildings. We had another local guide join us in Siena and she took us around to the famous sites, like the oldest bank in Europe, the striking Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and Piazza del Campo.

After the guided tour, we were given some time to roam around the old town on our own.

Siena was beautiful, and we’ll have to come back on our own in the future to slowly explore the city! We definitely didn’t have time to do much during the tour!

Traditional Tuscan lunch at a Chianti vineyard

After Siena, we were driven to Fattoria Poggio Alloro for a traditional Tuscan lunch and wine tasting. They were really generous with the wine and you could even get refills (if you could drink so much so quickly!). We tried 3 different wines and had a glass of champagne. Unfortunately, I’m not a wine drinker so I only sipped a little of each for a taste.

The lunch was pretty good with 3 courses and a basket of bread. They were also generous with the food and you could ask for a refill if you were still hungry. But we were stuffed!

After the very-filling lunch, we explored the vineyard (which was barren in winter) and took in the rolling hills that Tuscany is so famous for.

San Gimignano

To be honest, we’ve never heard of San Gimignano before going on the day tour. But the UNESCO World Heritage Centre famed for its medieval architecture captivated our hearts.

Once again, we sadly didn’t have enough time to properly explore the town. And it’s on our list of places to revisit in the future!

We tried some of the “World’s Best Gelato” at Gelato Dondoli (which was also where we saw the most people gathered in San Gimignano). They had so many interesting flavours I’ve never seen before, including their trademarked Crema di Santa Fina® (cream with saffron and pine nuts) and Champelmo® (pink grapefruit and sparkling wine). Delicious!

Side note:

I’m wearing Invisalign and have to wear it daily for a minimum of 20 hours. Because it was hard to find a public toilet in San Gimignano, I decided to try eating the gelato with my Invisalign on (not recommended!). I didn’t realise the gelato flavours we chose had nuts in them and I managed to crack my Invisalign while biting down – which I only found out later that night!

Pisa

We arrived in Pisa in time for a breathtaking pink sunset and the leaning tower was bathed in its glow. The tower was obviously tilted at an angle, and I’m not sure why some comments I saw online said it’s barely leaning in real life!

And of course, we had to do the mandatory cheesy, touristy poses with the tower!

There wasn’t much else to do in Pisa. Or perhaps we just weren’t given enough time during the tour to roam around to find out. But I think visiting Pisa once in my life is good enough.

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After Florence, we went on to Venice to spend our Christmas weekend.

Ending off the post with food pictures!