Europe on a shoestring - Day 7 (Florence) [September 30, 2005]

We arrived at Firenze late in the night – and managed to get to the hostel around midnight. Thankfully it was walking distance from the station, after walking around with 35 lbs. strapped to your back on cobblestone streets (which seem to be in every major city that we visited) you want the hostel to be near the station! And it was a pleasant surprise indeed – quite art noveau to be precise – with brightly painted frescos adorning every inch of space and invitations to add your own graffiti too!!! Certainly spoke volumes of the kind of stuff we would be doing here for sure. Along with a counter clerk with shall we say odd sense of humor and his huge shaggy dog – we knew in an instant this would be a pleasant experience. Coupled with an in-house Laundromat, free internet… i for one certainly wasn’t complaining. We got a lovely room to ourselves – all for around Euro 30 a night – which rocked.

Archi Rossi - ROCKS!!!

It over-looked a small enclosed courtyard – which I think is quite common around these parts and was very well equipped. The bathroom also came with a ‘bidet’… must be getting a lot of French tourists around here.
 Next morning after a free and filling breakfast (eggs, bacon, bread, croissants and cappuccino – well yeah I guess we pigged but we would require it for our city walks for sure) we set off on our Firenze adventures.
 First stop was the Duomo – towering over entire Firenze. Now come to think of it – Firenze, Venice all these towns must have looked pretty much the same for the last 200-400 years, nearly all the buildings look old and it has a very quaint feel to it.

Duomo

The Duomo has as its main attractions its campanile, the baptistery doors and the dome itself – a masterpiece of Bruneleschi which at its time draw awe even from greats such as Michelangelo. Anyways, after wearily looking at the line waiting for the Duomo to open, and resisting the temptation to climb up the Campanile (you have to PAY to climb 500 odd steps…. but I guess that’s the only way to maintain these treasures) we took our customary photographs outside and well … joined the line.

That was a looong climb up... bumped my head multiple times.... medevial Italians must have been short people

But…. 400 vertigo inducing steps later – realized what all those people were eagerly awaiting to see – the huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggge dome with the frescos of the last judgment in vivid imagery painted by Giorgio Vasariand and Federico Zuccari. Small wonder people used to go to church so regularly then – the clergy would have got them half scared to death by indicating what was in store for them if they didn’t… A panoramic view awaited us when we stepped out onto the exterior of the dome, and then could appreciate the towering spectacle that was built – just as a show of one-upmanship over the cathedral of Pisa.

Firenze - with the Campanile in the foreground

One thing I did realize – even being a Catholic – that not all that was done in the name of religion at that time was remotely religious, being more motivated by greed and a insatiable hunger for power, resulting in epic struggles across generations between the noble class of the principle states in Italy for domination of the papacy – and with it the authority over the lands of Italy. Thankfully now in the recent times with people like John Paul II we have moved towards a more spiritual papacy.
 After the Duomo – whose interiors are also spectacular we moved on to Ghiberti’s baptistery doors (or at least the imitations of it) of whom many called the ‘Gateways to Paradise’ – and rightly so. The 3D metal work was truly reaching its forte during this period – and Ghiberti’s winning showpiece is one of its hallmarks. All adorned as scenes from the Bible in vivid detail with each relief detailing an entire story.
 By then the walking, climbing and potting about had made us hungry and the every resourceful Samir guided us to the Mercato Centrale (Firenze’s equivalent to Bombay’s Crawford market). A huge enclosed market selling mainly vino, vegetables and meat… lots and lots of meat – all on display. I guess living in India has made one used to such displays – but well the Italians seem to have a fetish for the innards of animals too .

aaah here we are - Restaronto Nerbone (circa 1872)

 But that did not deter the will of three young adventurers who were determined – when in Firenze do as the Florentines do.
 So from the local bustling food store three dishes were ordered – Spezzatine (that’s some beef gravy), Trippe (muscular lining of cow’s stomach) and arista (that’s pork) along with some bread ‘pane’ washing it down with some vino. The food surprisingly was quite flavorful – not too different from Indian type curries, and so much different from the typical American Italian mindset of spaghetti and pizza for sure. And check this out – all for under Euro 15… now that’s what I call a real bargain.

The Fiorentine spread

 After a nice lunch (now I can really picture why Italians need a siesta… after all that food its difficult to walk around in the sun) we moved on (helped a bit with some gelato of course) to the Accademia which housed possibly one of the most famous statues of all time – Michelangelo’s David. Again, advance booking helped us avoid the line which was 3-4 blocks long. Given our tight schedule, I should say planning was a key part of our travel.
 Although the Accademia has many treasures, David is just something else… towering above everything around it, Michelangelo’s masterpiece built from marble the other sculptors rejected is quite something. Interesting sideshows are the computer animations of the restoration of David, and half finished slaves, depicting his sublime ability to induce a sense of emotion and movement in his art. This was Michelangelo at his best – since he considered himself to be first and foremost a sculptor and less of a painter.
 Before I forget, there was also a Ferrari store near the Accademia filled with all sorts of F1 memorabilia highlighting Ferrari’s performance over the years in racing. In addition to the ever-present limited edition scale models (at full scale prices) there were actual parts, and development designs (exhaust pipes etc.) of previous championship cars. Oddly the most recent season was absent, perhaps reflecting Ferraris’ dismal performance this year.
 We then trudged to the Boboli gardens of Florence – but arrived a wee bit too late, and after some aimless people watching moved on trying to find other similar such garden spots. However after a few tries and being evicted from private gardens just moved on over the river and sat on a bridge reminiscing over the days events.

Along the Arno river

On our way back helped with some ciabatta bread we stopped by St. Maria Novella, one of the churches in the vicinity. In the evening we went out again to eat… this time the food was strictly ok in nature – and cost a whole lot more… sadly markets were closed otherwise there were no guesses where we would have headed.