There wasn’t a great deal to do today, and the only fixed time was my dome access for the cathedral at 11:15. With this in mind I didn’t get up for my run until 07:00, and with only four easy miles to do, I was back in the apartment before 08:00. My route had been along the River Arno, passing by several bridges, crossing over, and then running back along that side.
This was a really slow start to the morning as we didn’t have that much left to do that we could fit into the day. Once we were ready, we set off in the direction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. We both had different tickets for this. We could both go inside the cathedral, the baptistry, and the Santa Reparta; but I also had access to Giotto’s belltower, and the dome.
Even though we’d been past previously, my sister was surprised just how close the cathedral is. As the baptistry was nearest, and open, we did that first after circumnavigating it. Inside it is just a single room with a decorated roof using gold leaf - nothing particularly impressive. We’d still got some time until the cathedral opened, so my sister found somewhere comfortable to sit, connected to the Wi-Fi that was provided with our tickets, and I went up the bell tower.
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It doesn’t take too long to get up the bell tower, and it’s not that much shorter than the dome as there’s only a few metres in it. I think under better circumstances my sister could have made it up this one as the stairs are fully enclosed so you can’t see down, and there’s a couple of platforms on the way up where she could easily have had a rest. With her ankle though it would have made the stairs themselves painful.
Whilst I was up the bell tower I had the idea that my sister could join the queue for the cathedral, but she didn’t know where it was. I did send her a message explaining how to get there, but she didn’t receive it until we were both in the queue at around 10:00. We’d still got fifteen minutes until the cathedral opened, but even then it was a slow moving one.
Fifteen minutes later the queue had moved maybe twenty metres, and ahead of us was just as much queue to cover. The problem was, my dome access was 11:15 so the more time we spent in the queue, the less time I’d have to look inside. After another five minutes, my sister and I agreed that she would go inside the cathedral no matter what, and could either wait inside, or rejoin the queue on my behalf when she was done. This was if we’d not gone in within ten minutes.
The queue did not move for the next ten minutes so I told my sister to enjoy the cathedral as I went to join the queue for the dome. At 11:17 it started to move as people entered and started their ascent. Once past security I could see my sister sitting down inside so messaged her, but then lost my signal as I started my climb up between the thick stone walls. There are a lot of steps up to the top, but when you reach the base of the dome you do half a lap on the inside, and then continue taking the steps up as you’re now between concrete on either side - on the right-hand side it is curved up to make it clear where you now are. Eventually there are a few metal steps that take up onto the cupola and you can do a lap and see the surrounding city.
From the cupola the view of the cathedral isn’t so good as you’re very high up, around ninety metres, and it’s a steep angle. You can of course see some of the roof below, the bell tower, and the baptistry. I was going to head straight back down when I was done as my sister had decided to join the queue for the Santa Reparta, but I had to wait. They don’t allow anyone to descend until there’s a big enough gap in the flow of people coming up. The last of the people coming up had a meltdown and couldn’t make the last few steps. When they descended, this was my chance to head down also.
The first part of the descent is something I’m certain my sister would have struggled with as you could see the stairs curve down over the first part of the dome and it looks like they just disappear. I got down these fast, and found myself catching up with a group coming up, so had to wait briefly. Once they were past I continued all the way to the ground floor in around five minutes, despite the constant winding stairs being enough to make anyone dizzy. As I reached the ground floor I could see a little more of the inside of the cathedral, and then exited to join my sister in the queue for the Santa Reparta.
This queue is the one I’d recommend for anyone with a ticket as it’s far shorter than the cathedral queue, and gives you the same access. Once inside the cathedral we headed straight down below the cathedral and photographed the ruins that they’d found below. When we’d finished there I could then look around the rest of the cathedral without needing to queue again. It would have been a massive time saver if we’d known this sooner.
It was now midday, and we’d decided we wanted proper pizza in Italy once, so we were going to get a slice from a pizzeria today. We found one on the square that did slices for €1.80 per 100g, but the slices they immediately cut for you are very big, so with a soft drink these came to €10.00 each. I went for a meatball one, and they were chunky and plentiful. It was far more than I wanted to be eating at this time of the day. This place had seating in the basement, or under a parasol outside, so we found one that was in the shade, and slowly made our way through the pizza - neither of us managed to finish it.
On our way to the Basilica di San Lorenzo we passed a chocolate shop that was giving out free samples, so we tried one of their limoncello ones before we continued on. This basilica cost €9.00 to go in, though I had my doubts over whether it was worth it or not. There is the tomb of Cosimo Medici here, but it’s difficult to see through a gate. I wondered if the Cappelle Medicee had better access to this, but I wasn’t sure whether this was something we could see or not. I knew it didn’t open until 13:15, so it opened up whilst we were inside, and I’d not seen anything like that.
Despite how much we’d paid to go in, the washrooms here are still €1.00 to use them. We later found the ones in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella seem to be free, but they were far from clean as you could smell them from a couple of rooms away. When we left Basilica di San Lorenzo we went over the road to get some gelato for what may have been the last time this trip. We both had small tubs for €3.00, and I went for salted caramel this time.
We sat on the stairs outside of the basilica to eat this, then had a casual walk to the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. I thought one of the rooms we’d been to inside the first basilica had been the Cappelle Medicee, but when we walked around the corner I saw a queue that would have meant paying another €9.00 to enter, and decided it was not worth it.
On our way into the second basilica, someone approached Lindsay and asked her where she was from, and her name. I could see where this was going from previous experiences, but I stayed out of the way to see how she’d respond to it, ready to step in if it looked like I needed to. The woman gave her a ‘gift’ of a bracelet, and then just as she turned to join me she was asked to pay for it. My sister handed it back, and apologised saying she had no money on her and continued into the basilica. I think she’d handled that pretty well - when I’d seen that tactic in Egypt I’d not understood then either.
For this entrance it was €7.50, but my sister was struggling too much at this point so although we both paid to go in, she didn’t really see that much of it. This one has a courtyard to one side and this has several rooms and corridors off that, with a bit of a museum too. I felt of the two basilicas we’d seen in the afternoon this was the weaker of the two. This brought our tourism of Florence to an end, with most of the afternoon still spare. We decided it’d be a good idea to go back to the apartment and relax until it was time for the online check-in for the flights, and to then head out for food.
If her ankle hadn’t been so bad today, then we would have gone up to the Piazza Michaelangelo to have seen the sunset over Florence from there, and perhaps have visited the Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte on the way up as well. As it was though, neither of these would have been possible. It was no great loss for me though as I had at least seen the sunrise from the piazza.
I’d planned on visiting Trattoria Zà Zà for our meal as it’d been recommended to me, but unfortunately we’d since found out that you need to book ahead of time as it’s one of the most popular restaurants in Florence. Instead, we found the amusingly named PaStation which made all sorts of pasta. We’d already decided our last meal in Italy would be some ravioli, or as I like to call it: a game of pasta parcel.
We headed out an hour before they opened and took a few photographs as we wandered around the River Arno area. When it was time to order I went for ravioli with Ragù Toscano sauce. This provided a bit of beef for the meal, as the ravioli was stuffed with pesto and cheese. The meal cost €35 between us with drinks, which again wasn’t too bad considering the prices of some of the meals we’d had in Florence so far.
Whilst we had been inside the sun had set, and it was now dark so we wandered between the Pone Sant Trinite, the Ponte Vecchio, and various streets until we reached the cathedral so we could get nighttime photographs of Florence. I noticed street traders were selling light-up toys that they’d throw into the air and they glide back down. What was strange about this is I saw the same somewhere in Germany last year - it seems when you look closer, many European cities are more similar than we think.
