Tuesday, 29 May 2012 - Bel vedere

Today was another walking day - having a car in Florence seems stupid really.  We decided to walk around our side of the Arno and look at some more natural stuff.  So we targeted Piazzale Michelangelo for its great views of the city, and the Boboli Gardens for the greenery.  It was a nice walk, but quite a climb, and we ended up at Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte.  We knew it was up here somewhere, and it was easy to find (so we found it).  Again, another beautiful church.  It seemed very old inside, even compared to all of the other old buildings.  Some beautiful paintings and art work of course.

Bridges over the Arno from Piazzale Michelangelo

From there we descended down to the Piazzale Michelangelo.  First stop was an early lunch at a caffe.  Good.  This area is a great lookout, built for the spectacular views over the city.  It also has one of the copies of Michelangelo's David.  As well as the views there were a few stalls selling stuff for tourists.  Well that's what we are so we bought a few things.  Spent quite a while here just soaking in the views.  (Note that the Blog title picture, of Florence, is taken from here).

Then we marched onwards to the Boboli Gardens, which led us through another park.  All pretty but quite tiring - it was getting warm.  On the way we came across Fort Belvedere, but didn't go in.  Spot the segue from this post's title.  For those of you not fluent in Italian 'bel vedere' means nice view.

We eventually found the gardens and paid the price to get in.  We spend an hour or two in here and saw a bit of it.  Very nice, but we were getting tired and thirsty (never found anywhere selling drinks) so we found an exit and left and slowly meandered back to the apartment, stopping for a soft drink and/or a gelato.  Saw some nice art work for sale in a little square.  Very tempting but not easy to carry for the rest of our holidays.

Tricia's Diary put it thusly:

Walking day to Piazzale Michelangelo (look out).  Went to Abbey Basilica di San Miniato di Monte.  We then walked to Giardino di Boboli.  Gardens quite nice.  Tea at apartment.

In the Boboli Gardens