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Monday 31 March 2014

More Florence!

As promised more photos- a lot!!!!
On our first afternoon in Florence we walked from the hotel with the intention of booking in for the next day at the Uffizi. We found our way down to the Arno and walked along by the river. Along the way we spotted a church across a little piazza and couldn't resist a look inside. The Church was The Chiesa di Ognissanti and from the outside looked quite small.....
 ...now bearing in mind that this was the first church I had visited in Florence can you imagine how I felt when I walked in?
This was the sight that greeted me! Hmmmm!
The little chapels around the sides were amazing and then to find that one of the paintings on the wall had been done by Botticelli....guess what, I was so enthralled that I forgot to take a photo of it!
We had a coffee after that and by the time we reached the Uffizi even though it was before the time that they should have sold tickets the man refused to serve us! (We queued for an hour and twenty minutes the next day, fortunately it went quite quickly!)
On the way to find something to eat hubby took this fabulous photo just as it was getting dark and the buildings were lit up.

The next day we enjoyed our visit to the Uffizi - we were there quite a while and despite hubby's usual attitude to anything arty he was just as taken as I was! I'm not including any photos here as I don't want to spoil it if you get to visit yourself and most paintings are fairly well covered in books and Internet if you care to look.
This is the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio - another truly stunning place!

Remember the picture of the inside of San Miniato al Monte in my previous post - this is the view from the steps going up to it. We caught a bus to Piazalle Michaelangelo the realised that the stop before was actually near the foot of the steps. We walked up to the church from the other side and I was quite disappointed considering that the church had been recommended to us by a local - then we found that it was the wrong church so back down we went and up another set of steps to the right one!!! Result ...and a half!!!!


Some interesting characters here too, just in front of the church
The wrong church!!
We also liked Basilica di Santa Croce not far from the Uffizi.
This last picture was taken from the upper floor of the Uffizi!
Thanks for looking, I hope you will come back to see pictures of the next part of our journey! Chris

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing photos Chris, so glad you had a wonderful time. Florence is on my 'bucket' list!! Catch up soon. Love S xxx

Artyjen said...

I can tell you had a fabulous time ;) Stunning photo's. My list of must sees grows longer by the day! LOL
xoxo Sioux
P.S. I've just found out there is an ice cream festival on whilst we are there! :)

Redanne said...

Oh wow, these pictures are just so, so beautiful, what a fabulous place! Thanks so much for sharing these Chris. Anne xx

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Once again, I was enthralled by your gorgeous photos. I'm a HUGE fan of Botticelli, so I can understand how you might have been swept up in the moment.

I SO enjoyed this tour and I'll be back to see the rest of the story soon. Thanks for taking us with you to this truly magical city.

Dianne said...

Wowzer, these are fantastic photos, what a fabulous place, the photo you hubby took at dusk is stunning, love those bridges, the Uffizi is stunning, thanks so much for sharing Miss Chris, loved seeing them...

Words and Pictures said...

Ahhhh... another wonderful trip down one of my happiest memory lanes, thank you. Beautiful, beautiful photos - the shot of the Duomo at dusk is fabulous! And on a more prosaic note... I remember Santa Croce very well: we were camping, and made daily visits there to the - at the time - only normal toilet facilities we found in Florence (rather than the hole in the ground type). I should think things have moved on a bit since then!
Thank you for sharing these... makes me all the more determined to return.
Alison xx

Cath Wilson said...

HOw beautiful - gorgeous weather, gorgeous place. Bet it was such a lovely time x