Florence highlights

After a few weeks of tours and rushing around to make sure we see everything the city has to offer we decided to slow down a bit in Florence. We somewhat treated the two full days as if we in NYC. A few good restaurants, some shopping and exploring the nooks & crannies. Here are some of our highlights:

La Managere

- We came upon this restaurant by chance and couldn't have been more pleased with the atmosphere, quality of the food and the company we were with.  We met up with one of the couple on our Amalfi Coast Busabout trip, Jade & Brad, that were also in Florence. We all decided on the tasting menu - one of the dishes included hot and cold caprese salad which was basically a puréed tomato soup and a cold mozzarella cream with pesto croutons.  This has been one of Drews favorite dish of the entire trip. 

(Reference this Saveur article that was published the day after we went!) 

Florence Cathedral - also known as Il Duomo

- The facade of this cathedral is a site to see. Made up of shades of pink and green with white boarders and the level of detail is so impressive. To our surprise the inside was completely opposite leaving an empty impression. 

Santo Bevitore 

- We received this reco from our Cinque Terre tour guide. Originally we we're planning on checking out Buca Mario but our tour guide said stay away. He had a friend working there a few years back and said when the waiters put in the order they would tell the kitchen "inside" (customers are local) or "outside" (customers are tourist) - basically this referred to the ingredients the chefs use when preparing meals. (i.e an "outside" Barata got ??? cheese - you get the picture). 

This was one of the first meals we did the full "Italian" meal with all 4 courses and a bottle of wine. The meal didn't disappoint. 

Leathers and wool

- Its been so hard not to buy anything for ourselves while visiting all these wonderful cities but we decided to splurge a little.

Fake David

Basilica of Santa Croce

- Burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians - Michelangelo, Galileo, and Danti to name a few. 

Piazzale Michelangelo

- On our last night we took the bus, about 40 minutes, up to Piazzale Michelangelo which is a square with panoramic views of Florence. While sipping on Rose purchased at Capezzana, in the distance we could the see Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, & Basilica of Santa Croce. 

Travel day: Florence to Venice - snaps from September 5th, 2015 from Ashley Habeck on Vimeo.