Florence

i got word of a really good hostel here in Florence from a guy that was staying in the hostel in Cinque Terre, it sounded a bit too good to be true. he said that for 18EURO a night you got a cooked breakfast, a cooked dinner, a free walking tour and free internet. it was worth checking it out regardless if i thought he was pulling my leg, but lucky for me he came through with the goods. its possibly the best hostel i've stayed in to date. its a really nice environment with people over the years drawing or painting on the walls pictures or quotes, though a couple of quotes were a little bizarre, ie this one 'you can put a cat in an oven, but it doesn't make it a biscuit ' what does that even mean? anyway, ive met some cool people here too which is always a bonus.


i did the tour that the hostel offered and surprise, surprise, it turns out Florence is quite an interesting place. the Medici family seemed to pop up in its history quite a bit. they were the people that invent the early banking system like interest rates etc (can i hear everyone at home saying "wow, thanks Medici family!") anyway as you might gather they were quite weathly and had a lot of power around here, so much so they governed for about 300 years. they were obscenely rich and had two massive palaces, the main Medici guy didnt like hanging around with all the poor people much so he commissioned a giant walk way, high above the towns people, to run between his two palaces, which were about 1km away from each other. even if things got in the way, like other peoples homes, even a church the walk way ran straight through it. its quite amazing to see but at the same time you have to feel for the people that lost half there living room to it. anyway, when it was finally complete the head honcho still wasnt pleased. when he walked over the bit that ran over the Ponte Vecchio (which is a bridge) he didnt like the bad smells from below, because in that time, the shops that ran along the bridge were butchers, so he ruled that from that day onward only jewelery shops will do business on the bridge, and its been like that ever since. supposidly some of the worlds best jewellers trade there. its actually a great little bridge, so much character, it looks like the shops are only propped up by stilts.

i personally think over the other side of the river is a lot nicer, mainly because of its gardens which make the place a bit greener. dont get me wrong the other side is nice too but its a bit commercial, at first i got a bit overwhelmed by the amount of stores, dodgy little markets and tourists. but, it wasnt until i looked up at the buildings the stores were in that i saw there beauty. they were actually really nice. having said that, there must be some good shops around because the general dress standard of people here, i think, is pretty high. there are some seriously trendy people around.

a particular part i really liked about Florence was there was this church in the poorer parts of town that centuries ago used to house a lot of homeless, then the government saw what good they were doing so they got they more or less funded the church to teach people how to make leather goods as a way to support themselves. and because of the skills they learnt some of them became really good at creating things from leather and this made some of the poorest families end up being some of the richest in Florence. The church now is burial site to some of Florence's most when known people like Michelangelo and Gallio Galilei.

there are some really famous pieces of art here in Florence. in the Uffizi gallery they have work but nearly all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but proberly the most famous piece they have is the 'The Birth of Venus' i was surprised at how big it was, most famous artworks you see are a lot smaller than you would imagine. but the most famous artwork they have here in Florence is the grand daddy of all sculpture, Michelangelo's 'David'. throughout the town there are quite a few David's but the real one is in a little museum which was something i was quite surprised by. the Museum it was in was in a really rubbish part of town, and there are hardly any signs to find the place. considering how famous its is you would think it would be in some amazing HUGE gallery, but not the case. still the work itself didn't disappoint. its quite amazing to see how well crafted it is, its hard to believe it used to be just a slab of marble. David comes from the story 'David and Goliath' of how a boy defeated a giant not by strenght but by using his brain, so was they commissioned Michelangelo to make him to describe the Florentine people, becuase it was there brains ie the banking system that made them one of the most wealthy towns in Italy, if not the world at that stage. i like how Michelangelo intensionally made the head and hands of David slightly bigger to physically describe this, subtle but clever. only problem with the work in my eyes is his pubic hair is a little too perfect.

thoughout are a number of stutues and there was one i really like called 'Perseus with the Head of Medusa', for a few reasons. the artwork is made out of metal, but as the artist was coming towards the end of finishing it, he started to run out of metal so get gathered up all the metal things in his house that were metal and melted them down to finish it off. the second reason is there is a secret self portait of the artist hidden in it, if you go around to the back of the statue and look up between his ears, and if you look closely you can see a man with a beard in the back of his head. i thought that was pretty awesome!

There is an amazing cathedral here in Florence called the Duomo. it has a huge dome at the top and its the only one of its kind anywhere in the world, theres a couple of great stories behind it. the first is nobody really knows how it was done becuase they believe that the architect either burnt the copy of the plans, or the plans are in the golden ball at the top, but they think if it is removed it may make the building crumble. i think its quite amazing that and even with todays technology it can never be reproduced due to its sheer size. i climbed the 400,000 odd steps to the top (ok, i may have embellished the number a little bit) are had a great view from the top. the building is really big, it wasnt until i was over on a hill on the other side of the river, that i was able to compare its size to everything else. ITS MASSIVE!

i did a day trip out to Pisa while i was here. i was planning on staying there for a night on the way to Florence but it ended up cheaper to day trip, the hostels cost an arm and a leg! lucky i didn't, there really isnt much to do there except for seeing the leaning tower. for me the fun bit was watching everyone making a fool of themselves posing with it, like they are trying to hold it up to stop it from falling. i must admit i gave it a go too, its all in good fun i suppose. i was really surprised as to how far it was actually leaning. i heard that over the years they had been trying to stop it from leaning too much, just in case it falls, but it didnt look like it. but to be honest if they straightened it, i dont think Pisa would really be worth the visit.

the free meal at the hostel was ok but nothing to really rave about, so a few of us from the hostel went out for dinner, i had a 'Margherita' pizza, which is the tradional pizza of Italy. i remember a few facts from when i learnt italian in my primary school days about the Margherita. it was named after an italian queen and the ingredients are meant to resemble the colours of the italian flag (red = tomato sauce, white = mozzarella, green = herbs). wow, i actually retained knowledge from school, 1 point to Trent! anyway, it was pretty good, but my plan is to try and get invited back to a Nonnas place so she can cook for me i think thats the only way i'm going to be able to try real italian cuisine.

i'm in two minds as to whether or not i like Florence, i mean its nice but i think i've seen so many great places along the way, it kind of felt like just another town. i dunno maybe i'm just beening too harsh, then again it could be one of those places i'll look back on in a few years and like my experience here. anyway, heading to Rome next which should be good, more when i get there.