I loved the city of Florence so much. It’s a large city, bustling with people. But it felt more charming and relaxed than many of the other large cities I’ve visited. I guess that’s Italy for you! We made the 30-40 minute drive to Florence in our rental car two days in a row. On the first day we explored the city. We shopped (well, the girls shopped while I hung back with the guys because I’m not into shopping), visited a couple of museums, and of course… ate some fantastic food!
By the end of the day, we made sure to find a good spot to watch the sun go down. Thanks to Jenn and Krystal’s researching skills, we found a small bar on the rooftop of a hotel. We got to watch the sunset with the best possible view of the city. I’ll never forget it!
My favorite part of Florence (and honestly one of the highlights of the whole trip for me) was the food tour that we took on our second day! We started the tour at a cafe for breakfast. Each stop brought us food and drink, and our tour guide taught us so much! We learned that in Italy, drinking a cappuccino is only appropriate in the morning. (Don’t order one after noon!) And pastries are the norm for breakfast. Also, they never take their coffee to-go like we tend to do in America! They go into a cafe, order their coffee, drink it standing up at the bar, and then they go on with their day! I found all of this to be so interesting. I wish I could remember more of what our tour guide shared, but I was too busy indulging in some amazing Italian pastry that I don’t even remember the name of LOL. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Next on the food tour, we visited a market where locals buy their groceries. I was amazed as we watched pasta being handmade, and I was even more amazed by the produce section… Unlike here in America, customers are not allowed to touch the fresh fruits and veggies at all. They are so pure (and not covered in any chemicals or pesticides whatsoever) that only the workers wearing gloves are allowed to handle the delicate produce! Isn’t that amazing? At the market we also got to try a meat dish that I don’t remember the name of, but I do know that it was delicious!
Then there was a food and wine pairing! We were given several combinations/pairings of wines, meats, jams, olive oils, and vinaigrettes . This might have been my favorite part of the tour! Everything tasted SO GOOD. Again, we were given so much information from our guide, but after being served wine with everything we ate all day. (Seriously, SO much wine) My memory gets a little hazy LOL.
Lastly, we had some authentic gelato for dessert! I can’t explain to you how delicious this gelato was. I would fly back to Italy strictly for the gelato.
