Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre (22~25 August 2014)

Italy is our last holiday for the year, as after this trip I will be undergoing an operation and the recuperation takes month. Corinne and Alfrance were making an Italy road trip, and suggested we meet up each other for a short trip. This was a fantastic idea, as 25 Aug is a bank holiday, so Dear would just have to take a day off on Friday and we could do Florence, Pisa and Cinque Terre. Florence and Pisa are in our must go list and Flybe has a route to Florence.

For air tickets of GBP 500 for two people, we set off on 22 Aug, and reached Florence airport in the afternoon. Florence is a very small city and capital of the Tuscany region in Italy. It is another popular tourist city famous for its beautiful Renaissance architecture, culture, and of course its factory outlet "The Mall' (we didnt make the trip there).

Piazza of Santa Maria Novella

Getting to the city center was easy and convenient by "Vola in Bus" bus shuttle which operated between the airport and main train station Santa Maria Novella, and costs on 6.00euros. The journey merely took about 20 minutes.

On arrival, we took a few minutes walk to our hotel Santa Maria Novella which we chose due to its location. The room was clean, spacious, but noisy at night as it faced the main square with a restaurant below.

piazza del Duomo

Palazzo Vecchio-the impressive town hall of Florence

Signoria Square

The famous Ponte Vecchio-The oldest bridge . Built in 1218

Ponte Vecchio-A busy bridge with goldsmiths and jewelleries shops lining along the bridge, and of course packed with tourists

The after dark of Florence was not quiet. We took a pleasant stroll back to our hotel after dinner. The stroll was pleasant, the city was still vibrant with street performers and tourists.

Before returning to our hotel, we went to the train station to get the next day ticket to the leaning tower Pisa. While we were figuring out how to purchase the tickets at the self-service ticket kiosk, a young man behaved weirdly standing so close behind my dear. He looked restless, and suspicious. I suspect he was a pickpocket, as when we let him use the machine first, he just simply pressed a few option and  left hurriedly. Lucky dear didnt leave any valuable stuff in the haversack, or else we could possibly the pickpocket victim, and lucky we noticed him at our back. Well, got the ticket. Ready to wake up early for a short trip to Pisa.

The train ride to Leaning Pisa Tower took about 1 1/2 hour per trip from Santa Maria Novella train station to Pisa S. Rossore. This is the nearest train station to Pisa Tower, but I was quite surprise that many alighted at Pisa Centrale station which is 30 minutes walk to the tower , instead of alighting at this station, which is only a short walk of 15 minutes. This is a very small and quiet train station without clear sign to the Pisa tower. 

The Leaning pisa tower wasnt as magnificent as I had imagined. Well, probably if you bought a ticket walking up to the top of tower for a view of nearby, or else, an hour with photo snapping is just enough. 

We spent about 1 hour there and then walked back to the train station to catch the 10:43 train to Florence. We will have to collect our rental car before 1:00pm to proceed our 2nd part of the journey to Cinque Terre, and to meet our friends from Singapore.

Surrounding Florence, one can make a trip to Sienna, Lucca, San Gigminano in the Tuscany region.