We opted for the easy option to bus to Florence. I think it's only about 30 km from camping Semifonte, but an hour on the bus, only 6 euro return each, and it would mean I could sit back and enjoy the view.
On one windy stretch the bus came to a halt as our driver yacked to the on cominglorry driver who had pulled over to allow her past. The manoeuvre took about 5 mins, mostly talking, and I am glad she was driving instead of me for a change. I felt like applauding when she made it past without rolling us down a ravine.
The bus dropped us in the centre of Florence, and a helpful Australian women gave us a quick orientation and advice on how to locate the returning bus.
The city is beautiful, and more easy to locate ourselves in than some places we have visited so far. We were keen to walk up the steps to the tower on the Duomo, but when we arrived there was long long queues that appeared to be barely moving. Hindsight is a great thing as we realised that to visit the cathedral and the Ufuzi museum we should have prebooked tickets which would have given us an entry time on a specific day and date. All a bit tricky on our loose schedule, so we had to settle for the imitation of the statue of David, and proceeded on to the Boboli gardens within the palzzo Pitti. A huge estate in the middle of the city, home to a great family that were competitors to the Medici's.
It was another scorching hot sunny day so we slowly ambled up paths and hills, the grounds are extensive, and a stunning visual display of large scale renaissance gardens. At the top was a wonderful lookout surrounded by beds of peonies, all in the early stages of flowering.
On the way out we went through the costume exhibit, which gave us a sample of the lavish decor inside, along with fashion displays by some wealthy and renoun women from earlier this century. One women had a sample of her 1000 individual designer gowns on display.
Just time for a gelato as we walked back to the bus station. Having already stayed longer than first planned, in an attempt not to make it too big a day. We were smart about getting to the front of the bus queue, which arrived on time and left within 2 minutes. Many having to stand on the homeward journey. The driver kept a constant commentary going for the entire 1.5 hour drive home, either to the women around him, or on his phone, despite 5 o'clock traffic. We enjoyed the busy banter of locals who chatted away, at times all loudly offering opinions to someone's query.
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