July 2 and July 3

 July 2

It was a good day of riding to get to Florence.  There were only a few hills - although one of them hit 18.5% grade!!  That hurt but it wasn't a big hill so no worries.

In a few hours we were in Florence and just walked around looking at the sites before heading to our hotel another 10 miles out of town

Arriving at the Ponte Vecchio


The remarkable Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore with the amazing dome by Brunelleschi.

 
Generally, if you see gelato piled this high, it's not real gelato.

The Central Market where we stopped for lunch.





July 3

No biking today.  We took a cab to the airport and then caught a tram to the city center.  The plan today was to do a Rick Steve's walking tour and then find a Bisteca Fiorentina (steak) for Brian) for lunch.
We started our tour back at the Duomo.


Across from the Duomo is the Baptistry.  These bronze doors were made by Ghiberti.  Michaelangelo was so impressed by these doors he called them "The Gates of Paradise".
Triumphal Arch built for the unification of Italy in 1848.

The following pictures are from the Plaza della Signoria where replicas of several famous sculptures are on exhibit.

Rape of the Sabine Women

Hercules and the Centaur

The Rape of Polyxena
It is remarkable to think this could be fashioned from single block of marble.  Amazing.

Florence is well known for Bisteca Fiorentina.
And, finally, we found our lunch.  Delicious.  1.2kg of beef.

Goodbye to Florence.  A truly magical city.


Tomorrow we have to cross the Apennine mountains.  After that we should have relatively flat riding to the northern lakes. 

 














Comments

  1. ChuckJuly 3, 2024 at 11:21 AM

    Sounds like you finally left the PennDot roads behind you!!! The pix are amazing, so was Brian's steak (LOL). You ARE doing a train over the Alps, aren't you?!?!?

    ReplyDelete
  2. SueJuly 3, 2024 at 1:56 PM

    Glad you got a day off before your hills tomorrow! Good luck and WooHoo for just about being done with the hills! You guys sure are getting to see some awesome sites!

    ReplyDelete

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