After
the whirlwind of museums, churches, palaces and gardens I felt very tired and
all “museumed out”. I decided to spend my last day in Florence slow and mellow.
I slept in and had a nice long breakfast. After breakfast I visited the Duomo,
which was finally open, had some gelato and made my way to St. Croce church,
where I intended to visit the famous Firenze Scuola del Cuoio – leather
artisans in the Monastery of Santa Croce, which is a workshop as well as a showroom,
where they sell their works. Since Florence is renowned for it wonderful
leather goods I wanted to bring a little piece of Florence home and was hoping
to buy a nice leather purse. The selection of bags didn’t disappoint. I quickly
had my heart set on a beautiful brown leather purse – it was a perfect size for
me, had enough pockets and could be easily transformed into the backpack. The
quality of leather and craftsmanship were outstanding. The prices there are
really high, but the quality could not be beat. I also selected a nice leather
belt for Boris. They offered a nice 20% discount if I paid in cash, so off I
went in search of ATM machine. It took me some time and effort to find it but
finally I was back with the cash and
enjoyed watching the master engrave my initials on the inside of my new purse and
Boris’s initials on the inside of his belt.
I
dropped off my purchases at the hotel and headed in the direction of the train
station. Before going to Siena, I was planning to see an interesting Mercato
Centrale not too far from the train station. I walked through the famous St.
Lorenzo street market with hundreds merchants selling leather goods, scarves
and souvenirs. Mercato Centrale consists of 2 floors – on the first floor they
sell fruits and vegetables, meats, cheeses, pasta, baked goods and many other
groceries. The food displays looked fantastic and I enjoyed browsing and taking
photos. Second floor is recently remodeled and occupied by multiple very fancy
delis, that cook and serve food right there on the spot. Everything looked
fantastic and oh so yummy. I decided to have my lunch there but spent quite a
lot of time deciding which one to pick. Finally, I settled on a beautiful
antipasti plate with artistically arranged tomatoes, eggs, olives and several
slices of toasted bread with bruschetta and some other spreads. I also got a
plate of steaming gnocchi with pine nuts. Everything was very delicious and I enjoyed
my lunch a lot.
Finally,
it was time for me to go to Siena. I walked to the nearby train station, where
I boarded the bus recommended by Tomaso (turned out that Siena’s train station
is far from the city center, so bus is much more convenient) and about 45
minutes later I was in Siena. My plan was to see the exquisite Duomo first,
then walk around the city and see Il Campo square. Siena’s Duomo is breathtakingly beautiful,
both interior and exterior. It is probably the most beautiful cathedral I’ve
ever seen. I spent about an hour admiring the Duomo, then headed to see the Il
Campo. I was also hoping to eat in the Osteria Nonna Gina – when we visited in
2011 we had such an amazing gnocchi there – probably our best meal in Italy.
Unfortunately, the Osteria was closed, so I had to contend myself with taking a
photo of it and headed to Il Campo. It was a joy to wander around the medieval
streets and see locals enjoying their evening passegiata (stroll). At this time
of the year there were almost no tourists, so I had a chance to peek at the
local life. Il Campo was beautiful and I enjoyed eating my favorite Grom gelato
there.
I
caught the same bus back to Florence and after an enjoyable dinner at the
nearby restaurant Il Porcelino retired for the night.
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