Florence and Pisa: 3 Days

I ended up staying three nights in Florence with a day trip to Pisa. I stayed at Plus Florence Hostel, which was nice and clean.

When I arrived on the first day I didn’t do much except to check into the hostel and ate some Chinese Lamian noodles as a late lunch. I did most of the sightseeing on the second day with Makrand, an Indian guy I met in my dorm.

To plan for my itinerary, I’ve been using more of ChatGPT. I just type “things to do in…” then fill in the city. I also check WikiVoyage.org to see if there’s any other places I like to see and learn more about the history.

In Italy, I also download the Trenitalia app to see the train schedule, but I buy the ticket at the station since most of the time I’m not sure what time I want to leave. There’s also Italotreno app for the high speed trains, but I haven’t taken that yet.

Anyway, Makrand and I walked to all the major sites in Florence in one day, including Piazza del Duomo, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Piazza della Signoria, Uffizi Galleries, Piazzale Michelangelo, Palazzo Pitti, Ponte Vecchio, Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, and Mercato Centrale.

Since it was the first Sunday of the month, the Uffizi Galleries and Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze were free. The statue of David is in the Galleria dell’Accademia, but the line was out the door, around the corner of the building, and out into the street. We decided to come back in the afternoon hoping to avoid the long line, which worked out well for us. We did have to stand in line for the Uffizi Galleries, but the wait was only about 30 minutes.

Both museums were so crowded. There were definitely way too many tourists in Florence, including myself. I can only imagine that the city will be more crowded in the summer.

Florence is known as the center of Renaissance and a major city for Italian art. I was oversaturated with art by the time I finished the day with Makrand.

A couple of things I noticed now that I’ve been in Italy for over a week. Italian coffee is served in small cups, more like a shot than in a regular cup. The taste isn’t much different from coffee in the US. The hostels are a bit expensive, especially in major cities and on the weekends. The food in restaurants tend to be the same price as in the US, around $20 per meal.

Italian pasta has been my favorite because I like noodles. I had a huge pizza in Florence that tasted good. In Italy, you have to cut your own pizza unless you ask the waiter to do it for you. Good thing the crust is thin enough.

On the third day, I took the train to Pisa for half a day to see the Tower of Pisa in Piazza dei Miracoli. I also saw the Tuttomondo, which is a large Keith Haring mural, stopped by Piazza dei Cavalieri, and passed by Borgo Stretto.

When I came back to Florence, I met up with Anne, who is a mutual friend of a friend of mine. Anne is from Santa Barbara, California, and has been traveling in Italy for two weeks. She told me that she dislikes Italy because of the large crowds.

I walked with Anne to the plaza by Basilica of Santa Croce and she gave me some travel tips for Naples, which will be my stop after Rome. Later, we had an excellent dinner at Fuoco Matto where I had a deconstructed lasagna.

This morning, after checking out of the Plus Florence Hostel, I met Anne again for coffee. She might meet me in Arezzo for a day trip tomorrow.

Around 11:15 AM, I took the train to Arezzo, which is a small town between Florence and Rome. Originally, I wanted to go to Siena, but Siena does not have a direct train to Rome so I opted for Arezzo. Also, I remembered a college friend of mine named Andrew Slominski had been to Arezzo so I want to see it.

I will be in Arezzo for two nights. The forecast indicated rain for today and tomorrow. So far the rain has been light and now it’s even sunny. I plan on relaxing in Arezzo and not to do too much before I go to Rome in two days.

One of many statues in Florence plazas