Adventure Accounting

Florence is the perfect base if you want to do daytrips of nearby towns. I believe some places deserve an overnight exploration, it can be exhausting packing and unpacking everything (for me, because I am a pack rat ). Florence is filled with tourists. The cobblestone streets are narrow and noisy. I didn’t find any quiet alley unlike the streets of Venice . If you can't read a map to save your life, Florence have these street signs which leads you to the popular tourist spots. 

Florence is a great base if you want to explore the other cities of Italy. It served as my base for my Cinque Terre , San Gimignano and Siena daytrips. You can also visit Pisa and Lucca. I had a roommate who stayed in Florence for 6 days and she just town hopped everyday. I immediately liked Hostel Archi Rossi's website. The hostel is also near the train station of Florence - Santa Maria Novella. I didn't get lost trying to find the hostel. I liked how prompt the hostel was in answering my emails. I was this skeptical first time booker of a hostel so I wanted to make sure I understood everything. They patiently answered all my questions. I reserved directly using their website. Hostel's lobby

I wasn’t planning to do a lot of things in Florence because I find the city quite dizzying with all it has to offer. But I got a hold of this map provided my hostel which shows all the tourist spots and I could just get there by walking. Since I was used to walking for 6-8 hours a day at this point, I decided to conquer whatever I could. Ponte Vecchio Ponte Vecchio is the city’s iconic bridge built over the Arno River. Ponte Vecchio is the destination if you want to find relatively cheap jewellery – or so says the travelers that I met. I am not a fan of jewellery so I left the shops alone and admired the buildings surrounding the bridge. Not much to do here if you do not really plan to shop.    Calm waters. 

Florence is the land of artwork – must see for the art enthusiasts out there. You will get dizzy with the art your eyes can feast on in this city. Museo di Palazzo Vecchio Cost of ticket: €4,50. The PaIazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. I read about this but I didn’t plan going to the Museo because there’s just so much to do in Florence. However, I wandered off from the Duomo and found this brick fortress-palace. It was quite interesting for my eyesight as we do not have a variety of brick structures in the Philippines. They have this fake statue of David outside. I repeat. It is a fake. A FAKE. The purple camera case with a fake David

I left Venice at lunch. Boarded Trenitalia to take me to the cradle of Renaissance: Firenze (Florence). Florence is around two hours away from Venice. At around 1pm, I landed in Santa Maria Novella station. The trains that took me to Firenze I easily found my way to my hostel. Thankfully, I didn’t get lost this time. I dumped my stuff in the room then headed off to explore the fourth city of my Europe adventure. Florence’s major tourist spots are concentrated in one area so everything is accessible by foot. Everybody walks. Unlike in Venice where you can get lost and find a charming deserted alley, Florence’s streets are teeming with the tourists. It can be quite sickening at times to see all these tourists in one place. Oh right, I am one of them.