Beautiful Florence

I arrived in Florence and mum and dad met me at the station. They had been in Florence a few days and had come over to catch up with me as well as an excuse to visit the tourist sites in this spectacular city. We spent the weekend going to a couple of the main attractions. On Saturday we first went to the market which had an amazing array of pasta and other edible goodies... mum was in heaven. She loves food markets. I have to admit I went back several times during the week to get sandwiches from one of the stalls - I do love Italian food!

The range of colourful pasta - the black pasta is made with Squid Ink!

Next we went in to the Duomo, which is spectacularly decorated on the outside with marble and green peridotite rocks. Inside it is decorated a little simpler - except for the painting of the dome. Mum and I climbed to the top to take in the views of Florence.

The green, white and a little bit of red (sandstone) of the outside of the Duomo

The painted dome - some rather graphic images when you look closely - lots of devils, blood and gore!

Mum climbing up the stairs to the top of the Duomo

View from the top looking down on the rest of the Duomo and tower

In the afternoon we went over the Ponte Vecchio to the other side of the river and on to the Boboli Gardens. The Ponte Vecchio is the only original bridge left in Florence after the wars and is lined with jewelry shops. 

The Ponte Vecchio - the bridge with shops built on it.

Lots of jewelry shops on the Ponte Vecchio

The next day we finally managed to get tickets for the Ufizi, the famous art gallery in Florence with a lot of the original altars and paintings from the Italian masters. I don't think I have seen so many paintings of Mary and child...