Ciaao Firenze !

We've just come back from a long weekend (saturday to tuesday evening) in Italy, Florence the greatest, with Kent and Lina. In one word : WOUNDERFUL !
Fascinating city, great history inheritage , delicious food and wine (one bottle of Chianti at each lunch and dinner ), great shopping , friendly people etc...

Saturday, departure from Linköping at the beginning of the afternoon to Skavsta Airport, Nyköping, more than one hour drive. Kent pick us and Lina by car. We were happy to leave the rainy and cold weather for a warmer one ! We arrived at Pisa airport at 8pm, then took a shuttle bus to Firenze . We arrived around 10.30pm to our lovely hostel, "Albergo Paola", Via Faenza, owned by Clara , a young and friendly italian women who gave us nice tricks to enjoy Florence in a local way. It's like a family hotel, less than 10 rooms, Clara even has her own bedroom. The hostel is located in an old building, typically Italian, 3rd floor without lift, but quite cosy. We shared the same room , 2 bunk beds , in a newly redecorated room (ok , Ikea deco, but the Italian style was still there on the walls...)
Later, we went out to have a pizza in our street. A great old restaurant with stone walls and old paintings...Then we went out for a "petit tour" in the city, by night, more excitement after seeing all those great old buildings and of course the Duomo, so big, so beautiful !

Sunday morning, 9am, Clara knocked and entered into our room to bring us breakfast! Yeah , room service ! It was so great, while we were still sleeping, she just entered and shout a "Buon Giorno !! Breakfast!" Lovely breakfast, brought in 3 blue baskets :-)
Sunday was kind of rainy in the morning but then the weather changed. Clara told us where we should go, the best places to visit, so we first walked in the city, Duomo, plazza San Giovanni ( main shopping streets), plaza della Republica , plazza della Signoria next to Palazzo Vecchio. And Christmas market next to the Basilica di Santa Croce. Then we took a bus to cross the Arno River and went up to the Piazzale Michelangelo , a great sight seeing view , a square up a hill overlooking the whole city and giving a nice view of the surrounding mountains , really fascinating ! (like Fourvière in Lyon, but Florence is more beautiful, especially with all those vineyards around the city on the hills, pine trees , cypress and palm trees !). Then we hardly walked to Forte di Belvedere up a hill, crossed the Giardino di Boboli and visited the Palazzo Pitti. Great painting, wall painting, jewels, ceramics etc... Quite efficient morning ! We were so exhausted... Around 2pm we went down to the city , crossed the Arno walking on Ponte Vecchio ( full of Jewel shops !) and find a restaurant for lunch.
(Fred, you will never believe this ! We have been to exactly the same restaurant we went in 2002 !!! It was not in purpose at all, we just randomly find it ! How funny to realise i was there a few years ago with you Charly and Dorothée !)
In the remaining of the afternoon, we walked in the city and went back to hotel , so tired ! "Jette trött" (in swedish)
In the evening , we went out for dinner , to the restaurant Clara had recommended us "Semolina", a local restaurant, her favorite, owned by her friend. We walked again a lot to find it, for sure no tourist would be able to find it , so hidden in the city ! But it was so great, the owner was really friendly, he even offered us some free digestive drinks at the end : Grappa, Limoncello, Amarello and so on... And he kissed us good bye ! :-) Great time there ! And the food was.... whaaa... so delicious !

Monday : We wanted to go and have a Wine Tasting tour in Tuscany, but Clara couldnt reach the tour operator...So, we ended up going to The Mall, outlets in the middle of Toscany by bus, and on the way we could admire the region, the small villages, the great vineyards on the hills, old stones houses etc...
All the big and expensive brands were there, but half price , so it was quite interesting . Murat finally found some winter shoes ! :-)
In the evening we went to a seafood restaurant. Compared to Sweden, the restaurants are so cheap in Italy ! Half price ! So we enjoyed it even more ! Swedish people don't really enjoy food generally, they just eat to be feeded, but Kent (Swedish) realized why we were so enthusiastic about restaurants, after tasting the Italian food ! It's part of our culture (French, Turkish and Singapore) to enjoy eating ! :-)

Tuesday, last day, we walked to the city, and made some last shopping. And went to another local restaurant we had found the evening before, an old one from the 19th century, very small, but so authentic, there we enjoyed our last italian lunch, antipasti: carpaccio, artichoke, cheeses, great extra vergin olive oil on bread, bruschetas, Firenze meat, chianti and so on .... Yummy !
We took the bus back to Pisa airport around 4pm, take off at 8pm , arrived in Icy Nyköping airport at 11pm, and home at 1am...

Thank you Ryan Air : 1 euro ticket to Pisa ! (just paid 24eur for the taxes)
Thank you Albergo Paola Hostel : 80eur /person for 3 nights, breakfast included

Pictures are coming soon !
(Sorry , no French translation this time , too long ! )