Day 7

   Sat, 22 Oct 2022

Day 6

Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance

I took a picture of this sign in our hotel room because
I wanted to show you how you spell "Florence" in Italian, "Firenze"

Here are some of our group at breakfast at the hotel NH.

Breakfast buffet.
Simply delicious.

Our first stop downtown Florence was at a goldsmith shop.
It was located on the Cappella de' Pazzi piazza.

Then we walked a few blocks further and stopped at a leather shop.

Our Italian owner used Jan as one of his models.

I purchased a genuine leather belt and had it adjusted and initialed.

Heating up the Initials for branding.

Pressing them in...

And there you have it.
CUBE
for the first two initials in my middle and last names.

During our freetime we stopped by a local cafe and had an "American Coffee".
If you don't say "American Coffee" they serve you an Italian Expresso.

I took this picture of a manhole cover because
I wanted to capture the fleur de lis, the symbol of Florence.
Also, to show you the Italian spelling of Florence again, Firenze.

Before seeing the panoramic video, let's look at the map of the places we've seen...

Here are the different places and their orientation as seen on a map.

A panoramic video of Florence (Firenze)

Duration: 00:00.09 sec.

The building in the middle left is the Santa Croce Basilica
where Michelangelo and other famous artists are buried.

The building in the middle with the large dome
is the 4th largest cathedral in Europe.

Enjoying every minute!

The foreground is very special against
such a famous background.

Now we are on the way to San Gimignano.

Let's look at the map and get some idea where we're heading...

Here we are in Florence, Italy.
We came from Capri which is about 7 hrs. south of here.
As you can see, Florence is in the northern part of Italy.

Just a little to the south and west is the medieval town
of San Gimignano. It is circled on this map.

And now, we make our way via bus from the large
circle to the smaller circle.

Going through one of several tunnels on the way to San Gimignano.

Duration: 00:00.15 sec.

This is what we imagined the Tuscan landscape would look like.

Here is the few as we approach the San Gimignano main gate.

And now, we had a lovely couple.

The main gate of this medieval "Manhattan",
named because of its towers which dominate the skyline.

As we journey into the compound,
you can see more evidence of these structures
as part of a great medieval fortress.

One of two main plazas - this one is where the church is located...

Duration: 00:00.29 sec.

We traveled uphill to the right of the church
and found this wonderful overlook

As we made our way we found this unique experience...

Duration: 00:00.17 sec.

And finally as we climbed to the highest lookout,

not counting the towers, to see this grand view

Duration: 00:00.30 sec.

From the top of the lookout tower you can see the top
of the surrounding wall of the fortress.

And her are several of the existing towers.
At one time in it's history there were over 70 towers.
Today there are only 19 towers.

Another very cool pathway in the fortress.

See screen shot below for the translation to English.

This is a Google app
translating the Italian
to English from the 
screen above.

After reading the signage from above, 
this is looking in the opposite direction.

A stop for lunch. Wine and bruschetta.

Heading back to our meeting point.
The "main street" of the fortress.

Ready to leave San Gimignano...

One last look at the beauty of the Tuscan Landscape.

We passed on the dinner excursion tonight and made reservation at the 

Napoleone restaurant about 20 minutes from the NH hotel.

This river is called the Arno River

On our way to the restaurant we walked right by
the American Consulate General building.
That was an unexpected treat.

Here we are at the Napoleone restaurant.

Dang!
I moved as I took the picture.
Hopefully you can still identify the food we ate.
Very good!

Another great day in Italy!