Florence and More!

September 9-14, 2025

Florence and surrounding areas

Yummy Gelato!!!

Fun Facts: Florence

• The city boasts the largest brick dome ever built, the Duomo.

• In 1339, Florence became the first city in Europe to have paved streets. 

• Birthplace of Opera: The first standard opera, "Dafne" by Jacopo Peri, was written in Florence in 1598. 

• Gucci's Roots: The famous fashion house Gucci was founded in Florence in 1921. 

• Ponte Vecchio's Survival: The Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge in Florence that wasn't destroyed during World War II. 

• America is named after a Florentine. Yep that’s right…the famous explorer Amerigo Vespucci (whom America was named after) was born on March 9th, 1451 in Florence.

• The story of Pinocchio was written in Florence. Florentine writer Carlo Collodi wrote The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le Avventure di Pinocchio) in the early 1880’s.

• The piano was invented in Florence. The piano was created by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700. The original name was pianoforte (piano meaning soft or level and forte meaning loud or strong).

• Gelato was first made in Florence. This famous Italian dessert was invented by Bernardo Buontalenti and was served for the first time in the 1500’s at banquet organized for the Spanish King by the Medici family.

  
  

We left the ship in Bergen at 3:15 a.m. Tuesday morning to go to the airport. Fortunately everything went smoothly and we arrived in Florence on time! And, when we stopped at Copenhagen on the way to Florence we finally got our Danish danish in the airport! And it was delicious!

We met up with our friends Jon and Yvonne at the hotel in Florence. They had just arrived from Vienna and were ready to begin our exploration of Florence. Jon is extremely oraganized and has our time here perfectly scheduled out to include visits to nearby towns, awesome food (including gelato), and wine-tasting in different areas around Florence.

Today, since it was already early afternoon we walked to the area where the Florence Cathedral (referred to as the duomo) is located, and began our adventure with lunch!

And then gelato! (See opening picture)

The Duomo

The Duomo of Florence is the common name for the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore. Construction began in 1296 and it was completed in the 15th century. The design, architecture, materials, and artists involved were all the best of their time and the result is spectacular.

Inside the dome, and the mystery clock (What do you think it's tracking?).

Next we went to the Academia Gallery to see the famous statue of David, shown below in the classic front view, and the lesser noticed back view.

We also visited the music area while we were there and Karen enjoyed the violin display.

And the Dog of the Day for Tuesday

And finally, a delicious Italian dinner at B.O.r.G.O., where we enjoyed great food and chatted with the owner/chef.

Day 2 in Florence (Wednesday)

The day started out with a lovely breakfast at the hotel, and then we went to pick up our rental car and head off on another adventure. Sounds easy - right?? NOT! Without going into details, the car rental experience took over an hour and involved going to a second rental company before we could actually get on our way to Siena. And to add to the fun, it was raining the whole time.

We finally hit the road and headed to Siena. Even through the rain, we could see that the countryside was beautiful, and the older buildings were amazing, We just don't have buildings this old in our part of the world! Once we got to Siena we ran into some challenges - pouring rain and steep hills - but we succeeded and arrived at the Duomo there, which is the Siena Cathedral. This was an absolutely stunning Cathedral.

And I especially loved the library with the beautiful, and large, books.

Next, we visited a small winery that Jon and Yvonne had been to before called Nostravita, which means "our life". The family that runs the winery is amazing, and very talented in many different areas. Making the wine is a family endeavor, including being environmentally sustainable and being willing to try new things. The wine is delicious, the bottle labels are works of art, and the property is beautiful. The family is involved in curating and displaying local history and the local flora and fauna. We had a wonderful time there.

And, we found our Dog of the Day for Wednesday at the winery! Meet Krug...

And for equal time - a cat we saw as we were leaving the winery.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Lucca, Italy. Not sure when the next blog post will be, but thanks for following along! Ciao!