Florence; Monday, 01 October, 2007

A good long sleep later I woke up fresh and ready to face the worst day of the week. Monday. I have already, in previous trips, (self-)discovered the word Europaeschermontagelschloßen, the act of Europe being closed on a Monday, and today proved no different. However, I had come prepared. I had already visited all the sites on my “must” and virtually all on my “would like to” lists, so could have a more relaxing day spent viewing the city from the top deck of tour busses.

Whilst I had done the tours the previous evening, not much of the scenery was visible outside of town, and inside there was limited scope for photos due to the fact that it was night! To correct for this I caught the normal bus up to the station and started my day of sitting down not doing very much by boarding the bus back out to Fiesole. I had seen some of the views in daylight yesterday on the way up to the Archaeological area, but as the bus had been very full, much of the scenery was obscured by armpits and elbows. On the top deck of a bus, when you are sitting by where the window should be, the views are uninterrupted and simply magnificent.

Having taken in the views up and back to Fiesole I changed busses a couple of stops back from the station onto the city line. For two stops I had to stand on the lower deck, but the bus half emptied at the station and I was able to grab a decent upstairs seat before the next wave of passengers boarded. With a little bit of self satisfaction I noticed that a couple of people who were on the bus from Fiesole had stayed onto the station and were unable to get seats.

I stayed on the bus for one full circuit of the route, and then went round another couple of stops to one of the few attractions open on a Monday, the Basilica di Santa Croce. I spent well over an hour looking around the church and the museum, before heading back towards the centre of town and stopping off in a little café for a late lunch/early Chianti. By now most of the sites that were open were in the process of closing, so with a bit of time on my hand, and with a lovely warm sun, I decided the easiest, and laziest thing to do would be to catch the Fiesole bus once again and spend a couple of hours sunning myself.

By the time I got back into town the streetlamps were just starting to come on, so it was time to make one last stop for the evening before dinner. From the station I caught a number 13 bus up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to take some pictures of the city at night.

During the day the views from up here of the city are glorious, at night they are possibly even better, with the lights of the riverside roads illuminating the Arno, the dome and bell tower of the cathedral still dominating the city, but muted slightly as they are not heavily floodlit, so they can merge more with the background of the city.

I spent a bit of time up at the Piazzale before catching the bus back down to the station and walking towards the cathedral in search of dinner.

Weather

Sunny Sunny
AM PM
Hot (20-30C, 68-86F)
28ºC/82ºF