"Not Enough Time To Enjoy This Beautiful... " a Florence Travel Page by Mikebb

We arrived in Florence late afternoon and after checking into our hotel it was early evening as we went for a walk through the streets surrounding our hotel. We were lucky as there were several streets with market stalls each side of the road. The goods on offer were much different from what we had seen in Rome, much clothing, particularly leather coats at very reasonable prices, paintings, leathergoods, crafty items such as tapestries etc.

The next morning we were taken on a guided walking tour through this beautiful city. There were many highlights but none compared with Michelangelo's David on display in the local museum, Galleria dell 'Accademia. There were many other treasures on display , but it was David that the visitors all wanted to see. Our tour through the streets took us to the Duomo, Baptistery, and most of the important buildings. Finally we ended up at The Leather Factory for an educational lecture on leather, including how to determine whether an item is made from "good" leather. We then had a free afternoon so we found a good cafe for lunch and were returning to our hotel when we met a member of our group who was returning from the Ponte Vecchio, we had completely overlooked it. We quickly made our way to this interesting bridge and jewellery centre.